Unveiling its new Energy Security Strategy on Wednesday, the federal government set out plans to generate 95% of Britain’s electrical energy from low carbon sources by 2030.
“[The plan] can be central to weaning Britain off costly fossil fuels, that are topic to risky fuel costs set by worldwide markets we’re unable to regulate,” the federal government stated in an announcement.
Under the brand new technique, the federal government will velocity up development of offshore wind farms by reforming planning legal guidelines — and hopes they’ll generate sufficient electrical energy to energy each dwelling within the nation by 2030.
The authorities additionally goals to construct as many as eight nuclear reactors over the subsequent decade. It hopes nuclear vitality can provide 1 / 4 of UK electrical energy by 2050.
France’s EDF, which operates six nuclear vegetation within the United Kingdom and is the lead investor in a brand new nuclear energy station as a result of come on-line in 2026, welcomed the announcement.
“Building extra new nuclear will cut back Britain’s dependence on abroad fuel and hold vitality costs secure,” Simone Rossi, EDF Energy UK’s CEO stated in an announcement.
But fossil fuels are getting a brand new lease of life. Government plans embody a licensing spherical later this yr for extra oil and fuel drilling within the North Sea, based mostly on “the significance of those fuels to the [energy] transition and to [the UK’s] vitality safety,” the federal government stated. Soaring fuel and electrical energy costs have left thousands and thousands of individuals dealing with the worst cost-of-living disaster in 30 years. The nation’s vitality regulator, Ofgem, lifted its worth cap — the utmost suppliers can cost clients per unit of vitality — by a whopping 54% firstly of April, elevating vitality payments for about 22 million households to round £2,000 ($2,616) a yr.
The cap is prone to go even greater in October, piling extra ache on shoppers.