WIND FARMS TO POWER EVERY HOME
PM’s dramatic 10-year pledge
BORIS Johnson will today pledge to power every home in Britain with offshore wind inside a decade.
He will use his speech to the Conservative Party’s ‘virtual’ conference to set out a radical green energy plan to build thousands of coastal turbines.
Pledging to move at ‘ gale-force speed’, the Prime Minister wants to make Britain the world leader in offshore wind technology and create up to 60,000 jobs.
He will say of his ten-year plan: ‘You heard me right. Your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker, your heating, your plug-in electric vehicle – the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these islands.’
Much of the speech will focus on the pandemic, however, with Mr Johnson expected to urge households to follow the rules. But he will try to deflect attention from the latest testing fiasco and Covid clampdowns by insisting the Government can tackle other issues as well.
The Prime Minister will claim good progress is being made on recruiting more nurses and police and say the pandemic can also be a catalyst for change, with Britain ‘ building back better and greener’.
He will add: ‘We need to give people
the chance to train for the new jobs that are being created every day – in new technologies and new ways of doing things.
‘And there is one area where we are progressing quite literally with gale force speed and that is the green economy – the green industrial revolution that in the next ten years will create hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs.’
The plan will require a four-fold increase in offshore capacity, with the number of turbines rising from around 1,800 to more than 7,000.
The UK is already testing the world’s biggest turbine blade, with a 350ft model undergoing trials off the coast of Northumberland.
The Prime Minister will today pledge funding to develop floating turbines in deep water locations where the wind is often strongest.
Government sources said ministers would apply ‘stringent requirements on supporting UK manufacturers’ to try to ensure at least 60 per cent of equipment is made in this country.
Mr Johnson will acknowledge that for many years the Tory Party had mixed feelings about wind power,
‘We will harvest the gusts’
with David Cameron placing limits on the number of turbines that could be built on land. But he will say the equation has changed with the advent of powerful offshore facilities that have generated substantial power and fewer public protests.
The Government already had a target to increase the amount of electricity produced by offshore wind from the current level of 10 gigawatts to 30GW by 2030. That goal now rises to 40GW by the same date.
By comparison, the nuclear power station being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset, is expected to generate about 3.3GW.
Rapid advances in technology have seen prices plummet, with electricity produced by the wind now costing less than half the projected price of power from Hinkley Point.
Government sources said the share of the UK’s electricity generated by offshore wind would rise from about 10 per cent today to around 40 per cent – more than enough to power every home.
However, Business Secretary Alok Sharma last night acknowledged the target would be challenging, with insiders saying many of the easiest and most efficient sites had already been harnessed.
The move is part of a ‘green industrial revolution’ planned by the Prime Minister.
It is expected to include promoting hydrogen fuel, bringing forward the date at which conventional petrol and diesel cars will be banned, and developing new carbon capture and storage technology.
It comes ahead of the UK hosting a UN summit on climate change next year.
The PM is expected to use the event in Glasgow to push for tougher global action on emissions and to showcase the UK’s lead on key green technology like wind power.
Today’s announcement will see the Government invest £160million in upgrading ports and infrastructure in areas including Teesside and the Humber to help manufacture and install the next generation of offshore turbines.
The Prime Minister will also pledge to install 1GW of floating turbines around the coast – 15 times the world’s total current capacity.
He will say: ‘Far out in the deepest waters we will harvest the gusts, and by upgrading infrastructure in places like Teesside and Humber and Scotland and Wales we will increase an offshore wind capacity that is already the biggest in the world.
‘As Saudi Arabia is to oil, the UK is to wind – a place of almost limitless resource, but in the case of wind without the carbon emissions and without the damage to the environment.’
‘Almost limitless resource’