When it comes to renewable energy, the ambitions of recent Conservatives have verged on the superlative: from one prime minister’s infamous pledge to turn Britain into the ‘Saudi Arabia of wind power’ to a seemingly exponential explosion of green jobs across the country (half a million by 2030, according to Grant Shapps). The green transition has launched quite the rhetorical arms race.
Can the UK really emerge as a world-leader in renewables? That was the question on the agenda as The Spectator convened a panel of experts, industry voices and politicians at this year’s energy summit. It was time to get beyond the bluster and shine some light on that all-important question: just how realistic were the government’s ambitions to secure hundreds of billions in investment for its energy transition?
What’s the sense in claiming to be the Saudi Arabia of wind power when you are still importing the turbines?
‘I think the UK obviously has some fantastic advantages,’ said David Whitehouse, chief executive of the industry body Offshore Energies UK (who sponsored the discussion).
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