Miliband visited RWE's Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm last week | Zara Farrar / No 10 Downing Street
Ed Miliband describes upcoming Contracts for Difference auction as 'critical test' for new government's climate plans in his first Parliamentary statement as Energy Security Secretary
Ed Miliband today confirmed plans to set up an onshore wind taskforce and publish a new solar roadmap in a bid to accelerate the government's pursuit of its clean power goals.
In his first statement to Parliament since being appointed as Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, Miliband said that having last week lifted the de facto ban on new onshore wind farms in England, he would now seek to establish a new onshore wind taskforce "to drive forward" the development of more projects.
The proposed taskforce - originally a recommendation made by the last government's net zero tsar, former Conservative MP Chris Skidmore - will "work with developers to rebuild the pipeline of projects", Miliband said.
Miliband also confirmed a solar roadmap that had been delayed by the last government would be "published soon with greater ambition", adding that he had "reconvened the solar taskforce to deliver this objective". Chris Hewitt, the chief executive of trade body Solar Energy UK, has been invited to co-chair the revamped solar taskforce.
The solar roadmap is now expected to set out plans to reform building and planning rules to make it easier to install rooftop PV panels.
Miliband also said it would work in conjunction with a planned new Land Use Framework to ensure "a proper balance between food security, nature preservation and clean energy", as he pushed back against the previous government's claims that solar farm development risked hampering food production.
"The biggest threat to nature and food security and to our rural communities is not solar panels or onshore wind it is the climate crisis, which threatens our best farmland, food production and the livelihoods of farmers," he told the House of Commons. "This government is not going to proceed on the basis of myth and false information but evidence."
The comments follow Miliband's decision to green light 1.3GW of major solar projects over the weekend, which sparked criticism from Conservative MPs but was warmly welcomed by the renewables industry.
Elsewhere in his statement, Miliband gave his strongest hint yet that changes could be made to the upcoming sixth auction round (AR6) for the UK's flagship Contracts for Difference (CfD) clean power subsidy scheme.
It comes amid growing pressure from industry over the past fortnight to boost the budget set aside for offshore wind projects, which developers warn is not currently sufficient to secure the capacity needed to meet the government's emissions and clean energy targets for 2030.
While Miliband stopped short of making any clear commitments on the issue, he described last year's auction round as "a catastrophe" for failing to award any new contracts for offshore wind projects, and acknowledged the upcoming AR6 round was "a critical test" of the new government's plans.
"We will get this crucial industry back on its feet," he said. "And by the beginning of August, I will report back on the budget for AR6 to ensure that as much clean, homegrown energy as possible gets built while ensuring value for money."
The government faces stretching targets for clean power and grid decarbonisation, as part of its plan to decarbonise the grid by 2030. Today, the Climate Change Committee said meeting the UK's emissions goals for 2030 goals would require a three-fold increase in offshore wind capacity over the remainder of the current decade, as well as a doubling of onshore wind and a fivefold increase in solar capacity.
Since taking office following Labour's landslide election win on 4 July, Miliband has moved quickly to lift the 'de facto' ban on new onshore wind farms in England, give the green light to more than 1.3GW of solar projects, and appoint Chris Stark to lead a new Clean Power 2030 Mission Control delivery body within the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
Yesterday, the King's Speech also touted legislative plans for a raft of planning reforms to accelerate the rollout of clean energy infrastructure in support of its 2030 grid decarbonisation target, including a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Plans for a new publicly owned clean power company dubbed Great British Energy and a new National Wealth Fund to crowd in private investment to help grow Britain's green economy were also confirmed in yesterday's King's Speech.
Highlighting today's CCC report - which offers a damning assessment of climate policy failures under Rishi Sunak's government over the past year - Miliband warned Labour had inherited a huge task if it is to meet the UK's legally-binding emissions targets.
But Miliband said in his statement today that the government was now "moving at this pace for one overriding reason: because of the urgency of the challenges we face", arguing the threat of climate change and the ongoing cost of living crisis required urgent action to decarbonise the economy.
