Blitz Bureau
THE Labour government will make record amounts of funding available to clean energy developers after it increased the value of its summer subsidy auction by 50%, to £1.5bn. Seven times budget The addition, compared with figures previously announced, means the total budget is seven times the amount available at last year’s auction, the government said.
The move aims to reignite investment in the UK’s clean energy industry after the previous government failed to award a single new offshore wind contract last year or remove the blocks on onshore wind, according to a report by The Guardian.
The government said that increasing the auction round would provide high quality jobs in Britain’s industrial heartlands and coastal communities, while protecting household bills from rises in the global market for fossil fuel by providing more clean energy. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said: “Last year’s auction round was a catastrophe, with zero offshore wind secured, and delaying our move away from expensive fossil fuels to energy independence.”
“Instead, we are backing industry to build in Britain, with this year’s auction getting its biggest budget yet. This will restore the UK as a global leader for green technologies and deliver the infrastructure we need to boost our energy independence, protect bill payers, and become a clean energy superpower,” he added. Offshore wind projects will compete for up to £1.1bn of funding this summer, up from the £800m earlier, bringing forward investment in 6-7 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity
