A drop in the ocean? PM's 拢160m wind farm plan could fall well short
The PM pledges 拢160m to boost the electricity generated by wind power - but some say it's well short of what's needed.
Wednesday 7 October 2020 13:41, UK
He's used the line before but it's still a vivid way of expressing Britain's roadmap to net zero and tackling climate change.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he wants Britain to be to wind farms what Saudi Arabia is to oil.
That is what the PM told the UN recently and it's what he told his party conference on Tuesday to back up his build back green from COVID message.
It is bold and it is ambitious - but is it do-able?
Frankly, anything is doable if you throw enough money at it and many will heavily question if £160m is anywhere near enough.
The UK government is increasingly trying to position itself as a credible leader on climate change.
Mr Johnson announced plans at the conference to increase the 2030 target for offshore wind power generation from 30GW to 40GW - enough to power every home.
The government says it will triple wind capacity so offshore wind can provide the juice for "your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker, your heating, your plug-in electric vehicle".
There are also ambitious plans for "floating windmills" - wind turbines that are movable and can't be rooted in deep water.
However, some analysts say the investment falls short.
has calculated that £50bn is needed - although not all from the government - and that a wind turbine needs to be built every day for the rest of the decade to reach Mr Johnson's target.
The UK has always championed wind power as a clean energy choice.
There has been a dramatic fall in its cost over the past few years, creating the right conditions for the rapid decarbonisation of the energy sector.
This was highlighted in the 2020 report by government advisory body the Committee on Climate Change.
So it's no surprise that it is wind that Boris Johnson is holding up as the poster boy of the net-zero transition in his big speeches.
However, it seems this is only a recent endeavour.
During his conference speech, the prime minister said: "I remember how some people used to sneer at wind power 20 years ago and say that it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding."
Rewind seven years to his LBC radio show and Mr Johnson - who at the time was London mayor - said: "Labour put in a load of wind farms that failed to pull the skin off a rice pudding.
"We now have the opportunity to get shale gas - let's look at it. It is part of the 2020 vision we have for this city - power generation is vital."
Irony, or bad memory?
Although there may be questions over how much this wind revolution will cost, there is near universal consensus that it is possible to achieve.
The Committee on Climate Change has called the wind farm ambitions "historic".
But we shouldn't forget there are no such detailed and concrete plans from the government on how it plans to decarbonise trickier sectors, such as heating and transport, in order to really be on the road to net zero by 2050.