Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks heard calls from all panel members to support a Renewable Tariff at the Energy 2020 fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Manchester.

REA had a strong turn out for the Energy 2020 fringe. Philip Wolfe and Andy Atkins (new Director of Friends of the Earth) set out the case for a much more vigorous approach, including through the use of the Energy Bill.  John Slaugher of the Home Builders Federation said they were supporting the RET campaign as the construction industry needed the Tariff mechanism (including renewable heat) to deliver on the 2016 zero carbon homes agenda.  Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks described renewables as 'crucial' but joked, 'campaigners have fun about how bad we are'.  He described the perennial problems with planning, particularly for wind. He agreed extra incentives were needed for 'microgen' and the Energy Bill was in their sights. 

With the usual confusion around what the minister means when he says 'microgen' Lord Larry Whitty made a strong case for expanding the Tariff vision to include more substantial local applications including offices, farmers, new build and the public sector.  The Minister appeared to take this on board saying we 'had to be ambitious' about a Tariff, and gave an example of a local business sector development in his constituency that could qualify.  However, when Andy Atkins tried to pin possible scale down the Minister evaded a direct answer. The minister did not rule a tariff in or out, and agreed that "new measures are needed for microgeneration and commercial and community renewables".

Mr Wicks also attacked the microrenewables industry saying it had to put its own house in order - 'over to you guys - we have provided the framework' - which raised a few eyebrows.  He joked that microwind companies hadn't worked out how to put the turbines on the roof. He stressed the need to get the planning bill through for renewables where the arguments needed to be won.

The Minister said that he didn't see nuclear, renewables and CCS in competition. 

The full panel was made up of Lord Whitty, Andy Atkins (the new director of Friends of the Earth), John Slaughter (of the House Builders Federation) and it was chaired by Philip Wolfe.