Small businesses are being invited to join the renewable onshore energy revolution.
A new renewable energy toolkit has been launched for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
The Institute for Sustainability’s offer helps SMEs take advantage of the “significant opportunities” presented by the demand for green technologies in the UK’s low carbon built environment supply chain.
This means it can open up new doors for SMEs wishing to invest in renewables.
What are the aims of the Renewable Energy Toolkit?
– to help would-be investors such as asset managers and property owners grasp the violability and relevance of certain technologies plus how they may best be utilised
– to explain how you could benefit from the Government incentives and support available
– to encourage the planet to move towards a more sustainable low-carbon tomorrow
– to help SMEs raise their knowledge of renewables markets
What is in the toolkit?
This downloadable online guide details the renewable power resources at our disposal, local supply chains, and current and future incentives and policies. It also contains case studies of how renewables have been used in buildings-related schemes, and latest market intelligence.
This can be a highly-complex technical subject. But the toolkit guide comprises easy-to-follow explanations of all the major renewable power technologies. These include wind farms, hydropower and anaerobic digestion. The guide then goes on to outline the opportunities available to SMEs among each of these categories.
It is partly-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This means it has a sight bias towards the south-east. This includes a useful renewables sources map of the region. But most of the toolkit’s contents pertain to a UK-wide audience.
So are energy-generating renewables a safe bet?
Yes. The Government estimates that the industry looks set to double from 15% of the UK energy market last year to 30% by the end of the decade.
By this time, ministers say, £40 billion worth of investment is expected to be ploughed into the sector. The demand for renewables is being driven by reduced technology costs besides the Government’s incentive projects. These include the Renewable Heat Incentive’s (RHI) scheme and Feed-in Tariff. More and more small businesses are turning to renewable energy for a workable alternative to normal energy sources.
How do I get a toolkit?
Visit http://renewablestoolkit.instituteforsustainability.org.uk/.
What is the Institute?
It is a five-year-old independent charity to back and promote trans-industry innovations and partnerships in accelerating a future where cities are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable. Low-carbon initiatives are central to its plans.
What does it say about renewables?
Its chief executive, Ian Short, says renewable energy is set not only to play a leading part in assisting the country hit all carbon reduction targets. It will also, he says, address energy security at a time when traditional resources are growing increasingly finite. He claims that investment in the likes of heat pumps, hydropower, biomass, wind and solar affords huge developing markets for installers and suppliers alike. This is presenting UK SMEs with “significant” opportunities as regards those in built environment industries.
