At that time, we’d seen the manifesto headlines and we reported on your reactions. Since then, the announcements have been coming thick and fast, so below we include an update of what happened in Labour’s first month.
On the face of it, the news makes for positive reading, with billions of pounds being put on the table, alongside various new groups and committees tasked with removing barriers and accelerating the energy transition.
But what do you think? Will the plans translate into real change on the ground? Are the right barriers being targeted in the right way?
Please write to us at news@renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk with your views.
Ed Miliband’s priorities
The scene was set for what’s to come with the new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, outlining his priorities for the department as follows:
- Delivering the mission to boost energy independence and cutting bills through clean power by 2030
- Taking back control of our energy with Great British Energy
- Upgrading Britain’s homes and cutting fuel poverty through the Warm Homes Plan
- Standing up for consumers by reforming the energy system
- Creating good jobs in Britain’s industrial heartlands, including a just transition for the industries based in the North Sea
- Leading on international climate action, based on our domestic achievements
Mr Miliband was previously the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change between 2008 and 2010.
Ed Miliband with the Kensa Shoebox on a visit to the Kensa Group factory
New National Wealth Fund
Work has begun to align the UK Infrastructure Bank and the British Business Bank under a new National Wealth Fund (NWF) that will invest in industries of the future.
A new taskforce met early in July to kickstart the work, chaired by the Green Finance Institute, alongside former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Barclays CEO C.S Venkatakrishnan, Aviva CEO Dame Amanda Blanc and large institutional investors.
A total of £7.3bn of additional funding will be allocated through the UK Infrastructure Bank so investments can start being made immediately, focusing on further priority sectors and catalysing private investment. This funding is in addition to existing UKIB funding.
Reforms will be made to the British Business Bank to unlock billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s world-leading green industries.
The NWF is expected to make ‘transformative investments’ across every part of the country, supporting thousands of jobs, working with local partners including regional mayors.
New legislation will be brought forward to cement the fund in statute and make it a permanent institution.
Mission Control for Clean Power
A new ‘control centre’ has been established, tasked with delivering the mission of clean power by 2030. Former chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, Chris Stark, has been appointed to lead the new Mission Control.
This will be a one-stop shop, bringing together a team of industry experts to focus on accelerating the transition away from volatile fossil fuel markets to clean, homegrown power, to boost Britain’s energy independence and cut bills.
It will work with key energy companies and organisations including the regulator Ofgem, the National Grid and the Electricity System Operator to remove obstacles and identify and resolve issues as they arise. It also aims to speed up the connection of new power infrastructure to the grid.
Great British Energy launched
The Great British Energy Bill has been introduced to create a new publicly-owned company – Great British Energy – to be backed by £8.3m of new investment during the course of this Parliament.
The Government says billions of pounds worth of investment in clean power will be unlocked through a new partnership between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate.
The ‘unprecedented’ partnership has the potential to leverage up to £60bn of private investment into the UK’s drive for energy independence.
Former CEO of Siemens UK, Juergen Maier, will chair the new company.
The Crown Estate has a £16bn portfolio of land and seabed, operates independently, returning its profits to the Government.
The Crown Estate estimates the partnership will lead to up to 20-30GW of new offshore wind developments reaching seabed lease stage by 2030, enough power for the equivalent of almost 20 million homes.
The partnership will boost Britain’s energy independence by investing in homegrown power, and with accompanying reforms to policy, cut the time it takes to get offshore wind projects operating and delivering power to homes by up to half.
This partnership will see the public sector taking on a new role for offshore wind projects. This will ensure that future offshore wind development has lower risk for developers, enabling projects to build out faster after leasing and crowding in private sector investment. It will also help boost new technologies such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, wave and tidal energy.
Great British Energy will have five key functions:
- Project development – leading projects through development stages to speed up their delivery, whilst capturing more value for the British public
- Project investment – investing in energy projects alongside the private sector, helping get them off the ground
- Local Power Plan – supporting local energy generation projects through working with local authorities, combined authorities and communities
Supply chains – building supply chains across the UK, boosting energy independence and creating jobs
- Great British Nuclear – exploring how Great British Energy and Great British Nuclear will work together, including considering how Great British Nuclear functions will fit with Great British Energy.
Record £1.5bn funding for clean energy
A record CfD budget has been announced to deliver homegrown clean energy projects.
