Scepticism grows over the viability of green projects

The Times
January 29, 2009
Robin Pagnamenta, Energy and Environment Editor

Lord Turner of Ecchinswell is to investigate the collapse of funding for renewable energy projects in Britain after the recent exit of a string of companies, including BP and Shell.
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and of the Government’s Committee on Climate Change, said that the study was a response to mounting scepticism over the Government’s plans for a huge expansion of wind and tidal power.
He said he was concerned that a number of key projects had been thrown into jeopardy, including London Array, a £3 billion scheme to build the world’s largest offshore wind park in the Thames Estuary. “We have to make sure that the present climate does not set back our plans,” he said.
Doubts have surfaced over the Government’s commitment to cut UK greenhouse gas emissions by at least 34 per cent by 2020 as falling oil prices and the global credit crisis have triggered a funding crisis. Last week E.ON, the German utility group, and Masdar, a fund controlled by Abu Dhabi, said that they were reconsidering the viability of the London Array.

Shell pulled out of the scheme last year, citing spiralling costs, while BP also said it was abandoning the UK’s renewable energy sector, blaming a lack of incentives. Gordon Brown has put the creation of thousands of “green-collar” jobs at the centre of his plans for an economic recovery.
Lord Turner said that his findings would be published in September, alongside details of the Government’s progress so far on meeting newly established annual carbon budgets. The comments came after James Rogers, the chairman of Duke Energy, one of America’s largest utility companies, said that the credit crunch was forcing power companies to develop new funding models to make the investments necessary to tackle climate change, a key focus in Davos.
Mr Rogers said that a revolution in the way in which America produces and uses energy had the potential to lead the world out of recession, but energy companies would need to tap into new sources of nonbank funding, including sovereign wealth funds and rich investors from the Middle East and Asia.
Duke, which plans to invest $25 billion (£17.5billion) over the next five years in wind, solar and nuclear power stations, is seeking to bypass banks altogether by establishing an in-house team to build long-term direct relationships with potential investors in Asia, and China, including national banks, wealthy individuals and pooled funds.
Mr Rogers said: “I don’t think it is going to go back to business as usual. The crisis has really motivated a rethink about how we raise finance. In some ways this is a return to the pre1980s’ model of investment where it will be about a set of long-term relationships.”