Boris Johnson has come down against onshore wind farms in the cabinet row which has delayed the publication of his energy security strategy.
His comments dismayed environmentalists who believe that the development of onshore wind power is a vital part of the UK’s move towards net zero carbon emissions by the 2050 target.
Environment think tank Green Alliance said it was “absolutely bizarre” to seemingly exclude one of the UK’s cheapest energy sources from the nation’s future power mix.
The prime minister had been reported to be leaning towards business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s drive for the relaxation of planning rules to allow more onshore turbines, in the face of opposition from ministers including Jacob Rees-Mogg.
But giving evidence to a parliamentary committee today, he singled out offshore wind farms as a priority for the UK’s future energy supplies. And he underlined the fact that he was drawing a distinction with developments on land by repeating the word “offshore”.
It is now almost a month since Mr Johnson promised an energy security strategy “in the coming days” in order to help wean the UK off reliance on Russian oil and gas, ease cost of living pressures and step up the drive for net zero. It is regarded as crucial to break the deadlock over onshore wind in time to allow the document to be released next week, ahead of the purdah in the run-up to May’s local elections.
Setting out his plans for the long-delayed strategy, Mr Johnson told the Commons Liaison Committee: “In the UK we have failed for a generation to put in enough long-term supply and it’s been one of those colossal mistakes.
“Renewables are fantastic and offshore wind – and I stress offshore wind – I think has massive potential. But so does nuclear.”
Green Alliance senior political adviser Joe Tetlow said the government should show “leadership” over onshore wind rather than ruling it out for fear of a “not in my back yard” response from communities close to the sites of proposed facilities.
“It’s 2022, not 2012,” Mr Tetlow told The Independent. “People support onshore wind.
“They recognise we need it for energy independence, for national security, and to bring down bills. Of course we need community support, but we also need political leadership.”
And Danny Gross, energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said Mr Johnson “cannot afford” to ignore onshore wind if he is serious about dealing with the energy crisis.
“On average it takes six years to develop an onshore wind farm, compared with 28 years for new oil and gas fields,” Mr Gross said. “Johnson’s energy review must focus on unlocking the nation’s huge renewable potential, and this must include ending the unfair planning rules that hamper onshore wind.”
Mr Johnson said he wanted to accelerate a new generation of nuclear power in the UK, telling MPs that new-style small nuclear reactors (SMRs) being developed by Rolls Royce could be on-stream by the end of the 2020s.
But he said that fossil fuels would remain part of the country’s energy mix, both as part of the transition to renewable sources and as an element in the production of hydrogen energy.
He insisted that the ambition to put the UK on the path to net zero “has not been adulterated or lost at all”. But despite the UK’s decarbonisation promises at the Cop26 summit last year, he said it would be “very useful” to continue oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
Mr Johnson told MPs he could not claim that new nuclear reactors would be producing electricity “in the next couple of years”.
But he added: “We’ve got to be looking at big-ticket nuclear solutions – Sizewell and other projects – but we’re also going to be looking at small modular reactors.
“The Qataris are just one of the countries that wants to work with us on SMRs. There’s a huge list of potential partners for Rolls Royce… If we don’t start now, we won’t be fixing the problem.”
Mr Johnson’s remarks came after 14 green groups called on the government earlier this week to “unblock” onshore wind in England.
Green groups have repeatedly pointed out that wind is popular, clean and cheap. A YouGov poll last year found that 70 per cent of respondents supported the installation of more onshore wind turbines in the UK.
A more recent report by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy found that 80 percent of people supported onshore wind.
In 2020, the government estimated that onshore wind would cost around £46 per megawatt-hour by 2025, compared to £85 for gas. The estimates suggest it will be the second cheapest energy source after large solar in 2025, according to analysis by Carbon Brief.
