This is one of the five “missions” that the new British Labour government has set itself, in the words of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, contribute to “rebuild the foundations” The UK government, weakened by fourteen years of Conservative rule, wants to achieve 100% green energy (mainly wind, solar and nuclear) by 2030. An extremely ambitious goal – a little too much, according to some experts – which involves a first emblematic measure, debated on Thursday 5 September in the House of Commons: the creation of the public company Great British Energy (GB Energy).
Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader and now energy minister, has defended in the House of Commons the second reading of the bill which provides for the creation of what amounts to a huge public investment fund, to which £8.3bn should be allocated, partly from a tax on the profits of oil and gas groups. This fund should attract private investment, co-financing projects in emerging technologies (hydrogen, carbon capture).2floating wind farms, tidal energy) or by investing directly in proven technologies: solar, wind, onshore and offshore.
Ed Miliband promises that GB News will ultimately help cut Britons’ energy bills by several hundred pounds a year and contribute to the country’s energy independence by limiting its dependence on gas and acquiring equity stakes in wind farms based in the country’s territorial waters. Today, about 45% of them are owned by foreign companies. “Does he realise that the city of Munich has more assets in energy produced in the UK than the British state itself? GB Energy will not become EDF overnight, but will create jobs and increase the energy security of our country.”said Ed Miliband on Thursday.
Strong signals for clean electricity
The country’s progress is already significant: ten years ago, almost 40% of its electricity was generated by coal. Today, it only contributes 1% of the electricity mix. On 30 September, the country’s last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, will close for good. The proportion of electricity produced without fossil fuels rose from less than 20% in 2010 to almost 50% in 2020. The 2030 target still requires doubling onshore wind capacity, tripling solar capacity and quadrupling offshore wind capacity, to reach a production of 60 gigawatts (GW).
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