Home
+
The plans included funding for offshore wind, carbon capture and new green hydrogen production projects
Published : 30 Mar 2023, 02:23 PM
Britainlaidoutplanson Thursday toboostitsenergysecurityand independence through investment in moving towards cleaner, more affordableenergysources.
Wholesale gas and electricity prices in Europe surged after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year and the British government has been subsidising household and businessenergybills since October.
Theplansincluded a raft of previously announced schemes such as funding for offshore wind, carbon capture and new green hydrogen production projects.
It also pledged to speed up planning processes for solar and offshore wind projects, rolloutmore electric vehicle charging points and encourage heat pumps in homes.
However, the government'senergypolicy dealt a blow to those projects which were not immediately selected for financial support, including British power generator Draxand its method of carbon capture - bioenergywith carbon capture and storage (BECCS).
Its shares were down 10%.
"Transforming ourenergysystem is no longer just abouttackling climate change, it is also a matter of nationalsecurity," finance minister Jeremy Hunt said in a statement.
"To protect ourselves from future price spikes, we need to accelerate the move to cleaner, cheaper, home-grownenergy."
EnergySecurityminister Grant Shapps said the new plan included 70 different policies that would improveenergysecurity.
He told LBC Radio that households would not be penalised if they do not switch from gas heating to lower emissions heat pumps, something some newspaper headlines had said was possible.
The opposition Labour Party and campaign groups criticised the plan for not including new money, and failing to setouta response to the US $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of green subsidies.
Hunt told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the government would layoutits response to the IRA in the autumn.
"What was billed with huge hype as the government’s 'green day' turnsoutto be a weak and feeble groundhog day of re-announcements, reheated policy, and no new investment," Labour Party climate and net zero spokesman Ed Miliband said.
Over the past year,Britainhas introduced windfall taxes on oil and gas as well as on renewables, which companies say stifles investment and in turnislikelyto increaseBritain's dependence on imported fuels and derail its climate targets.
Oil and gas producers had called for floor prices to be applied to the windfall tax, and renewable power companies wanted better investment incentives, neither of which featured in theplansoutlined in advance by the government.
