Boost for onshore wind as the government has launched major onshore wind plan to reverse near decade of sector stagnation in England. It aims to boost its aim to become a clean energy superpower and protect households from global gas price spikes. It also introduces measures to revitalise industry by unlocking up to 45,000 jobs in onshore wind by 2030, through the Plan for Change.
Ministers want to give a boost for onshore wind by expanding the country’s onshore wind capacity from 14.8GW to 27-29GW by the end of the decade. Last year, Labour axed the de facto ban on building onshore wind farms introduced by David Cameron’s Conservative government.
The government’s move puts onshore wind on an equal planning footing to offshore wind and nuclear, and paves the way for projects to be rolled out faster in the coming years. As part of the plan, the government set out 40 actions for ministers and industry to take to hit the 2030 target. These include planning reforms, building supply chains and skilled workforces, resolving issues over how onshore turbines and aerospace infrastructure can co-exist, repowering old turbines, and exploring plans to expand the clean industry bonus for onshore wind.
In the foreword to the plan, Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “As one of the cheapest and fastest-to-build sources of power we have, onshore wind will play a critical role in boosting our energy independence with clean power by 2030. The reality is that every turbine we build helps protect families, businesses and the public finances from future fossil fuel shocks.”
The Government says communities that host wind farms will benefit from money for community initiatives, such as new football pitches or libraries, or even bill discount schemes. A typical 25MW wind farm paying the industry standard of £5,000 per MW of installed capacity per year could deliver £3.75 million of funding to be redistributed among the community on local initiatives of their choosing over a 30-year operating life, according to the strategy document.
However, supporters of expanding wind capacity point to serious concerns for new energy projects struggling to connect to the grid that could endanger the UK’s Clean Power 2030 targets. Currently, the grid connections queue holds a capacity of 750GW across transmission and distribution networks, which is believed to damage investor confidence and hinder the completion of valuable clean energy projects who are struggling to get connected.
At the same time China is far ahead in the race to power the future. Though China still emits more climate pollutants than the U.S. and Europe do combined, it is pivoting to cleaner power at breakneck speed.
More wind turbines and solar panels were installed in China last year than in the rest of the world, and the country’s clean energy boom is going global. Chinese companies are building electric vehicle and battery factories in Brazil, Thailand, Morocco, Hungary and beyond. The country already dominates global manufacturing of several clean energy devices, and with each passing month, it widens its technological lead.
Context: At the same time, the U.S. is pushing oil and gas. Both countries’ strategies are driven largely by national security. China, unlike the U.S., doesn’t have much easily accessible oil or gas of its own, so it is eager to eliminate dependence on imported fossil fuels and power more of its economy with renewables.