The government has announced plans to use brownfield land to decouple electricity and gas prices, as energy secretary Ed Miliband promises to “double down not back down” on green power.
Ed Miliband outlines “further and faster” energy security measures at a conference in London
In a speech delivered at the Good Growth Foundation’s National Growth Debate in Westminster yesterday (21 April), Miliband set out plans to accelerate renewable energy deployment and electrify heating and transport to reduce fossil fuel reliance.
Miliband’s national programme will see renewables built on publicly owned land. Working with the Ministry of Defence, Network Rail, Forestry England and other public landowners, the government will deliver wind, solar and battery facilities on unused brownfield sites to unlock around 10 gigawatts of capacity.
The deceleration comes just weeks after the government signed the contracts for the UK’s first fleet of small modular reactors, consented the UK’s largest-ever solar project and published its plan to implement the Fingleton Review – an overhaul of the nuclear system intended to speed up building and cut costs.
“As we face the second fossil fuel shock in less than five years, the lesson for our country is clear: the era of fossil fuel security is over, and the era of clean energy security must come of age,” Miliband said.
“For Britain and so many other countries, clean energy is now the only route to financial security, energy security and indeed national security. […] This government believes that clean energy is the great industrial and economic project for our country in the 21st century.”
Currently, the UK is exposed to global price shocks because because 30% of its electricity generation comes from gas, while 90% of family homes rely on gas or oil for heating, around 70% of industrial processes rely on fossil fuels and 90% of cars run on petrol or diesel.
“This has been a huge drag on growth and living standards for decades, because half of the UK’s recessions since 1970 have been caused by fossil fuel shocks,” Miliband added.
Since 2010, homegrown renewables in the UK have gone from generating around 7% of our electricity to over 50% today, with gas setting the price of electricity 60% of the time – down from 90% in the early 2020s. Labour said it aimed for gas to set the wholesale price around half of the time by 2030.
Rob Wall, assistant director at the British Property Federation, welcomed the “broad thrust” of Miliband’s plans, particularly the use of public land for solar, but warned the programme overlooked several vital issues.
“Once again, there’s next to nothing when it comes to support for decarbonising commercial buildings and little recognition of the huge impact of grid constraints on development,” he said.
“At a time of rising construction costs and when project viability is under increasing pressure, the more certainty the government can give to these issues now the better – not least when considering the large capital outlay many property businesses will have to account for when playing their part in this transition to cleaner forms of energy and increased energy efficiency.”
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