UK Net Zero Plans are Falling Apart
Utopian Net Zero plans are not surviving contact with reality
Recently, I have been struck by the number of articles that indicate that Net Zero is in trouble. The Government’s plans for a green utopia financed by a never-ending stream of cheap, printed money are not surviving contact with real world economics and the Laws of Physics.
Labour Abandons £28bn per Year Green Funding
First up, Rachel Reeves, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor has abandoned plans to spend £28bn per year on its “green prosperity fund”, downgrading the plans from a commitment to a mere aspiration. It isn’t clear whether this also means Labour’s commitment to decarbonise the grid by 2030 has also fallen by the wayside. It wouldn’t be the first time politicians have continued to will the ends while taking away the means to achieve an objective.
Hydrogen Levy Cancelled
Talking of which, Grant Shapps has cancelled plans to introduce a £120 per year levy on energy bills to fund his plans for hydrogen. Apparently, this will now be funded “further up the chain,” whatever that means. However, it does mean that Shapps’ plan for 10GW of hydrogen production by 2030 do not have a funding mechanism. Even worse, they don’t have a plan for what all that hydrogen will be used for, nor where the energy to make it is going to come from.
Coal Reprieve
The Telegraph is reporting that Rishi Sunak has quietly dropped plans to legislate to ban coal power generation form October 2024. Apparently, such legislation is not necessary because the operators are planning to close the power stations anyway. However, this month one of the remaining coal power stations was fired up to cover additional demand brought on by the heatwave and the wind wasn’t blowing very hard. I do hope they keep the plants open or the lights will go out.
New Wind Farms Unviable
It’s helpful that the coal plants are not going to be banned, because it seems as though new offshore wind farms are not going to get built. The projects that won CfD contracts at £37.35/MWh to great fanfare last year cannot get built at that price. The price of wind turbines has increased and rising interest rates have pushed up the cost of capital. This should be of little surprise to regular readers because I predicted as much some time ago. We currently have about 14GW of offshore wind capacity. It is looking increasingly unlikely that the target of 50GW by 2030 is going to be hit. The Government must resist calls for even more subsidies.
Gradually, reality is starting to intrude on the utopian dreams. It can’t happen fast enough.
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I’ve just had a look at the current (July 2022) Digest of UK Energy Statistics: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1135950/DUKES_2022.pdf
If you search the document for “energy consumption” you find the following on Page 5:
“With net imports up, the UK increased its use of fossil fuels. The main fossil fuel sources in the UK are coal, gas and oil. In 2021, the share of primary energy consumption from fossil fuels increased to 78.3 per cent from the record low of 76.8 per cent in 2020, whilst that from low-carbon sources decreased to 19.4 per cent from the record high of 21.2 per cent last year due to reduced nuclear and renewables output, but still 9.3 percentage points up from 2010.”
So after 15 years of painful striving since the 2008 Climate Change Act, the UK is still 78% dependent on fossil fuels for its primary energy supply. What’s worse, the paltry reduction so far has largely been achieved by offshoring industries and importing the goods “energy free”.
Yet ask any politician and you will be told that we are making great progress towards achieving Net Zero. Half of them are fools and the other half are treasonous liars.
Policies to improverish householders with pseudoscientific green taxes appears to be to Conservatives what policies to sexualise school children is to the SNP. The majority of people don't want them, yet they pursue them anyway, to the detriment of their support. I'm fairly certain that, if they explained physical reality, the electorate would respond very positively.