Energy analysts welcomed the Labour government’s lifting of the “de facto ban” on onshore wind but questioned claims of reducing prices.
Plans unveiled by new Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Monday said the government is “committed to doubling onshore wind energy by 2030.”
‘De Facto Ban’
Previous rules under the former Conservative government in 2015 meant that any application to build wind turbines needed to have the clear backing of the community.In September last year, former Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities Secretary Michael Gove loosened the restrictions in a bid to accelerate onshore wind projects where there is local support despite views of “a small number of objectors.”
The Labour government characterised this as a de facto ban on onshore wind in England and said that those rules are now removed.
Welcome Reform to Planning Rules
Chief Operating Officer and energy analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs Andy Meyer told The Epoch Times by email that he welcomed the ease of planning rules, which he hoped would be also used to “radically reform” nuclear permitting.“The lifting of this ban is a welcome reform to planning rules that should reduce the time and cost of one source of future energy supply. This is a good thing,” he said.
“Whether it reduces future energy bills however depends more on the generosity of any support package, and associated costs of grid connection and back-up when the wind isn’t blowing,” he added.
He said that recently the cost of onshore wind subsidies rose 66 percent, that National Grid wants to spend £30 billion over the next five years, and capacity spending is expected to more than triple by the end of 2028.
“All this before the added cost of Labour’s 2030 net zero grid acceleration plan,” he added.
He said that consistent planning reform for affordable secure energy would also see “the moratorium on fracking lifted, ditching the proposed ban on new North Sea fields, and radical reform of nuclear permitting.”
Utility energy analyst Steve Loftus told The Epoch Times that he welcomed Labour’s “vigour” in removing regulations that stop building.
“I only hope that they are as keen to deregulate other sectors to increase productivity. Nuclear for example,” he said.
Done in the Right Way
The energy industry and Green MPs said that Labour had “taken a step in the right direction.”Industry body RenewableUK’s Chief Executive Dan McGrail claimed that owing to advances in tech in modern turbines doubling onshore wind would not mean twice as many across the British countryside.
“This shows that the new government is determined to act fast to tackle some of the longstanding barriers which have held the UK back on developing vital new clean energy infrastructure,” he said.
Green Party co-leader and newly elected MP Adrian Ramsay said: “Absolutely we need to see more renewable energy in the UK of various sorts, done in the right way, and so Labour have taken a step in the right direction with that today.
“What we’ll be pushing for alongside that is measures that will help individual residents because we have the leakiest homes in Europe here in the UK, which is why people’s energy bills are going up and up.
“So we want to see a nationwide programme to get people’s homes insulated in a way that keeps bills down, keeps homes warm, and that’s something we’ll be pushing the government to do much more on,” he added.
The Epoch Times contacted the Conservative Party for comment.
