Britain on the 'Cusp of an Energy Renaissance'

By Kelvin Ross, Deputy Editor, Power Engineering International
November 30, 2012   |  

Wind power will be key beneficiary in new low-carbon initiative.

 

LONDON -- UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey Wednesday said "we are on the cusp of a renaissance in British energy" after unveiling the government's long-awaited Energy Bill.

Speaking to journalists after he had addressed the House of Commons, Davey said the Bill had “given industry and investors exactly what they need – consensus and political certainty.”

Earlier he had told Parliament that “the UK is open for energy investment”.

“The Energy Bill will attract investment to bring about a once-in-a-generation transformation of our electricity market, moving from predominantly a fossil-fuel to a diverse low-carbon generation mix.

“The Bill will support the construction of a diverse mix of renewables, new nuclear, gas and CCS, protecting our economy from energy shortfalls and significantly decarbonising our electricity supply by the 2030s as part of global efforts to tackle climate change.”

He said the UK energy challenge was “an economic opportunity there for the taking. It will stimulate supply chains and support jobs in every part of the country, capitalising on our engineering prowess and our natural resources, cementing the UK’s place at the forefront of clean energy development.”

Some headline aspects of the Bill were released last week, the most notable being that it would not include a decarbonisation target for 2030 – this has been deferred until 2016 – and a levy would allow utilities to raise £7.6bn by 2020 via customer tariffs to go towards low carbon investment.