Britain’s Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson will outline plans today for Britain to “build back greener” from the coronavirus pandemic by committing funds to boost Britain’s offshore wind energy capacity.
The £160 million investment into ports and factories is part of a drive to quadruple Britain’s offshore wind capacity to 40 gigawatts (GW) by 2030.
That is equivalent to around half of Britain’s electricity capacity today from all sources.
Reuters Newsagency reports the Prime Minister will use his Conservative Party Conference speech to trail a hotly-anticipated 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution”, full details of which are set to be unveiled later this year, as well as announcing a major package of support for offshore wind.
The 10-point plan is expected to include “ambitious targets and major investment into industries, innovation and infrastructure that will accelerate the UK’s path to net zero by 2050”, according to the government.
It is widely expected to include new investment in hydrogen technology and carbon capture and storage (CCS), alongside an earlier ban on sales of fossil fuel cars.
Reuters reports Mr Johnson is under pressure over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic: his government’s response has been cast by opponents as slow, poorly organised and confusing.
Cases have been rising in recent weeks, forcing the government to impose local lockdown measures across much of the country.
In the speech to the Conservative Party Conference, Mr Johnson will say Britain must seize upon a “green industrial revolution” that has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
In order to reach the higher goals, the government plans to set a target to deliver up to double the capacity of renewable energy support up for grabs in the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction, which is set to open in late 2021, alongside “stringent” goals to support UK turbine manufacturing, it said.
The government claims delivering the new goals will produce enough renewable electricity to power every home in the country through offshore wind by 2030, meeting the average electricity needs of up to 14 million homes.
“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,” Mr Johnson will say.
Reuters reports economists say unemployment is likely to rise sharply once a program to subsidise workers furloughed because of the pandemic closes at the end of this month, and the economy looks on course for its biggest annual decline since the 1920s.
Mr Johnson will also announce plans to build floating wind farms that will deliver 1.0GW of energy.
“This investment in offshore wind alone will help to create 60,000 jobs in this country, and help us to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” Mr Johnson will say.
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