Labour’s Green Energy Plan Is To Double Down On More Green Energy

The key policy unveiled by Labour is to replace one unrealistic objective with another. Boris Johnson’s aim to have a carbon-free energy grid by 2035 has been brought forward to 2030 by Sir Keir Starmer.

This is to be achieved by quadrupling offshore wind farms, doubling the number on land, and tripling the production of solar power, all within six years, assuming an election in 2024 that Labour wins. [bold, links added]

Sir Keir said this would deliver a new era of economic growth and permanently lower energy bills by turning the UK into a green “superpower”.

The move towards a greener, non-carbon future is one shared across the political divide and around the world. The issue is how fast this can be achieved.

Countries like China and India have committed to net zero but not for decades – arguing their economies are at different stages from the West.

America has lowered its emissions [thanks to natural gas] and is working on many of the new green technologies, but has a target of 2050.

For as long as the biggest emitters are still pumping out CO2, the UK’s contribution is minuscule.

Sir Keir said the aim was to make the UK self-sufficient in electricity by the end of the decade but this is simply not possible.

We will need to continue importing gas for electricity long after 2030 because renewables will not produce enough energy, not least on windless, cloudy days.

Moreover, the way the energy market is currently constructed, electricity from renewables is priced at the same high level as gas. This needs to change.

Labour’s plan is essentially to make the country more dependent on imported gas, not less, certainly in the medium term.

Using our own resources, including shale, is a better approach.

Read more at Telegraph