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The historical focus of renewable energy policy in the UK, as in most nations, has been on supporting deployment in renewable energy sources of electricity. The adoption of ambitious EU wide targets for renewable energy has forced greater consideration of renewable energy sources of heat (RES-H). The UK pushed ahead rapidly in considering different policy options and legislating a new instrument, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) to support RES-H, a form of tariff mechanism designed with the specifics of RES-H in mind, though translation into application has been slow. The evolutionary process which led to the current policy instrument is considered, along with the need to consider other elements to work with it. This represents a new and novel application of policy to an area where there are few examples of large-scale policies which go beyond direct capital subsidy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK has adopted legal obligations concerning climate change which will place increased stresses on the current ‘traditional’ model of centralised generation. This will include the stimulation of large volumes of intermittent generation, more distributed generation and larger and more variable loads at grid extremities, potentially including large volumes of electric vehicles and heat pumps. Smarter grids have been mooted as a major potential contributor to the decarbonisation of electricity, through facilitation of reduced losses, greater system efficiency, enhanced flexibility to allow the system to deal with intermittent sources and a number of other benefits. This article considers the different policy elements of what will be required for energy delivery in the UK to become smarter, the challenges this presents, the extent to which these are currently under consideration and some of the changes that might be needed in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses both historical and current UK policy relating to renewable energy. It discusses the stated aims of policy, and discusses to what extent policy has addressed these aims, and the level of success enjoyed with respect to each goal. The paper also addresses the context in which UK policy has developed, and the effects this has had on both the creation and employment of that policy. Finally, it comments on the likely future direction of policy in the UK. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]