Government plan for clean power by 2030: comment

Commenting on Government plans set out today for achieving the target of clean power by 2030 [1], Jess Ralston, Head of Energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said: "The UK has paid the price for over-reliance on expensive gas over the past few years and the crisis is not over yet. Accelerating the rollout of renewables will stabilise prices and clean technology like electric heat pumps will increasingly run off British wind and solar in contrast to gas boilers which will increasingly be run off foreign gas imports. [2] Continuing to accelerate this rollout is the way we will avoid being on the hook for expensive gas in future.

“The Energy Crisis Commission concluded that the UK is "dangerously unprepared" for another crisis [3] but reaching clean power will be a significant step towards achieving energy independence. It will also be crucial that Government focusses on fixing up our leaky homes and switching away from gas boilers."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. The Government will set out plans for reaching the target of clean power by 2030 on Friday 13 December. 

2. Recent ECIU analysis found that by 2030, if the renewables roll out continues to accelerate, a heat pump would be using just 1.3MWh of imported primary energy, 55% less than today.  By contrast, a gas boiler will be 80% dependent on imports, using 7.6MWh of imported gas in 2030, a third more than in 2024: https://eciu.net/media/press-releases/2024/patriotic-pumps-heat-pumps-to-run-mainly-on-british-energy-as-boilers-set-to-be-heavily-dependent-on-imports 

3. UK ‘dangerously underprepared’ for future energy crisis: Commission report: https://energycrisiscommission.uk/ 

For more information or for interview requests:

George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net