ED Miliband’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero has admitted that as much as £240billion will have to be spent on upgrading Britain’s electricity network in order to meet Net Zero targets.
According to the Daily Telegraph: ‘Britain’s electricity network will require up to £240billion of upgrades to support clean power targets, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has admitted. In new estimates released by the Government, the cost of building new pylons and power lines will skyrocket in the next 24 years to achieve the Government’s net zero ambitions.
‘The energy department has already warned that grid upgrades will cost £80billion by 2030. However, the latest forecasts indicate that this is just the start of a much larger upgrade programme – with households poised to foot the bill.
‘The costs of grid expansion are loaded on to consumers’ energy bills to pay for upgrades carried out by the UK’s monopoly transmission operators: National Grid, SSE and Scottish Power. This includes building new pylons across the country to transport electricity generated by renewables, including rural wind and solar farms.
‘The scale of the upgrades was revealed at a conference this month, attended by officials from DESNZ.’
In addition to the £80billion already programmed by Ofgem, the National Energy System Operator (Neso) has already identified further investments of £58billion, which will be needed by 2035 if we are to meet the Sixth Carbon Budget laid down by the Climate Change Committee. This targets a five-fold increase in offshore wind farm capacity to 86GW by 2035, along with much more solar power. Electricity consumption is also projected to increase by 64 per cent to power our electric cars and heat pumps.
All of this demands thousands of miles of new pylons and transmission cables, bringing power from Scotland and the North Sea to the towns and cities where it will be used. Existing transmission lines and substations will need reinforcement to handle the increased flow of electricity.
Billions more will also be spent on battery storage systems to manage the inherent instability of wind and solar power.
https://www.neso.energy/industry-information/connections-reform
Beyond 2035, further upgrades will be necessary, with electricity consumption due to triple from current levels.
None of this expenditure would be necessary if it was not for Net Zero and the rollout of expensive, intermittent renewable energy. Bear in mind as well that none of this spending includes the cost of upgrading the local electricity distribution networks, the low voltage grid which brings electricity into our homes and factories. Experts have estimated this will cost hundreds of billions more to cope with the extra demand for electricity.
All this investment plus a return on capital will have to be reimbursed to the grid operators – National Grid, SSE and Scottish Power – with the cost ending up on our energy bills. Last year, we paid them around £3billion in transmission revenue, but that number is projected to rise to £12billion by 2030 just to start paying back the £80billion investment. Typically these returns are based on an asset life of 45 years. That means we will be locked into these extra charges until the 2070s.
Based on DESNZ’s estimate of £240billion, that cost will eventually triple, equating to £1,300 a year for every household in the country.
Miliband and all the other politicians and bureaucrats who have foisted Net Zero on the country have long known that a massive upgrading of the electricity grid would be necessary to achieve their aims, even if they may not have known the actual costs involved. But they have covered up the fact. Instead, they have repeatedly lied that we would all benefit from cheap renewable energy, which would bring our bills down eventually.
For the first time, voters will have a chance at the next election to put an end to Net Zero. It will be a tragedy if that chance is not taken, which may well happen because of senseless infighting and personal vanity among the right.
