Abstract:
This chapter describes the sweeping reforms in UK renewable energy policy implemented in 2015, placing these events in historical and European context and analysing the discourse and underlying rationale from which they emerged. Focusing on renewable electricity policy, the chapter begins with a detailed overview of the reforms implemented around support mechanisms in the UK, summarising the implications for different technologies and scales of deployment. Drawing on reports and statements issued by the newly elected 2015 government, and analysing reforms in context of UK’s broader energy and climate mitigation policy, it then moves to identify the narratives and rationale underlying the reforms, finding that historical and deep-rooted party political narratives around renewable energy have remained virtually unchanged since debates leading up to the 1990 Electricity Act.
