Back in the heady first few days of the new government, we set out a series of asks for Labour’s first 100 days in power to put the country on course to deliver the ‘clean power mission’. Tomorrow marks 100 days since the election. So how have they done?
It’s fair to say that Ed Miliband and his team hit the ground running on the ‘clean power mission’, bringing much-needed momentum to the sector. Just a few days in, the first of our asks was ticked off: lifting the ban on onshore wind. This was swiftly followed by Chris Stark being appointed to run Mission Control and three large solar farms getting the go-ahead.
Upping the budget for CfD Allocation Round 6 from £1bn to over £1.5bn helped deliver 5.4 GW of offshore wind contracts (almost double that projected) and the reform is under way for AR7, to prioritise the volume of capacity, offer long-term confidence for industry and build sustainable supply chains, all of which is promising.
Planning reform is still unfolding, but there are positive signs, including a new onshore wind taskforce and a reinvigorated solar taskforce, a consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework and a Bill due in the new year that would give more power to push clean energy projects.
In August, Ed and Chris wrote to Fintan Slye, director of what is now the National Energy System Operator, asking for practical advice on achieving clean power by 2030 and “an enduring contribution to economy-wide decarbonisation beyond 2030”. We are engaging closely with NESO on the Clean Power 2030 plan, with its advice expected in the next few weeks.
So, a strong start. But there are areas in which progress has, perhaps inevitably, been slower.
There’s still uncertainty on grid connections reform, for example. It’s a big topic and there is a lot of work going on, but the new target date of April for finalising the new system means developers won’t get updated offers until the end of 2025.
And then there’s market reform, where the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements has gone quiet and there’s no sign of a government response to the May consultation. Meanwhile, entering this vacuum we’ve seen a flurry of lobbyists with loudly held positions, instead of the evidence-based debate needed. We’d like to see a swift move to rule out radical reforms and get on with all the progressive ones required, as set out in our progressive market reform paper. On specific areas of the market the news is more positive, such as confirmation of a Cap and Floor scheme to support Long Duration Storage, for example.
Another area we’ve heard a lot of positive statements but less details about is local power and the broader idea of a just transition. While it’s understandable that some of the key decisions await spending review next year and the set-up of GB Energy, there is a risk that we drive ahead with Clean Power 2030 in the interim, focused purely on the volume of generation needed, without doing enough to engage people and communities.
As an example, if connections reform prioritises projects needed for Clean Power 2030, that could end up inadvertently deprioritising local power projects that would bring a lot of community value and enable local places to meet their net zero objectives. Just transition principles need to be baked in at the core of this process.
A hundred days in, the new government has brought much-needed drive to energy policy, as evidenced by its announcement today of £24 billion in private investment in energy projects. Clean Power 2030 has the potential to be a genuinely transformational mission. The challenge now will be to maintain this momentum as the government gets into the actual delivery of complex reforms to grid, planning and markets.
You can read our Accelerating Clean British Power paper here. And here’s our action tracker with our take on progress against our full set of asks for Labour’s first 100 days:
