Renewable energy industry urges new Prime Minister to scale up on clean power

“Cutting people’s energy bills and boosting energy security will be high on the new Prime Minister’s agenda, so we’re keen to work with Mr Sunak to achieve this as fast as possible.

“This means pulling out all the stops to quadruple our offshore wind capacity by 2030, as it’s the UK’s cheapest source of new power. This will deliver nearly 100,000 jobs and over £150 billion in private investment. It will also enable us to secure massive industrial benefits with factories opening up in ports around the UK as we build up our supply chain.

“We’re also urging the new Prime Minister to maintain the Conservatives’ commitment to lifting the block on onshore wind in England, as it has the support of over 70% of the public and over 80% of Conservative voters.

“We need a wide range of power sources to get us to net zero as fast as possible, including floating wind, tidal energy and green hydrogen – and the UK is a world leader in all of these technologies.

“But to seize these opportunities we’re urging Mr Sunak to reassess of some of the Conservatives’ recent measures which risk undermining confidence among investors, such as the energy price cap which could skew investment towards fossil fuels. We also need to see a reform of our system of clean power auctions to increase the volume of new capacity we secure each year. And we need a new remit for Ofgem so that it can start investing in vital new grid infrastructure ahead of time so that we can reach net zero as fast as possible”.