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Rishi Sunak pledges not to build more onshore wind farms
“Wind energy will be an important part of our strategy, but I want to reassure communities that as prime minister I would scrap plans to relax the ban on onshore wind in England, instead focusing on building more turbines offshore,” he told The Telegraph. There is hostility towards wind farms in many rural areas because of the noise they generate and the fact some people consider them to be a blight on the landscape.
Credit: The Tory leadership contender vows to oversee a massive expansion in offshore turbines in a plan to make the UK ‘energy independent’ by 2045 | By Nick Gutteridge | 19 July 2022 | www.telegraph.co.uk ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
Rishi Sunak has pledged to keep the ban on building any new onshore wind farms if he wins the Tory leadership race and becomes the next prime minister.
The former chancellor would reverse Boris Johnson’s plan to relax the rules and let local communities agree to host turbines in return for cheaper electricity bills.
Speaking to The Telegraph, he vowed to introduce a legal target to make Britain energy self-sufficient by 2045 by overseeing a massive expansion in offshore wind.
David Cameron introduced the de facto ban on new onshore wind farms in 2016 by excluding them from government subsidies for green electricity.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, has been pushing for it to be overturned but more than 100 Tory MPs have privately lobbied No 10 against a change.
Mr Sunak is the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race and is all but certain to make the final two candidates put forward by MPs to the party membership.
“Wind energy will be an important part of our strategy, but I want to reassure communities that as prime minister I would scrap plans to relax the ban on onshore wind in England, instead focusing on building more turbines offshore,” he told The Telegraph.
There is hostility towards wind farms in many rural areas because of the noise they generate and the fact some people consider them to be a blight on the landscape.
Turbines placed out at sea are more efficient and reliable than those on land, but they cost significantly more to build and maintain.
Last month, the price of electricity from offshore wind fell to its lowest ever point and it is now four times cheaper than that from gas power plants.
Making the UK ‘energy independent’
Mr Sunak has also pledged to re-establish the separate Department of Energy, which was subsumed into the Department of Business in 2016.
He would also create a new Energy Security Committee ahead of the winter tasked with keeping the lights on and reforming the market to cut future bills.
“As energy bills skyrocket in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it has never been more important that our country achieves energy sovereignty, so that we’re no longer reliant on the volatility of the global energy supply,” he said.
“That’s why as prime minister I would introduce an ambitious new plan to make the UK energy independent, investing in vital new technologies.
“I am committed to Net Zero by 2050, but that can’t mean neglecting our energy security. So although the legal target for energy sovereignty will be 2045 and I will work night and day to ensure we beat that target, securing a safer future for the next generation.”
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