to self-deprecation, Boris Johnson is hard to beat. “I remember how some people used to sneer at wind power 20 years ago and say that it wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding,” he said at the Conservative Party conference on October 6th. By “some people” he meant “me, myself and I, in 2013”. Rebranding himself as a convert, Mr Johnson set out the first step of a ten-point plan for a “green revolution”, the remainder of which is promised later this month.increase on the existing goal.
The country has a long way to go to get there. Roughly one-third of its electricity comes from renewables—theMeeting the 40target will be a stretch. Earlier this year, a report by Aurora Energy Research, a consultancy, found that it would mean installing 260 new turbines on average every year for five years. There will need to be more money, too.
Yet the proposed sums are trifling compared with what the sector needs. The government estimates that every new gigawatt of offshore generation capacity costs £1.5bn to build. With some 10installed today, the additional investment required will be on the order of £45bn. Much of that will come from the private sector, and formalising the 40target should help build investor confidence.
The government says that the boost to the wind-power industry will “support” 60,000 jobs. The careful wording presumably includes the 44,000 jobs that already exist. Britain is not big in turbine manufacture: none of the four companies that accounted for 55% of new orders globally in 2019 is British. Most of the employment is in firms supplying the turbine-making giants with, for instance, cables and foundations. The industry is growing partly thanks to government regulation.
But even if Mr Johnson’s announcement does not add up to much, it is at least in keeping with the government’s environmental targets. The Committee on Climate Change, which advises it on green policy, reckons that Britain could be generating more than 75of offshore wind by 2050. Realising this potential, it says, is essential for Britain to meet its goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by then.
Someone should file PIL in Supreme Court taking away tag of 4th Pillar of Democracy to TV News Channels. Print media should continue.
Trump would say it causes cancer.
Arghghrgh BorisJohnson please stop thinking wind turbines provide green energy!
It's a winner!
Good👍
What, this guy..?
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