UK Likely to Miss Its 2030 Clean Power Goals

The UK is poised to miss its ambitious target to decarbonize its power sector by 2030 even as it is boosting solar and wind developments, analysts say.

The new UK government of the Labour Party, in office for just over two weeks, has pledged to have the UK power grid decarbonized by 2030 and “to make Britain a clean energy superpower with zero carbon electricity by 2030,” Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said earlier this month. 

As part of its efforts to boost clean energy, the UK government lifted the de facto ban on onshore wind, which has been in place in England since 2015.

The government has committed to doubling onshore wind energy by 2030, quadrupling offshore wind, and trebling solar power by the end of the decade.

While Britain has made progress in recent years in decarbonizing the grid and boosting the share of renewables in the power mix to a record high, it still uses a lot of natural gas for electricity generation, home heating, and boilers.

The bold current plans of the Labour government are not on track to make the power system decarbonized by 2030, Cornwall Insight said in an analysis reported by the Financial Times.

Currently, wind and solar account for a combined 34% of the UK’s power output. Under Labour’s plans, the combined share of wind and solar is set to rise to 44%. This, according to Cornwall Insight, will be well below the estimated 67% of wind and solar power necessary to have a decarbonized grid.

“Without significant intervention, we risk falling far short of decarbonisation goals,” Tom Edwards, principal modeler at Cornwall Insight, told FT.

Last week, following the King’s Speech in which the new government sets its priorities, Kate Mulvany, Principal Consultant at Cornwall Insight, said that Labour faces “significant challenges in reaching their 2030 power decarbonization targets, as financial constraints, supply chain challenges, and intense global competition for limited resources pose hurdles.”

Also last week, the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) said that its latest assessments shows that the UK is off track for net zero as only a third of the emissions reductions required to achieve the country’s 2030 target are currently covered by credible plans.  

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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