GB Energy - A small positive start!

I was on the Britain’s Newsroom this morning on GB News to talk about GB Energy.

Before any criticism of the government’s plan let’s look at the good points – it is a step in the right direction and the commitment of ￡8.3 billion is modestly positive. The cooperation with the Crown Estate is great. I have been talking about this for years. Effectively with the Crown Estate you have the landlord for all the waters 12 miles out all around the UK/ Putting in place formal cooperation with the Crown Estate unlocks all of the offshore potential.

The government also talks about energy security which is obvious. Putin can’t stop the sun from shining and wind from blowing or the tide from going out in the UK in the same way that he can restrict the supply of oil and gas. So more the renewables in UK the better from a security point of view.

Lastly the government talks about lower bills for everyone which is great - ￡300 per annum for everyone.

Also good to recognise the huge job creation opportunities.

Ok that’s where the good stuff ends.

It is stupid for the government to keep confirming we will drill for oil for many years to come. This does not provide the clear sense of direction needed. We must move fast away from fossil fuels both from the economic and scientific perspective. It would be better to be clear about how we need to drop fossil fuels super-fast, to bring everyone on board with the vision of why this will be better and to have a clear plan on how to help the communities and individuals who are affected through clean industrial development in those areas. This should be coupled with widespread but targeted retraining and redeployment of individuals into the renewables industry and the other clean industries of the future.

More plainly put “Stop kowtowing to the unions or to vested interests". Explain to them quite clearly where we need to go and why. Show them the commercial upside which will benefit everyone. Explain to workers that instead of being worried about when their job in fossil fuels or other polluting sectors will become obsolete (as it certainly will be!) they can be retrained right now. They will be provided with the skills of the future which will ensure they are well prepared for lucrative employment in the coming decades. The government must sell the vision of stability and opportunity which is much better than constantly looking over your shoulder as the end of the fossil fuel era inevitably catches up.

￡8.3 billion that’s the amount to be invested over 5 years. ￡1.7 billion per annum is pathetically small! The government is talking about this catalysing ￡60 billon of private investment. That’s 7.5 times government money to private investment which would be going some. Private investment of 2 or 3 to 1 would sound more plausible. That said I understand the Inflation Reduction Act in USA has achieved 5 to1 private to public money.

There is almost no mention of tide and wave power. Resources which are abundantly plentiful in the UK due to our unique geography. This should be front and centre. These are areas in which Britain can excel and lead the World! A BEIS study done for the previous government identified up to 20GW of potential just from tidal power. To put that in context we are currently using around 30GW during the day so at its peak this could provide over 60% of our energy requirements. And it is totally predictable. Tide can provide much of the backup needed when the wind doesn’t blow, or the sun doesn’t shine. Tide is not ‘on’ all the time, but we know when it is on and when it is off and when it is in between. At times when Tide is fully ‘on’ we would be exporting electricity abroad rather than what happens at the moment - we import 5-15% on most days.

Also, the stated aims of GB Energy are not very specific. It is frankly almost impossible to know exactly what it is going to do. The government has confirmed GB Energy will not own power companies nor will it itself generate power. It will, though, help develop forward projects faster, help to deliver local energy generation in conjunction with local councils and explore how GB Nuclear can partner GB Energy. Nice sounding platitudes but no detail as of yet.

Overall GB Energy is a step in the right direction. Sadly though that step is a baby step when what we really need are massive giant strides which will enable Britain to grab and maintain real leadership of the global Clean Industrial Revolution!

The Climate Party #cleanindustrialrevolution #ClimateAction #GBEnergy #crownestate #GBNews #wycombe #hazlemere

https://x.com/GBNEWS/status/1816436103450095979