‘Wholly inadequate’: Government’s Energy Security Strategy ‘fails to rise to the challenge facing the country’

The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) described the Energy Security Strategy as ‘wholly inadequate’, saying that the Government ‘failed to rise to the challenge facing the country’.

While the REA welcomes commitments regarding solar, hydrogen and offshore wind, they say that the Energy Security Strategy locks the country into more expensive, longer to build, non-renewable power sources, which comes with its own energy security concerns.

The Energy Security Strategy also fails to set out how extra renewables will be supported, ignores a swathe of technologies, and raises as many questions as it answers. The failure to adequately boost the delivery of onshore wind projects was also cited as a major disappointment. REA says the plans will not help deliver an energy system which is independent, secure or stable.

Ahead of the release of the Energy Security Strategy, the REA stressed the need for the Government to help people quickly transition away from fossil fuels and onto renewables, as well as reducing heat demand through better insulation. They say that, while the Energy Security Strategy should have offered a long-term plan for the UK’s energy future, it should have also turbocharged support for technologies which can meet the challenges of today through the expansion of the Energy Company Obligation scheme. The Association says that the failure to invest in energy efficiency measures ‘will condemn people to continued financial hardship for the foreseeable future.’

Dr Nina Skorupska CBE, Chief Executive of the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA), said:

“The Energy Security Strategy is wholly inadequate. If ever there was a time for the Government to be bold, this was it, but they have failed to rise to the challenge facing the country.

“Of course, we welcome commitments on solar, hydrogen and offshore wind, but the Government’s plans will lock the UK into more expensive, longer to build, non-renewable power sources. It ignores a huge swathe of other renewable technologies and the approach to onshore wind is totally inadequate.

“The Government also needed to turbocharge support for technologies which could tackle the cost of living crisis, and not just focus solely on developments which won’t come to fruition for another 5, 10, 15 years. For example, a £200m increase in the ECO home energy efficiency scheme would have helped thousands of households save around £600 a year on their energy bills. The Treasury’s refusal to offer this support will condemn people to continued financial hardship for the foreseeable future.

“The UK needs to move rapidly to an energy system which is independent, secure and stable – this Strategy will simply not achieve that.”