UK can meet clean power target, says International Energy Agency

The head of the International Energy Agency has backed the government’s ambitious plan to clean up Britain’s power supply by 2030 so the UK can keep its lead in cutting-edge energy industries.
Labour has faced criticism for its ambition to supply almost all the country’s electricity with wind, solar and nuclear energy in only six years’ time.
Yet Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA, told The Times: “[The 2030 target] is a good target. It’s an ambitious target but I think the UK can achieve it.”
He said the greater danger for Britain lies not in moving too quickly towards renewables but in going too slowly. “Other economies are going very fast, and the UK, with its push towards renewables and nuclear power, I expect could be one of the leaders of clean power around the world.
“[The 2030 target] is not only important for the UK at home but also for UK industries, to be an important player globally”
Dieter Helm, an energy economist, has called the target “unachievable”, while Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, has argued that going “too fast, too soon” to meet it would leave Britain dependent on Chinese batteries and cables.
Speaking at the Powering European Industry conference in Sonderborg, Denmark, on Tuesday, Birol warned that Europe’s industries face a “make-or-break juncture” as they struggle to reduce emissions while contending with energy prices three times higher than those in China.
The IEA has forecast that the coming renewables boom could cut European energy prices by easing reliance on expensive natural gas. Birol said governments should help manufacturers “bridge the cost gap”.
“I am worried that Europe will miss the train of being an important player in tomorrow’s modern industries,” he said.
He praised Labour’s plans to use the newly created National Wealth Fund to subsidise companies that want to make clean technologies in Britain. The government has capitalised the fund with £5.8 billion, giving it a mandate to support producers of clean steel, batteries and hydrogen. “If public money is used wisely it can be returned to the public by a factor of ten in terms of economic growth,” he said.
He added that if governments do not support manufacturers through this difficult period of high energy prices, they can expect “bad news in terms of downsizing industries, relocating industries, loss of employment”.
That, he warned, would create “fertile ground” for “populist political groupings who question the climate science”.
Since assuming his role in 2015, Birol has expanded the IEA remit. While it was founded in 1974 to help governments maintain a stable oil supply, it now advises them on how to meet climate goals too.
In its World Energy Outlook published last month, it found that “clean energy is entering the energy system at an unprecedented rate”, pushing the world into an “age of electricity”.
It forecast that renewable energy capacity would almost triple by 2030, and that solar, which is already the cheapest source of electricity, will become the world’s largest by 2033. Historically the IEA has underestimated renewables’ growth. This year it boosted its forecast for solar by 30 per cent.