The government announced a shake-up of its controversial grant system for renewable energy technologies yesterday but was sharply criticised by green campaigners who said it does not go far enough.
The Department for Business (BERR) said that the system for allocating grants in the Low Carbon Buildings Programme would be speeded up and more generous grants would be available for technologies such as wind turbines or biomass boilers for public buildings or those owned by charities. Grants available to households would be extended until 2010.
However, a BERR spokeswoman said no extra money would be put into the scheme, which was launched two years ago with total funding of about £80m over three years. The scheme has suffered from a series of problems with applications leading to a huge underspend, enabling the department to relaunch the programme with the original funding. The £12m initially allocated for households still has £10m in the pot while the £50m for public buildings has only seen £9m committed.
Britain installed fewer than 300 solar photovoltaic systems on houses last year while Germany, for example, installed 130,000. Britain remains one of the worst countries in Europe for installing renewable energy, which accounts for less than 2% of its total energy supply.
Energy minister Malcolm Wicks said: "Many people tell me they want to do their bit to help combat climate change but are put off by the hassle involved. These changes remove those barriers."
But campaign groups were furious. Friends of the Earth's low carbon homes campaigner, Ed Matthew, said: "The government's response continues to be woeful. The LCBP should be 10 times bigger, with funds of £1bn, providing at least 50% grants for renewable technologies for every household."
Andrew Cooper of the Renewable Energy Association said he was "shocked". "Making a failing programme fail over a longer period is not a solution. It is no longer the Low Carbon Buildings Programme it is the Slow Carbon Buildings Programme."
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