LONDON, March 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
Figures released today (2nd March) reveal that £5.2 billion worth of construction contracts for 1,095 renewable energy projects were awarded in 2014, which includes a record amount of solar power projects worth over £1.7 billion.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140620/693498 )
The recent data from Barbour ABI, a sister company of Ecobuild and a chosen provider of construction data for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Government, revealed last year renewable energy planning applications increased by 26 per cent compared with 2013, continuing the trend of year on year growth in the sector. Whilst the renewable sector benefited from high levels of investment in 2014, 45 per cent (409 projects) of renewable wind projects submitted for detail planning were refused at the planning stage, considerably higher than the average refusal rate of 12 per cent across the construction sector.
The figures also illustrated that solar energy projects had the biggest increase in approvals year on year in 2014, increasing by 59 per cent. Furthermore, 611 solar farms with a value of over £100,000 were submitted for planning in 2014, compared to only three solar farms in 2010, showing rapid growth for this sector over the last five years. Additionally the total contract values for renewable wind projects increased by 23 per cent year on year in 2014.
Michael Dall, lead economist at Barbour ABI commented "Looking across the construction industry as a whole, for wind projects refusals to be running at 45 per cent demonstrates there is clearly difficulties that likely range from the size and scope of the projects to public objections. On the flipside, wind projects contributed to 44 per cent (£2.27 billion) of the total amount of contracts awarded for renewable energy last year, boosted by many large-scale projects such as the £105 million Corriegarth and £52.5 million Millennium South wind farms."
"The value of the 409 wind projects refused planning permission in 2014 totalled a planned spend of £1.58 billion, a significant figure to the construction industry. Alongside the increased importance of renewable projects to the UK energy sector, more may need to be done to look at reducing the refusal percentage of wind projects."
About Barbour ABI:
Barbour ABI is a leading provider of construction intelligence services. With a team of in-house research specialists and a dedicated lead economist, it provides commercially relevant insight and unique analysis of trends and developments within the building and construction industry.
Barbour ABI is the chosen provider of Construction New Orders data to the Office for National Statistics and the Government's Construction and Infrastructure Pipeline, outlining future construction and infrastructure projects where public funding is agreed. Barbour ABI also provides data for independent organisations, such as the Construction Products Association.
Barbour ABI is part of global events-led marketing services and communications company, UBM, and is headquartered in Cheshire Oaks, Cheshire.
For more information, go to http://www.barbour-abi.com or follow us on Twitter @BarbourABI for all the latest construction data news.
About UBM:
UBM helps businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and sellers together at events and online, as well as producing and distributing news and specialist content. Its 5,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into expert teams which serve commercial and professional communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.
For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com or follow us on Twitter at @UBM_plc for all the latest UBM corporate news.
Notes to editors:
Press enquiries to:
Jonathan Touhey at Barbour ABI
e: jonathan.touhey@barbour-abi.com
t: +44(0)151-353-3605
Share this article