'Get stuff built' | UK's Labour pledges tough action to unblock stalled wind power

The UK’s opposition Labour Party will move swiftly to end a moratorium on onshore wind and be willing to force the hand of local authorities when it comes to getting renewables projects moving if it wins an election that is likely to take place next year, top officials said.

With the ruling Conservative government absorbed by internal problems and presiding over a deepening economic malaise, the UK business sector is focusing increasingly on policies proposed by the Labour Party, whose leader Keir Starmer today (Monday) fleshed out some of the details underlying his party’s ambitious pledge to remove fossil fuels from the power generation sector by 2030.

Airing his views ahead of a key energy speech in Scotland, Starmer told BBC's Today radio programme that a Labour government will immediately lift the ban on onshore wind farms in England – effectively in place since 2015 because of drastic planning restrictions – but will also require local authorities to “proactively identify” areas suitable for renewable power generation such as wind and solar.

Nay to NIMBY

“We have to have a mechanism where we can move forward,” he said. “Otherwise you get to a situation where everybody says ‘there ought to be more renewables...but I just don’t want it near me’.”

Starmer stressed that building consensus among local communities would be the first priority, with the promise off clean power and investment in local jobs.

He said a new publicly-owned ‘national champion called GB Energy would be a vehicle for such investments, while helping to drive the supply chain for renewables.

“We hope we can get a consensus, but we have to get to the point where we do not have vetoes across the country,” he added.

Planning 'disaster'

Labour’s chief climate change and net zero spokesman Ed Milliband struck a similar tone last week when he told an offshore wind conference that lifting the onshore wind ban will be one of the first acts of a Labour government, if elected.

The UK also currently has just under 14GW operating offshore, and that industry faces obstacles to growth including slow planning and consenting timelines, deteriorating project economics, grid issues and legal challenges from angry residents on the North Sea coast.

Miliband said he was “under no illusions about the scale of the task” but he said improved planning, partly through the introduction of a new future systems operator and the launch of GB Energy would be vital to moving away from the piecemeal approach that has dominated so far.

He described the current planning system as “a disaster” that has to change to a timetable of "months not years. He also vowed to tackle grid delays he described a totally unacceptable

"We are not going to allow problems of the grid to continue. If transmission operators need new powers they will get them, and if we need to act to make the grid happen, we will do so . The time for excuses over is over," he said.

Miliband said a future Labour government will treat clean power and net zero as a national mission and will expect all regulators to be aware of their responsibility to this mission.

He said he drew inspiration from the vaccine task force that served as a UK response to the Covid-19 pandemic. "The task force was backed by the authority of the prime minister for a clear national mission and normal bureacratic articles were not allowed to stand in the way. We will design (the system) in this way," he said.

Miliband also promised that the government would work “night and day” on building consensus and consent from communities but would ultimately “get stuff built”.

"Above all we are going to be builders not blockers. If we want this, the lower bills, the jobs, the energy security and the climate leadership, we have to make it happen," he said last week.

Labour’s policies are under scrutiny because earlier plans to borrow £28bn a year to drive the transition to a net zero emissions economy have been watered down to the rise in interest rates in the UK, as elsewhere.

Annual spending figure will only be reached halfway through the next five-year parliament, but Starmer insisted that the party is still thinking big.

“The whole world knows that the future of power is bound up with renewables,” Starmer told the BBC. “Look at what’s happening in America with the Inflation Reduction Act — it’s like a magnet for business and for investment. We can’t sit this out.”

Starmer was in Edinburgh on Monday to announce a package of clean energy policies that his party would adopt if it wins the next general election.

Heartlands approach

Labour has promised to use the net zero strategy to deliver investment in industrial “heartlands” that have been left behind, or risk being left behind by economic transitions.

“It is important to make sure that good skilled jobs come to the areas that were dependent on oil and gas, and there is no reason that this should not happen,” Miliband said last week.

Miliband also promised to consult closely with the trade union movement but the party’s commitment to moving to clean power 2030 has been questioned by some grass roots supporters in areas where the oil and gas industry is active today.

The Labour leadership has stuck to its pledge to stop granting new licences for exploration and development of North Sea oil and gas fields, and to its 2030 target, but will not rescind any existing licences.

Challenged if this represented a failure to move the transition quickly enough, Starmer told BBC Radio: “Nobody in the sector is saying it’s not ambitious enough, if anything they are saying ‘it’s just about doable Keir but we’d have to work hard...and you’re going to have to take some tough decisions in relation to planning and the grid.

Responding to the Starmer's 'Green Prosperity Plan' speech about the UK's potential in clean energy, the chief executive of UK utility SSE Alistair Phillips-Davies said:

“Unlocking this potential requires policymakers to make the UK the easiest place in the world to invest in and build clean energy projects including offshore wind, electricity networks, carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen and other low carbon infrastructure.

“It’s now time for the UK to move from ambition to action and we look forward to working with all political parties to deliver the benefits of this country’s massive clean energy potential."

CEO of industry body RenewableUK’s Dan McGrail said: “Overall, it's clear that delivering Labour’s renewable energy ambitions will require considerable reforms to planning, grid development, regulatory frameworks and skills policy. We need to address these issues as a matter of urgency, so welcome clarity on them."

McGrail said opinion polls suggest that support for onshore wind is "sky-high" among local communities.

"It’s one of our cheapest sources of new power so it can reduce our energy bills, and it can boost this country’s energy security faster than other technologies," he stated.