Ed Miliband announced the budget for this year’s renewable energy auction is being increased by £500 million to over £1.5 billion – a record budget – helping build new green infrastructure as part of the mission to deliver clean power by 2030.
Funding will accelerate the delivery of clean, cheap, low-carbon electricity to families and businesses, generated by renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels.
It includes £1.1 billion for offshore wind – which has more budget available than all of the previous auctions combined.
Industry will now bid for a share of the funding through the government’s sixth renewable auction – known as the Contracts for Difference scheme – which provides developers with initial subsidies for clean electricity projects across Britain with a built-in design to keep costs low for billpayers.
These subsidies are paid back when wholesale electricity prices are higher than the agreed Contract for Difference price.
The scheme’s design means the central government’s budget will not be impacted, following findings from a Treasury spending audit revealed £22 billion of unfunded pledges inherited from the previous government.
The Allocation Round 6 (AR6) budget includes:
- £1.1 billion for offshore wind, an uplift of £300 million
- £185 million for established technologies such as onshore wind and solar, an uplift of £65 million
- £270 million for emerging technologies such as floating offshore wind and tidal, an uplift of £165 million
New ‘Mission Board’ meets
Ed Miliband chaired the first meeting of a new Mission Board – a forum bringing together ministers from across government to focus on delivering the ‘clean energy superpower’ mission.
New Onshore Wind Taskforce
One of the first actions of the new Labour Government was to remove two planning policy tests which previously made it all but impossible to bring forward onshore wind farms.
The removal of the tests, which only applied to onshore wind farms, means these applications will now be treated the same way as other energy development proposals.
No large-scale wind farms have been built in England for many years, but Labour has pledged to double onshore wind capacity to 35GW by 2030.
To this end, a new Onshore Wind Taskforce has been set up, chaired by Ed Miliband and EDF Renewables CEO, Matthieu Hue. The taskforce will ‘drive action across industry and Government to unblock barriers to rapidly increase onshore wind capacity’.
Solar Taskforce resumes
Labour aims to triple solar power to 50 GW by 2030 and unblock solar projects. Ed Miliband quickly gave consent to three nationally significant solar farms which were held up by the previous government.
It has also reactivated the Solar Taskforce, which was started under the previous government and chaired by Solar Energy UK’s CE Chris Hewett. It will now be co-chaired by Ed Miliband.
Publication of the taskforce’s Solar Roadmap had been imminently expected before the election was announced. It will now need to be revised in line with Labour’s new ambitions.
Implementing a National Energy System Operator (NESO)
Labour plans to continue the policy and organisational design of the new National Energy System Operator.
It is working with Ofgem, the National Grid, the Electricity System Operator and the National Gas Transmission to implement NESO and ensure a smooth transition.
This new independent organisation will adopt a ‘whole system approach’ to strengthening energy security, helping to deliver net zero and ensuring household bills are affordable in the long-term.
The key energy pledges
Clean power by 2030
- Double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind by 2030
- Invest in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and marine energy
- The lifetime of existing nuclear plants will be extended
- A strategic reserve of gas power stations will be maintained – existing licences will not be revoked, but new ones won’t be issued
Great British Energy
- Create a new publicly-owned company called Great British Energy
- It will be given £8.3bn to create jobs and build supply chains across the UK, including to facilitate local energy production
Energy system reform
- Work with industry to upgrade national transmission infrastructure and rewire Britain
- Ensure a tougher system of regulation that puts customers first
Warm Homes Plan
- Invest an extra £6.6bn over the next parliament to upgrade five million homes to cut bills
- Offer grants and low interest loans to support investment in insulation and improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low carbon heating
- Work with private sector to provide further private finance to accelerate home upgrades
- Ensure homes in private rented meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030
- Cut energy bills for good, taking up to £1,400 off the annual household bill and £53 billion off for businesses
High-quality jobs
- Invest in industries of the future through the National Wealth Fund to create 650,000 new jobs by 2030
- Reward clean energy developers with a British Jobs Bonus, allocating up to £500m per year from 2026
Accelerating to net zero
- Support the introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism
- Make the UK the ‘green finance capital of the world’, mandating UK-regulated financial institutions to implement credible transition plans that align with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris agreement.
Image credit: Dreamstime, Kensa
Excerpt: Are the Government targeting the right barriers in the right way?
Tags: Government, legislation, Great British Energy, Labour, Solar, Clean energy, clean power, warm homes plan,
