'They have us over a barrel': Offshore wind under attack by UK opposition

Seventeen years after passing the UK's landmark Climate Change Act — and four years after its former leader Boris Johnson told a COP26 audience to follow Britain’s lead in transitioning away from fossil fuels — the Conservative party has pledged to put North Sea oil and gas and nuclear at the heart of a policy that promises "cheap and reliable" energy if it gets back into power.

Ahead of her opposition party’s annual conference this weekend, leader Kemi Badenoch attacked "Labour's laws which have tied us in red tape, loaded us with costs, and did nothing to cut global emissions".

Meanwhile shadow energy minister Claire Coutinho pointed a finger of blame at the offshore wind industry, saying developers had the government "over a barrel" when it comes to supporting high costs.

Major U-turn

The 2008 Climate Change Act was introduced by Labour, but passed in its final form under a Conservative government.

Enjoying bipartisan support, until now, the climate legislation, was further strengthened under Johnson, who did not even invite fossil fuel companies to the COP26, despite all their net zero marketing at that time.

But high electricity prices have opened up a flank that has been exploited by Reform UK, a rising populist-right party that dismisses the transition to renewable energy as an expensive scam.

The Conservative party has seen support drift to Reform since losing the last election, and Badenoch has joined the populists in attacking the Labour government over its plan to virtually exclude fossil fuel sources from the UK’s electricity grid by 2030.

The offshore wind industry has come under fire, as critics from both parties point to rising curtailment rates to support the argument that dishing out Contracts for Difference (CfDs) is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

The Conservatives say they will continue to address the topic of climate change, but will make energy costs their priority.

"I don't think a policy where Labour are pursuing to squeeze out as much of the gas from the grid as they want to do by 2030 is realistic,” Coutinho told BBC radio.

“What you are seeing is that wind developers have them over a barrel, and costs have inflated to put wind on the system.

Coutinho argued that the offshore wind costs that will come out of the ongoing AR7 round will be “extraordinarily expensive”.

She insisted that the Conservatives still care about climate change, but priorities have changed.

“We've pretty much done more than any other country in the world…. but some of the decisions that the Climate Change Act forces ministers to make are increasing costs for consumers and increasing the cost of electricity,” she argued.

“The result is that you're actually seeing businesses move abroad because we have an incredibly high cost of electricity.

"That isn't good for climate change, because often they're moving to places like China, which is still 60% powered by coal, and that increases global emissions.”

The Labour government is under pressure on electricity prices and curtailment, with energy secretary Ed Miliband insisting that the Clean Power 30 policy initiative will reduce the average annual electricity bill by £300 ($404) by the end of the decade.

Addressing curtailment depends largely on a £24bn grid upgrade that is slowly taking shape.