Writing for The Telegraph, Hughes said, “On average my calculations show that the Net Zero grid would be a remarkable £15 billion per year more expensive than our current one … It is clear that Net Zero is a voyage that the United Kingdom simply can’t afford to take. We will have to turn back if our economy is to survive.”
The UK government’s plan to achieve Net Zero, as outlined in the Clean Power 2030 document, is highly unlikely to become a reality on the proposed timescale due to the lack of access to the necessary capital and engineers to build the required generation plants and grid connections.
Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, has refused to produce a credible estimate of the costs of the Net Zero electricity system. He has also cancelled a system costing commissioned by his predecessor, Claire Coutinho. Frustrated by Miliband’s inadequacies, Hughes has had to do his own calculations to fill the gap. His calculations reveal the true expense of Miliband’s plan.
The plan will be extremely expensive, with Hughes’ calculations indicating that the Net Zero grid would cost approximately £15 billion per year more than the current grid, which translates to an extra £925 per year for every household, likely paid through higher electricity bills, potentially forcing consumers to reduce their energy consumption either voluntarily or through compulsion.
The high cost of decarbonising the grid is not due to the cost of generating wind and solar power, which is relatively low, but rather the need to build, maintain and replace a large amount of machinery and grid connections, as well as the extra costs associated with balancing the grid....<<<Read More>>>...
