Last week Jeremy Corbyn pledged
that under a future Labour government renewables would cover 65% of
our electricity needs by 2030.
Is this achievable? There’s no reason why not.
Others in Europe are already close: renewables power more
than 60% of Sweden’s electricity, and 52% of Portugal’s.
It’s true that some of Europe’s most renewable-friendly
countries have hydroelectric resources
unavailable in the UK, but not all. And besides, the UK’s geography gives us our
own advantage: tidal energy, on the verge
of taking off.
The only thing holding UK renewables back is policy
commitment, or a lack of it.
Other countries have maintained generous subsidies for those
renewables not yet as cheap as other energy sources. The UK Government has
not – slashing feed-in-tariffs and cutting support for wind and solar
energy.
Reinstating this support, and increasing investment in
renewables, would likely see us hit these ambitious targets.
So 65% is achievable, but would it be too expensive? Would
it harm the economy?
The UK’s economic competitiveness hasn’t
been affected by climate policy so far and the industrial
performance of Sweden or Germany show ambitious renewable targets
don’t have to hinder industry.
Renewable energy is no longer substantially more expensive
than fossil fuels, either. Onshore wind and solar power are already competing head-to-head
with gas and coal.
The cost of renewable energy is declining
so rapidly that a situation where offshore wind and other renewable
technologies compete with gas and nuclear by 2020 is realistic, particularly
when factoring in the costs of carbon emissions. The Department of Energy and
Climate Change had already suggested
this before it was scrapped.
This and technological innovations mean renewable subsidies
wouldn’t be needed forever. In contrast, both fossil
fuels and nuclear are
still receiving extremely generous subsidies.
Let’s use this taxpayers’ money that’s supporting dirty and
failing sources to replace them with clean and popular renewables.
Maybe then we’d hit these ambitious targets.
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