Preparing the ground

Regen SW has commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Energy and Geofutures to develop a region-wide GIS heat demand map for the south west. The map models heat demand down to the individual building scale, based on a range of datasets.

Regen SW's Renewable Energy Progress Report provides a yearly update on the deployment of renewables across the south west. The report contains a summary of renewable electricity projects installed in the south west and a breakdown by county area, and the key points and lessons from the year are highlighted. The non-domestic data from the report is used on our online project map

The SW planners toolkit offers online support with the Planning Policy Statement 1 (PPS1) supplement on Climate Change to planning officers.

Regen SW and its partners have commissioned updated onshore renewable energy resource assessments for the south west, including wind, hydro, heat demand, biomass and microgeneration potential. GIS data for these assessments is available to local authorities in the south west through our LA membership, or with a administration charge.

The Feed in Tariff (FIT) commenced on 1 April 2010. The FIT is a significant new government financial incentive for renewable electricity projects up to 5MW in size (equivalent to two large wind turbines) installed after 15 July 2009. It offers a payment for every unit of renewable electricity generated (a generation tariff), as well as an additional payment for every unit of electricity that is exported to the grid (an export tariff).

The Renewable Heat Incentive is a Government scheme that provides financial support to non-domestic renewable heat generators and producers of biomethane.

The Localism Bill was laid before Parliament for its first reading on 13 December 2010. It constitutes an overhaul of the current relationships between central and local government and local communities.

Regen SW has produced a summary of the bill and its implications, which can be downloaded below.