The government is set to use British seabed owned by the Royal Family to help build windfarms which it hopes will power 20 million homes. It is the first major plan to be announced by Great British Energy, the government’s new company aimed at increasing renewable energy which will receive £8.3bn in state funding over the next five years.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband claimed the initiative would “lead to lower bills” for households. But the Conservatives said GB Energy is “nothing but a gimmick that will end up costing families” The deal with the Crown Estate means that the monarchy’s land and property business will lease the land on which windfarms can be developed and built.
The Crown Estate owns the majority of the seabed which stretches up to 12 nautical miles from the mainland.
Mr Miliband claimed investments in windfarms as well as other renewables such as solar energy will eventually lead to lower bills, but “it’s not going to happen overnight”. He told BBC Breakfast that as renewable energy projects “start coming online we’ll start to see the effect on bills. We are going as fast as we can.
Labour’s hope is that GB Energy, a key manifesto pledge, will reduce UK “over-reliance” on fossil fuel markets, with prices rising rapidly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is turn pushed up the pace of general price rises, contributing to the cost-of-living crisis.
GB Energy will be “at the heart of the government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower”, the government said. It added that the company will take stakes in energy projects to help speed them up. This includes giving a boost to technologies including carbon capture and storage, which has yet to be deployed at scale, along with hydrogen, wave and tidal energy. Eventually, GB Energy may take a controlling interest in some renewables generation projects.
Source: BBC
In other news – Sir Keir Starmer vows Ukraine support in low-key first PMQs
Sir Keir Starmer had a gentle introduction to Prime Minister’s Questions, as Rishi Sunak asked him to continue the UK’s support for Ukraine. Their first Commons exchanges since the election were dominated by agreement on the need to continue sending military aid.
Mr Sunak, who is due to be replaced in November, avoided asking about any of Labour’s domestic priorities after its landslide election win. Read more
