Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology
The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology, previously known as Renewable Energy Association, is a renewable energy and clean technology trade association in the UK encompassing all of renewables industry in the United Kingdom. REA covers renewable power & flexibility, heat and cooling, circular bioresources and transport. The REA is a not-for-profit company.
History
The Renewable Power Association was established in 2001 as a not-for-profit trade association, representing British renewable energy producers and promoting the use of renewable energy in the UK. The company changed its name in November 2005 to Renewable Energy Association. Renewable Energy Association was merged with the Association for Organics Recycling in September 2012, the latter becoming the "Organics Recycling Group" under REA. The Company name was officially changed again to The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology in October 2019.Activities
Lobbying and Regulation
on Energy Storage, for which the REA was the secretariat between its founding in July 2015 and its last registration in November 2019.All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Electric Vehicles, for which the REA is the secretariat since November 2017.
The campaign for net-zero aviation in the UK, led by the Jet Zero Council, which is a partnership between industry and the UK Government with the aim of delivering zero-emission transatlantic flight within a generation. Dr Nina Skorupska CBE is a member of this council in her capacity as the CEO of the REA.
REA has reported significant reduction in greenhouse gases can be obtained by use of biofuels rather than fossil fuels.
Government Criticism
REA has been critical of the UK Governments' lack of funding for the production of electricity from organic waste, a failure to define policies to meet the European-wide energy targets, reductions to the Feed-in tariff and the lack of a robust framework for renewables.REA supported the environmental audit committee in calling for the government to cut VAT on repairs fort electrical goods and green home improvements.
On 21 September 2021 REA published its report Energy Transition Readiness Index 2021 and warned that urgent action was needed make the UK Electricity grid more flexible to cate for more variable types of energy coming online, one of the points raised that as electricity storage facilities were treated as generators and charge both for transmission of electricity to and from the storage over the grid which was a disincentive for investment in the technology.
Safety
The REA provides guidance on health and safety at operational sites.During the COVID-19 pandemic, the REA aimed to support its members and others by making the UK Government aware of the impact of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions on industry, networking between members to dispose of additional food and drinks waste caused by the closure of restaurants, and providing details to members of financial support available.
Standards
The British Standard's Institute Publicly Available Specifications 100 & 110, concerning compost quality and anaerobic digestate quality.REA, through its subsidiary, launched the UK's first Electric Vehicle Consumer Code in 2020, a voluntary scheme for domestic charge point installers.