This report “The UK’s Clean Power Mission: Delivering The Prize” by E3G concludes that the clean power mission offers the chance to revolutionise the UK economy, accelerating the transition to net zero while reforming power policies so the benefits of decarbonisation are felt in people’s pockets. Reaching clean power by 2030 can be achieved with electricity bills at a similar level to today and reduced exposure to gas prices under existing pricing policies. However, our Electricity Bills Charter aligns the path for decarbonising the power grid with significant reductions in bills, which could offer savings of over £200 a year by 2030. Clean power will be realised by a major expansion of renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and a strengthened grid to deliver power to homes and businesses. Meanwhile, gas power can be reduced to less than 5% of the generation mix by 2030.
Eventually, backup power should be provided by stored green hydrogen. A small amount of gas CCS generation may be needed to achieve the 2030 clean power mission, but this should be minimised, with a focus on reducing emissions from combined heat and power plants for industries that are not suitable for electrification and energy from waste plant. Biomass power from Drax is not needed to achieve the mission. The clean power mission offers the opportunity for a clean power system which can lay the foundations for a largely electrified, high-tech, high-growth economy. It can be achieved while bringing down electricity bills, and will cement the UK as a world leader in addressing the greatest challenge of our time.
Access the report here
