How clean energy will help deliver growth in the UK

How to actually make the UK grow

Ahead of the election, Labour pledged to tackle the planning system to boost economic growth and get the UK’s infrastructure moving again.

If Rachel Reeves’s first speech as Chancellor is to be believed, winning a clear majority only strengthened that intention.

The challenge for policymakers is to implement the policy quickly across the UK, including in Scotland, where reforms have been devolved to local authorities but are urgently needed.

Why we urgently need planning reform

Let me give you two examples to illustrate how planning negatively affects economic growth and employment.

It currently takes around 12 years to deliver a large offshore wind farm in UK waters. But only two or three of those years are construction.

And when it comes to nationwide energy networks, all it takes is one local authority in Scotland to object to a project for the matter to be referred to a public inquiry, incurring additional costs and delays of years.

No one wants to avoid proper scrutiny and community engagement, but allowing decision-making to drag on for years is not good for anyone, and setting a sensible 12-month limit is certainly sensible for all involved, as is giving Ministers more freedom for projects that are clearly seen to be in the national interest.

Make the UK the easiest place in the world to invest and actually build projects

But planning reform should be just one of many actions to deliver sustainable growth, enabled by focusing on areas where UK public companies have a real competitive advantage.

Even better if it is an area with strong growth prospects that can attract significant investment to the UK and create good jobs.

Clean energy ticks all these boxes, and we have a real chance to become a world leader in one of the fastest growing and most important industries of the 21st century – and that is something we will need to do if we are to deliver on the new government’s clean energy ambitions for 2030.

Why?

We have some of the best renewable energy sources in Europe, capable of generating vast amounts of clean domestic energy, protecting us from over-dependence on imported fossil fuels and the regimes that control these resources.

Our experience in the oil and gas sector means we have a highly skilled workforce and the infrastructure under the North Sea to store millions of tonnes of emissions – crucial to the development of new industries such as carbon capture and hydrogen.

We also have a strong track record in building electricity networks and a plan to build new networks where they are needed to connect new renewable energy sources, homes and businesses.

This is a great springboard for economic growth and energy security, but we need to turn all this potential into jobs and investment across the UK.

The first sign of intent would be to deliver a record 20GW of offshore wind power in two consecutive government auctions, enough to power the equivalent of every home in the country.

This would send an immediate signal to international investors that the UK is serious about leading the world in clean technology, and would also help bring thousands of good manufacturing jobs to the UK, making it a leading centre of global industry.

To achieve this we need to get more projects approved and put them through auctions – which once again shows how important it is to make planning decisions faster across the UK.

Creating good jobs here in the UK

And it’s not just a promise of jam tomorrow, it’s already happening.

In Nigg, in the Scottish Highlands, a long-term contract with SSE Transmission helped Sumitomo decide to start building a new factory that will produce the high-voltage cables needed to connect our renewable energy sources to the grid.

This is a £350m commitment to an area that has previously suffered from falling oil and gas prices, shifting production that would otherwise have been done overseas. And it has been made possible by clear signals to investors that a number of projects were coming.

With the right commitment from government and industry we can do much, much more, creating economic opportunities for communities from Shetland to the Isle of Wight.

We have to move

Having worked in the energy industry for almost 30 years, I have never been more excited about the prospects for this country.

As one of the UK’s largest investors, SSE currently has an investment programme of over £20bn, but we are prepared to go further and many more from across the industry will join us.

The UK has no shortage of opportunities. But we need to make them happen. If we can deliver on our clean energy mission, growth will follow. There is a long way to go, but unblocking the planning gridlock is the right place to start.