Legal background Wind power
Previously in England and Wales, onshore wind projects with a capacity of 50MW or under require planning permission under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, where local planning authorities generally took the decisions. The construction or extension of onshore wind projects with a capacity greater than 50MW requires consent under the Planning Act 2008 from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. In addition there was a consenting regime in the Electricity Act 1989 for generating stations which have a capacity greater than 50MW, with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change as the decision-maker. However this did not apply where consent was necessary under the Planning Act 2008 - which for onshore wind farms is currently the case.
	The Government has introduced secondary legislation:
under the Planning Act 2008 to amend that Act to remove from it the requirement to obtain a consent before constructing or extending an onshore wind farm with a capacity greater than 50MW; and
under the Electricity Act 1989 to provide in secondary legislation an exemption from the requirement to get consent under that Act for the construction, extension or operation of onshore wind farms greater than 50MW- consents that would be necessary once the Planning Act requirement has been removed. The provision in this Act would place that exemption in the Electricity Act itself.
	The RO is an obligation placed on licensed electricity suppliers. Suppliers must produce, by a specified day, a certain number of renewables obligation certificates (ROCs) in respect of each megawatt hour of electricity that each supplies to customers in Great Britain during a specified period. The RO is administered by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority which issues ROCs to renewable electricity generators in respect of their eligible renewable output.
	The RO is provided for in relation to England and Wales by the Renewables Obligation Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/1947) which is made by the Secretary of State, and in relation to Scotland by the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Order 2009 (S.S.I. 2009/140) which is made by Scottish Ministers. There is also a renewables obligation in Northern Ireland, which is provided by the Renewables Obligation Order (Northern Ireland) 2009 (S.R. 2009/154) made by the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. These complementary obligation orders together in effect create a UK-wide renewables obligation.
	Under the Renewables Obligation Closure Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/2388), the RO in England and Wales, and the RO in Scotland, will close to new generating capacity on 31st March 2017 subject to a number of grace periods. Subsequently, the Renewables Obligation Closure Order 2014 was amended by the Renewables Obligation Closure (Amendment) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/920) to bring forward the closure date for large-scale solar pv stations to 31st March 2015, also subject to certain grace periods. It has also been amended by the Renewables Obligation Closure Etc. (Amendment) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/457) to bring forward the closure date for small-scale solar pv stations to 31st March 2016. In Northern Ireland, the Renewables Obligation Closure Order (Northern Ireland) 2016 (S.I. 2016/174) closed the renewables obligation to new generating capacity from onshore wind generating stations over 5MW on 31st March 2016. The Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment is currently undertaking a consultation process on proposals for the early closure of the renewables obligation to new generating capacity from onshore wind generating stations under 5MW.