"This government has a driving philosophy: homegrown clean energy can help us tackle all of these challenges, including crucially energy security," he said.
RenewableUK chief executive Dan McGrail - who today confirmed himself as a member of the government's new onshore wind taskforce - welcomed the latest wave of announcements.
He said the new taskforce would work to "identify current barriers and practical solutions to deploying this vital technology, such as improvements to resourcing in the planning system, reducing waits for grid connections and developing opportunities for supply chain companies".
"The announcement of the Taskforce demonstrates strong backing for onshore wind from Westminster, which will support the continuing deployment of projects in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as we work hard to kickstart the pipeline in England," he said. "Onshore wind already generates over 20 per cent of the UK's electricity a year, so it has a key role in bringing secure, low-cost power to the whole country and specifically tailored economic benefits to local communities hosting new projects. Our research shows that delivering 30GW of onshore wind by the end of the decade would boost the economy by £45bn and create 27,000 jobs."
However, some groups have raised concerns that Labour's plans are too reliant on public funding, while the focus on ramping up clean energy has also courted criticism from sections of the right wing media.
Responding to Miliband's statement in Parliament earlier, moreover, Shadow Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Claire Coutinho criticised the new Labour government's energy policy plans, arguing rapidly shifting away from oil and gas risked leaving the UK less energy secure, and more reliant on fossil fuel imports and Chinese clean technology supply chains. She also argued the government's plans to rollout more solar and onshore wind across the country risked undermining food security and riding roughshod over the wishes of local communities.
"The energy infrastructure he will need, and the fact that he wants to go further and faster, will have a huge impact on rural communities," she told MPs. "Their concerns must be addressed. As I set out, the plans for our energy cannot come at the expense of our food or national security."
Coutinho also defended the Conservatives' record in government, which she claimed had never discontinued the solar taskforce, and that before her Party's recent election loss she had been planning to shortly publish the solar roadmap when she was Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary.
Miliband, though, insisted GB Energy and public investment in clean technologies - such as nuclear, offshore wind, tidal energy, hydrogen production and carbon capture and storage - would serve to 'crowd in' rather than 'crowd out' more private investment in the UK.
"We have offshore wind farms in the UK owned by the governments of Denmark, France, Norway and Sweden through state owned companies," he said. "These governments know a publicly owned national champion is part of a modern industrial strategy and generates a return for taxpayers… For too long, Britain has opted out and lost out."
COP29
Elsewhere in his statement, Miliband confirmed he will personally lead the UK's negotiations at this year's COP29 UN Climate Summit, which is due to take place in Baku in November, arguing it was important to link up domestic and international climate action.
"One of my early decisions was to re-establish the role of the secretary of state as the lead climate negotiator in my department, because we can only protect future generations with strong action at home and leadership abroad," he said.
Miliband said he planned to meet with Azerbaijan's COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev in London next week, alongside COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber - who led last year's UN Climate Summit in Dubai - and the COP30 Presidency for next year's event in Brazil.
The former Labour leader said he had also invited Lord Sharma, the former Conservative Business Secretary who acted as COP26 President when the UK hosted the UN Climate Summit back in 2021, to attend next week's meeting.
It came as Miliband paid tribute to MPs from across the political divide who he said "had been champions of this agenda over the last 14 years", such as Theresa May - who put the 2050 net zero target into legislation as Prime Minister in 2019 - former Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, and the now Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey.
"This is a sign of how I intend to go on - working with people of all parties and none in this national endeavour," Miliband said. "That is what the British people have a right to expect of us. As the Prime Minister rightly says: country first, party second. It's more true on this issue than any other. This government will act at pace and work with anyone who shares our mission."
You can now sign up to attend the fifth annual Net Zero Festival, which will be hosted by BusinessGreen on October 22-23 at the Business Design Centre in London.
