The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the heads of the worlds leading solar companies have met in Poznan, Poland to discuss the development and implementation of global policies designed to help the growth of the solar industry internationally and to lead the way in the reduction of Greenhouse Gases (GHC) in order to meet climate goals.

Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech’s Chairman and CEO, Jeremy Leggett, Executive Chairman of Solarcentury, Mike Ahearn, Chairman and CEO of First Solar, and Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director strongly advocated solar energy as a viable energy production solution which should be taken up by governments around the globe:

“Solar technology is no longer a niche energy solution, but is already reaching the scale and cost points to fundamentally change the way we generate electricity. As a result of substantial investments over the past 5 years, the solar industry has dramatically improved solar technologies and established roadmaps for further cost reductions. In fact, electricity generated from solar installations is already reaching parity with peak energy and retail energy prices in many regions.”

The conference concluded that the following objectives are the key to meeting GHG- reduction and economic-development goals:

·          Stringent, ambitious, international and national carbon regulation policies

·          Enforceable renewables mandates with a solar carve out or credit multiplier for solar energy

·          Near-term incentives that could include feed-in tariffs, partial rebates, tax credits and/or property-based loans

·          Favourable net metering, interconnection, permitting and land-use policies.

The recent UK Energy Bill will certainly have pleased the consortium as it gives provisions for the implementation of feed-in tariffs by 2010 which are seen as being fundamental to the setting up of a coherent renewable energy solution. The plans are for the government to guarantee a fixed, premium rate for energy fed back into the national grid by small, renewable energy producers and will be essential to the UK meeting its climate change goals.

The report, The Oil Crunch: Securing the UK’s energy future launched by Arup, FirstGroup, Foster + Partners, Scottish and Southern Energy, Solarcentury, Stagecoach Group, Virgin Group and Yahoo sets out a series of recommendations. The key warning in the report is that a peak in cheap, easily available oil production is likely to hit by 2013, posing a grave risk to the UK and world economy.

The report focuses on the need for the UK government to look towards alternative economic and environmental opportunities in order to combat the eventuality of Peak oil over the next decade. While Britain is certainly light years behind European states such as Germany in implementing practical energy legislation, the upcoming debate over the Energy Bill will undoubtedly open further debate into the need for the introduction of feed-in tariffs. In Germany they have proved a highly successful way of attracting investment into renewable energy production and some have predicted that German energy production could be one hundred per cent fossil fuel free by 2050. This would of course protect states such as Germany against any potential oil peaks over the next decades.

Currently the UK produces only five per cent of its energy by means of renewable sources compared to Germany with over fifty per cent. It is therefore considered essential that if the UK is to meet its green targets and perhaps more importantly, protect itself from the fluctuating and unsustainable fossil fuel market it is essential that the government heed the warnings set out by the Peak Oil and Energy Security Taskforce.