Hazel Blears, the communities secretary, recently announced that Entec, the environmental and engineering consultant, had been asked to review the planning system with the aim of enabling small businesses to install microgenerators. Its brief is to look at the barriers that inhibit the installation of small-scale renewable and low-carbon technologies and consider whether they could be classed as "permitted development". The UK generates between 2% to 5% of its energy from renewable sources and recent press reports have suggested that it is unlikely to meet the EU target of 20% by 2020. A leaked briefing paper prepared by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform suggests that reaching 9% will be a challenge.
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