RenewableUK, the UK's leading renewable energy trade body, has today welcomed the announcement of the new coalition Government.

Maria McCaffery MBE, RenewableUK Chief Executive said, "We congratulate the new Prime Minister and his Cabinet members and, as an association, look forward to working closely with all the relevant departments on delivering our renewable energy targets. The key now is to capitalise on our vast renewable energy potentials and on the progress which has already been made, in order to deliver green collar jobs, energy security and carbon emission reductions."

In its pre-election Manifesto published earlier this year, RenewableUK identified financial support, grid, planning and skills and supply chain as four key policy challenges for the wind and marine technologies it represents. The Manifesto concludes that overcoming these obstacles could, by 2020, bring into existence a world class renewables industry, providing 70,000 jobs and a full third of the nation’s electricity – up from 5,000 jobs and 7% of electricity today.

Commenting on the Coalition Agreement published today by the Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition partners McCaffery said: “We are delighted that the agreement seeks to increase the target for energy from renewable sources, and are eagerly anticipating further details on the relationship between the renewables obligation and feed-in tariff mechanisms. This is essential in order to maintain investor confidence.

We are also pleased with how substantial the set of environmental policies is even at this early stage. During the life of this Parliament and according to the Agreement we could be looking at smart meters, the creation of a green investment bank and measures to encourage marine energy, which are all initiatives fully endorsed by RenewableUK.”