Aims to decarbonise the UK power grid by 2030 have been dubbed achievable despite new projects often having to wait over a decade to be connected to the system.
International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol on Monday backed the new Labour government’s target to clean up the UK’s energy supply in the next six years.
“[It] is a good target,” he told The Times, “it’s an ambitious target but I think the UK can achieve it”.
This would involve doubling onshore wind, tripling solar power and quadrupling offshore wind by 2030 under flagship manifesto pledges laid out by the government.
“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,” Birol added.
However, it would come as firms grapple with wait times in excess of ten years to connect new clean energy projects to the UK’s grid.
Though some 700 gigawatts worth of projects, or 10 times the UK’s power capacity, are said to be awaiting grid connections, many are so-called zombie plans seen as unviable.
Fintan Slye, chief executive of Britain’s National Energy System Operator (NESO), warned last month that the queuing system, which works on a first-come, first-served basis, had become outdated.
Proposals were said to be in the pipeline to reform the system, he added to the Observer, including measures to allow “ready to go” projects to jump the queue.
NESO on Tuesday is also set to lay out advice on how greater flexibility among households and businesses could help achieve the target, according to the Financial Times.
While involving keeping ageing nuclear power plants open for longer, the advice is also set to call on the likes of factories and households to base output and usage respectively on generation, such as when weather conditions are sunny or windy.