Offshore wind to provide electricity to all UK homes by 2030
The British government has set themselves a 40GW target for wind power generation by 2030, which would produce more than enough energy for every home in the UK, significantly reducing the country's reliance on fossil fuels going into the future.
This comes as part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to cut greenhouse emissions, create jobs and provide a boost to exports.
The government has committed to a £160 million (€175.7 million) initiative to make Britain a leader in renewable energy by 2050, a scheme that is set to create roughly 2,000 construction jobs while supporting a further 60,000 jobs in ports, factories and supply chains.
The budget will be used mainly in improving infrastructure to allow this transition to take place.
Further plans include setting a target to support up to double the capacity of renewable energy in the next Contracts of Difference auction, which will open in late 2021. The government has also committed to creating jobs by onshoring manufacturing jobs to create the necessary components for offshore wind.
These commitments are the first stage outlined as a part of Johnson's ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution, which will be set out fully later this year. It is expected to contain revolutionary new steps to ensuring complete net-neutrality by 2050.
In a statement, Johnson said: “Our seas hold immense potential to power our homes and communities with low-cost green energy and we are already leading the way in harnessing its strengths.
“Now, as we build back better we must build back greener. So we are committing to new ambitious targets and investment into wind power to accelerate our progress towards net zero emissions by 2050.
“This sets us on our path towards a green industrial revolution, which will provide tens of thousands of highly-skilled jobs.”
Business secretary Alok Sharma said: “The offshore wind sector is a major British success story, providing cheap, green electricity while supporting thousands of good-quality jobs.
Powering every home in the country through offshore wind is hugely ambitious, but it’s exactly this kind of ambition which will mean we can build back greener and reach net zero emissions by 2050.”
The UK has the largest installed capacity of offshore wind in the world, with a capacity of around 10GW in operation off the coast.
Johnson's plan follows a global trend in setting greener economic targets to help countries recover from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Over the past decade, the UK has cut carbon emissions by more than any developed nation, having reduced them by 42% since 1990 while the country's economy has grown by 72% in the same timeframe.
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