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Originally posted by birdman29 ↑

Paying the price for Great British Energy

JULY 25, 2024

By Paul Homewood

While Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer are warning of a “difficult” autumn Budget to deal with the “crisis” in the public finances, the Government is getting on with the business of spending vast sums of taxpayers’ money on its pursuit of net zero.
Speaking at the launch of the new state-run Great British Energy, Sir Keir unveiled a partnership between the company and the Crown Estate to speed up the construction of offshore wind projects, including an ominous pledge to make “necessary changes” to the planning system to rush through the construction of pylons. It is not exactly an encouraging prospect.
Ed Miliband, the Net Zero and Energy Security Secretary, has also not been shy about admitting that this represents the Government taking a far more explicitly interventionist approach to the economy. GB Energy is intended to act as a “catalyst” for private sector investment, with the hope that a taxpayer stake of £8.3 billion will attract £60 billion of funding from other investors. But by taking stakes in renewable energy projects, it will expose taxpayers directly to the success or failure of these schemes.
If these projects were economically viable, would the private sector itself not be enthusiastic about supporting them without a partnership with Government or considerable taxpayer support? But the last government renewables auction round saw no bids from offshore wind developers, with complaints that the existing subsidies were not generous enough.
Mr Miliband said that this is a “Government in a hurry on behalf of the British people”. It would be better off slowing down. Even Labour seems to be unclear about whether these initiatives will indeed benefit the public through lower bills, despite claims about new renewables projects boosting energy security.
There will be considerable scepticism about this point, with the Resolution Foundation among others arguing that the rush to net zero could add hundreds of pounds to household bills.
Doubts have also been raised about the Government’s wider aim of decarbonising the grid by 2030. Many experts consider that it is unachievable, at any price. But instead of listening to criticism, ministers are ploughing ahead with an ideological approach that could cost British voters and industry dearly. They cannot say they haven’t been warned.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/25/paying-the-price-for-great-british-energy/

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Wit till they start including the insurance premiums for the consumer to cover.

Mother Nature Challenges Renewable Energy Insurance

Storm-related equipment damage and business disruption present major threats to energy conversion and reaching consensus sustainability goals.

For example, a 3,300-acre solar farm that serves more than 60,000 homes was caught in a March hailstorm that seriously damaged thousands of its photovoltaic (PV) panels. There was another hailstorm in 2019 in West Texas that cost insurers an estimated US$70 million to US$80 million in damage. There have been a number of other hail events costing insurers millions of dollars in several states.

Losses frequently outstrip insurance coverage, and total exposure is outstripping total insurance capacity. This trend is putting the renewable energy industry on an unsustainable path toward uninsurability. It’s a similar financial dynamic to the one prompting residential property insurers to pull out of wildfire- and hurricane-prone states.