Will Labour's 'Great British Energy' deliver? | The New Statesman

Clean energy by 2023? We're "pretty far off".

Ed Miliband today made his first parliamentary speech as the new Energy Secretary, hailing the Labour government's progress on their energy plans. Central to their goal to reach clean energy by 2023 is their proposal for a new publicly owned energy firm, Great British Energy.

Sustainability correspondent Megan Kenyon joins Hannah Barnes and Rachel Cunliffe on the New Statesman podcast to unpick Labour's energy plans and discuss whether or not GB Energy will actually be able to deliver.

Read more: Britain will never be an energy superpower, by Helen Thompson

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[AnthonyBrown]

people are bizarre. they want better broadband and then they moan about a few wooden poles . we've had these poles for years you hardly notice them, nimbys can be so annoying . they basically want to have their cake and eat it .

[blackroseangel]

People like to complain about this green transition and act like climate change isn't our problem or isn't even real.

But people don't realise, being 100% sustainable energy means no more reliance on Russia or Saudi Arabia. Consistent and reliable energy production forever.

But more importantly cheaper bills for everyone. No price spikes, no unexpected energy crisis.

Even if you ignore climate change, it's still beneficial to everyone.

[zackerycooper]

With prices and quality of service at their lowest levels in nearly three decades, if Starmer's Labour can deliver on energy and rail, that will be this government's greatest accomplishment. The Tories can throw a fit about nationsalisation, and obviously they are going to, but results will speak for themselves.

[bobbyoldsmith]

The harm that lithium batteries and solar panel production causes cannot be overstated, And wind turbines are lovely to look at aren't they.

[isbestlizard]

So it'll give away free money to private companies to build energy infrastructure, but not actually own any of it? So PFI version 2.0? Great.

[winterskiU]

Without nuclear, this is a recipe for disaster. Expect your energy bills to go up.

[liam-james]

So bills won’t come down and we won’t make any profit back as we don’t own the kit. Great plan 😂

[mt]

Solar and battery storage is cheaper than the running costs of gas already. Let that sink in. And prices of battery and solar panels are plummeting. Don’t fall for the oil and gas company vested interests lies to try and stop this renewable revolution. Oh and I charge my Tesla overnight for £5 for 300 miles on cheap wind power

[ianbarrowcliff]

They have tried to before and all their councils have gone bust

[andrewhead]

Planning concerns is not always at the macro scale. I refurbished an Edwardian semi a decade ago, which required removing the cracked rough cast render. A perfect opportunity to install external insulation to the walls. We had put in planning for an extension. The planner was fine with that but said the external insulation on the frontage would have a negative impact on the adjoining property and street scene.

To reduce heat loss and energy usage will involve quite a bit of work on most homes more than thirty years old. Removing chimneys, double glazing, replacement doors, external insulation. You might need planning permission which may not be a formality. So decarbonising homes will need some planning changes too.

[peterdollins]

Ecotricity is 'my' power company. On railways I, my father, grandfather, great grandfather worked on the Railways as Fireman/Drivers. Best management we ever had was the old Big Four Railway Companies in cooperation with the Government. Worse thing Labour ever did was Nationalise the Railways in 48 then lose the 1951 Election so the Tories sabotaged the Railways all the way through to their mad privatisation. Hope Labour can turn all that around. It's a hell of an ask.

[tdm]

This is very weak analysis, I didn't hear a single statistic on any of this.

[themexicannon]

Solar farms usually built on land that's not fertile? Come and see the amount of silicon we're growing all over East Anglia that used to be arable crop.

[malcolm]

She praising the Conservatives for connecting renewables to the grid but actually they left us with a 15 year wait for grid connections.

[danrooke]

Agree Labour have made some positive early steps on renewables.

I'd love to see some movement/coverage on decoupling electricity prices from gas, or the most expensive generator, in the electricity wholesale market. This could drastically bring down electricity prices and this would sell the benefits of renewables to anyone who is a doubter. How hard is this change to make and is it another low hanging fruit?

Let's stop subsidising fossil fuels as well, or at least a plan to phase out such subsidies giving people time to plan.

[heatherscott]

I have not read about the so-called nimbyism of the Green Party MP but wildlife and biodiversity is just as important with regard to climate change as decarbonising and it can even play a very important in helping to decarbonise the environment. So putting wind farms and solar farms on areas not suitable for food production (less fertile usually means more diverse habitats for wildlife) has to be done appropriately. Biodiversity and wildlife continues to decrease very rapidly across Britain. For example, there has been a marked decrease in invertebrates this year. So his protest about a particular renewable energy project may be very valid.

[hyperbiped]

Oil is needed for lubricants and plastics etc so we will need it for a long long time!

[mcbunson]

For licencing of prospecting of new oil and gas fields the government gets paid. When companies extract oil and gas the companies get taxed.
My policy would be to let the licensing go ahead at a heightened cost and have a large windfall tax on all extraction. This money can then be used to fund green technology.

[callumstewart]

One thing I never hear discussed in these energy conversations is decarbonising aviation. Several companies are working to bring SAF onto the market in the UK but the gvmt has been incredibly slow to move to support this.

[seanoconnor]

I'll be cold in my grave before I get a heat pump