One of Labour’s first acts in government was to lift the de facto ban on new onshore windfarms introduced by the Conservatives in 2016, which closed off one of the key pathways to clean, cheap energy by the 2030s. This week, progress was resumed as plans were outlined for what would be the most productive onshore windfarm in England. According to developers, the Scout Moor scheme in Greater Manchester could meet 10% of the region’s energy needs by the end of the decade.
As a major new report published on Tuesday makes clear, if Labour’s mission of a clean electricity system by 2030 is to be met, an avalanche of such projects will be required. The publicly owned National Energy System Operator (Neso) estimates that a doubling of onshore wind capacity will be necessary, along with a still bigger expansion of offshore wind and a tripling of solar power. When this is all considered alongside the need to transform the country’s power and transmission networks at an unprecedented pace, the daunting scale of the task becomes clear. Crucially, though, Neso’s analysis finds that the 2030 date is achievable if, to put it non-technically, the government, the energy industry and regulators truly go for it.
Should that happen, above all through reforming and streamlining planning processes, the prize could be enormous. Though previous Conservative governments only paid lip service to the fact, the ethical imperative of reducing carbon emissions and moving towards net zero has always been a huge economic opportunity as well. By moving forward the Conservatives’ clean energy target of 2035, Labour has sent a powerful statement of intent to investors. Backed up by the right regulatory moves and incentives, the accelerated timetable can place Britain ahead of the curve in pioneering the future shape of net zero economies. In a country that has agonised over a post-industrial decline in good jobs, it will also require the rapid training and deployment of a new green workforce – a potential boon for areas that have been starved of such possibilities for decades.
Despite early bravado and high-flown rhetoric from Boris Johnson, the Tories allowed this agenda to lapse, to the point that it was all but sidelined by Rishi Sunak. Little is likely to change under the leadership of his successor, Kemi Badenoch. During her campaign, Ms Badenoch pledged to “defend” the countryside from solar farms and pylons, echoing the vocal opposition of rural Tory MPs and councils.
It would be a mistake to blithely dismiss such concerns. Handled badly, the politics of building the clean energy infrastructure that Britain needs could turn treacherous. But Labour is in office with a massive majority, at a crunch moment. It has the power to set the terms of engagement and shape the debate by ensuring, for example, that communities materially benefit from nearby construction.
The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, correctly frames the choice as one between investment and decline. Prosecuted by a government that mobilises the power of a proactive state, Britain’s green transition can make a step-change towards delivering cleaner, cheaper energy, protected from the volatility experienced in recent years. Future economic possibilities will be unlocked by acting boldly now. Neso’s bracing judgment on Labour’s 2030 clean energy target – “immensely challenging” but “credible” – sounds the starting gun on a race in which there’s no more time to lose.