Labour will nationalise new offshore wind
Labour today revealed plans to take a majority stake in all new offshore wind farms and pledged a boom in renewable power.
The party said it would invest £6.2bn into jump starting home-grown renewable industry. It hopes to unlock a £83bn investment.
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Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey revealed the ambitious plans at a speech at the Labour Party conference this morning.
“We can’t rely on the market to act fast enough,” she said, promising a seven-fold increase in offshore turbines within 12 years.
The Confederation of British Industry said that business is “at the heart” of the transition to a greener economy.
“In the push to reach net-zero as fast and as cost-effectively as possible, renationalisation will hugely disrupt the investment needed in the energy sector to decarbonise,” said John Hardy, its deputy head.
Hardy highlighted that last week, for the first time, the industry delivered the UK’s first unsubsidised offshore wind power. The £39.65 per megawatt bidding price is below market prices for energy, meaning the project will likely pay back into the pot.
The government awarded 12 offshore licences in its most recent round last Friday. The awarded projects will be able to power around 7m homes.
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Long-Bailey promised that 20 per cent of public profits from offshore wind will be used for a so-called people’s power fund, investing up to £1bn in leisure centres, libraries, parks and waterfronts in coastal communities.
“To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry, and the most equitable distribution that may be possible upon the basis of common ownership,” she said.