From today local councils will be allowed to sell excess renewable electricity produced back to the national grid. Energy Secretary Chris Huhne announced plans to lift the ban at the Local Government Association (LGA) conference back in June and today urged councils to be at the forefront of a renewable energy revolution and that the scheme could earn financially struggling local authorities in England and Wales up to £100 million a year.

At the moment renewable energy sources owned by local authorities only account for 0.01 per cent of all the electricity in England. The figure in many countries around Europe is much higher, up to 10 times higher in Germany and the lifting of the ban will help the UK meet EU energy targets as well as domestic ones.

Gary Porter, Chairman of the LGA stated that authority owned renewable energy sources such as wind turbines, solar panels on government buildings such as council homes, leisure centres and town halls could all generate revenue. He said:

"Councils have lots of buildings, from offices and leisure centres to houses and flats, depots and community centres that could be transformed into local green power stations."

The UK is at risk of missing the EU target of 15 per cent of all energy coming from renewable sources by 2020. Mr. Huhne’s lifting of the ban has been a swift and positive move and he said last night:

"For too long, Whitehall's dogmatic reliance on 'big' energy has stood in the way of the vast potential role of local authorities in the UK's green energy revolution.

"This is a vital step to making community renewable projects commercially viable, to bring in long-term income to benefit local areas, and to secure local acceptance for low carbon energy projects."

Author:  Thomas Davies

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