Kwarteng wants to triple solar and double wind

The business secretary wants to triple the number of solar panels and double onshore wind farms by 2030. Kwasi Kwarteng is putting forward the targets in an energy security white paper, due to be published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The policy document has been delayed by several weeks while the Treasury wrangles over the cost implications. Kwarteng’s 2030 targets include increasing solar from its current capacity of 14 gigawatts to 50GW, offshore wind from 11GW to 50GW, onshore wind from 15GW to 30GW, and nuclear power from 7GW to 16GW. The proposals are expected to reignite the debate over where these developments should be built. Tom Fyans, director of campaigns and policy at CPRE, which campaigns to protect the countryside, said the switch to renewables was vital but it “made no sense for the countryside to become a patchwork quilt of solar panels”. He called for the government to develop a strategy for their installation, including prioritising rooftops. “Hundreds of thousands of homes, shops and offices becoming a modernised network of rooftop renewable energy is a vision the whole country could get behind.” A survey of nearly 20,000 of its customers by domestic supplier Octopus Energy this week found 87% of respondents would support having a wind turbine in their neighbourhood if it meant half-price electricity. The FT (£) The Guardian Photo © Jukka Niittymaa/Pixabay