New research carried out for the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) underlines the sharp falls in the cost of renewable generation and suggests that Britain should aim for renewables to meet two-thirds of electricity needs by 2030 - and that this can be delivered at the same overall cost as meeting only half of total demand by that date.

The findings show the UK could make significant progress towards its net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target if the rights steps are taken – leading the Commission to update its recommended target for deployment of renewables as part of a low cost low carbon electricity system, from 50 per cent to 65 per cent by 2030.

Although the Commission’s report notes that Government has made a number of recent positive commitments on renewables deployment, including setting a goal to deliver 40 GW of offshore wind power by 2030, and schemes to encourage more onshore wind and solar power projects, the report notes that renewables alone cannot create a resilient energy system for future decades. It calls for further work on new storage technologies, efficient interconnectors, and other innovations including an increased role for low carbon hydrogen generation, as envisaged in the Commission’s report Net-Zero: Opportunities for the Power Sector, published in March 2020.

RenewableUK’s head of policy and regulation Rebecca Williams commented: "Wind alone can generate more than 50 per cent of the UK's electricity by 2030, so their new 65 pre cent target for renewables overall could go even higher. We welcome the NIC's call for annual auctions for contracts to generate renewable power, but the most important step that Government could take would be to lift the cap on the amount of new renewable energy capacity we can procure in each auction. This would allow us to maximise the benefits of cheap renewable power for consumers, cutting bills.”

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