UK government promises electricity revolution
The UK government is promising a revolution in the way electricity is made, used and stored.
The announcement comes as the UK government promoted its Industrial Strategy. According to the government, consumers in the UK could save billions of pounds when new rule s come into place to make it easier for people to generate their own power with solar panels, store it in batteries and sell it to the National Grid.
It they work, consumers will save £17 billion to £40 billion by 2050, according to government and energy regulator Ofgem. The rules are due to come into effect over the next year.
The announcement was part of a competition launch by the Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark, who launched the first phase of a £246m government investment into battery technology to ensure the UK builds on its strengths and leads the world in the design, development and manufacture of electric batteries.
It is not clear what role bioenergy will play in this electricity revolution.
The whole scheme forms part of the government’s low carbon economy plans for its Industrial Strategy.
The government launched its Industrial Strategy Green Paper earlier this year in January. In it, it describes how the UK needed to deliver “affordable energy and clean growth” and “keep costs down for businesses, and secure the economic benefits of the transition to a low-carbon economy”.
A Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) spokesman told Bioenergy Insight that it had received 1,900 responses on that Green Paper in the space of 12 week. BEIS will publish its response to the consultation later this year.
This story was written by Liz Gyekye, editor of Bioenergy Insight.
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