United Kingdom – The government has outlined plans to ensure that Britain’s homes and companies are powered by affordable, clean, and secure electricity by 2035.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng revealed this week a milestone promise to decarbonize the UK’s power system by 2035, bolstering the country’s attempts to achieve net zero objectives. The emphasis will be on developing a secure, domestic energy sector that lowers reliance on fossil fuels and susceptibility to volatile global wholesale energy costs.
It accelerates the government’s commitment to a fully decarbonised power system by 2050, as set out in the Energy White Paper, and builds on the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution to ensure a future clean electricity supply generated in the UK, for the UK.
To make this goal a reality, the government will increase its efforts to install a new generation of home-grown technologies, including offshore wind, hydrogen, and solar, as well as nuclear, onshore wind, and carbon capture and storage.
These green technologies will harness the abundance of Britain’s natural resources to provide cleaner, more affordable energy while also creating thousands of new high-skilled employment in new businesses across the country.
While gas generation is vital to the UK power system’s security and stability, the advancement of clean energy technology means it will be utilized less frequently in the future.
Wind and solar power will need to be supplemented by other clean technologies, such as nuclear and flexible technologies, to maintain the reliability of a clean electrical grid when wind and solar generating output is low.
The government will provide more details on its broader intentions to reach net zero emissions by 2050 in its net zero strategy, which will be released ahead of the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
