Energy Security Strategy Briefing
The UK had a serious energy crisis before the Ukraine war. Now the need to rapidly scale up home grown energy has become even more urgent.
The cost of household energy means that some people may now have to choose between heating and eating, with the consumer price cap due to rise by 54% in April 2022, probably higher still by Winter 2022. Businesses are also seeing their energy bills skyrocket, affecting their ability to recover from the pandemic.
Our current power system still relies heavily on fossil fuels, such as gas. The volatile price of these is the reason that bills have increased so rapidly in recent months. The electricity market and networks are also in need of urgent re-design to allow the benefits of cheap renewable energy, primarily wind and solar, to be accessed by consumers and businesses.
The Prime Minister has acknowledged that moving as fast as possible to a green energy system is the single most important thing the UK can do to address these issues.
Solar Energy UK calls on the government to increase the capacity of solar energy in the UK and commit to a target of 40GW by 2030, and then to 54GW by 2035, to fully decarbonise the UK’s power needs.
Speed is of the essence, and we estimate that up to 7GW could be bult in 2 years, which could create an extra 5,000 secure jobs in the sector, growing to 42,000 jobs in 2030.
As solar, energy storage, electrification of heat and transport expand, there should be an ambition to deploy at least 100GW by 2050.
The briefing summarises the benefits of solar energy and the immediate impacts that deploying more solar will have on the UK energy crisis.
