My blog

Tag: renewable energy

  • Opinion: Energy policy will have a role to play in the 2024 US election result

    Randall Heather

     

    One reason why Trump’s numbers are looking good is because the Biden-Harris administration is so incredibly stupid regarding energy policy – so much so that every increase in the price of oil will be seen as a creation of the Democratic Party.

    Let’s look at what Biden and Harris have contributed to energy policy. He got rid of the Keystone Pipeline, but that oil is still coming down from Canada on trains and barges and the likelihood of a spill is multiple times that of a pipeline. Nor will they issue any new permits for oil- or gas-drilling on federal land at a time when oil prices have been going up. This means that everyone’s underinvesting in oil because it’s not politically popular.

    All of this means that not only is supply being shut down but that demand is going up and it’s hitting people’s pockets every day. Really, when you come right down to it the best thing we could do as an energy policy is to drill like hell for gas – as there’s so much of it out there. The world is a huge methane creating machine: if you displaced all the coal fire generation with natural gas then the impact on the environment would be substantial. But the green lobby go after natural gas as if it’s oil or coal. But everybody knows you have to have some sort of bridge to build a solar-based energy policy.

    The truth is we don’t have an energy crisis – we have an energy storage crisis. As things stand, we can’t take solar and wind energy and save it at grid level. The technology doesn’t enable us to store it for any length of time whatsoever – and until you solve that problem, you can’t rely on solar or wind.

    Which brings me back to the Keystone Pipeline and the question of why Biden might be struggling in those states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan which he needs to win to retain the presidency, if he’s well enough to contest the election. There are lots of blue collar jobs associated with the natural gas infrastructure, and if you make an intervention like the one Biden did, then any adverse fluctuation in the gas prices can be justifiably placed at your door. Added to that, there’s not much spare capacity globally – expect in states like United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. But you can’t expect to switch off supply without some effect on prices, and therefore political ramifications.

    Biden is discovering this all too late. There’s the perception of a weak President – more than that there’s no real Bidenism that I can see which might amount to a core set of principles. It’s worth comparing him for instance with Bill Clinton. People forget that after Clinton came in in 1992, he immediately got cleaned out in the mid-terms, and had to work with Republicans. But he didn’t stick his head in the sand: instead he brought down the federal deficit and instituted some important welfare reforms. That led to a remarkably prosperous decade where the federal government even ran a surplus.

    That’s where Obama differed with Clinton. Clinton saw how he could make lemonade out of lemons – and it helped him in doing that, to have been the Governor of Arkansas. Obama, by unhappy contrast, had never run anything and it certainly showed. Biden suffers from the same affliction.

    What we’re witnessing with Trump’s resurgence speaks to a gap in America’s institutions: there’s no Leader of the Opposition in America. Trump has effectively been fulfilling that role by default – and you could say Nancy Pelosi did something similar from 2016-2020 during the Trump years. The system is too diffuse and lacks that gladiatorial atmosphere of parliamentary debate we see week in week out in the House of Commons.

    Politicians never debate each other except during elections and all interaction is done through the prism of the media.  No American President is called upon to do PMQs and the Cabinet meanwhile is absolutely invisible to the public. We’re paying the price of all that now – and who knows where it will end.

  • Hard Truths About Fossil Fuels: Dinesh Dhamija’s Call to Action

    Dinesh Dhamija calls for urgent action at the upcoming UN Summit of the Future to address the devastating impact of fossil fuels on the planet.

     

    When the world’s political and business leaders gather in New York next month for the UN-sponsored Summit of the Future, they will have to confront an elephant in the room.

    Despite record temperatures around the world, with at least 10 countries registering 50 degrees centigrade, rampant wildfires and a mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef,  the Summit’s pre-announced ‘climate pact’ makes no mention of fossil fuels. This omission brought a scathing response from 77 world leaders and Nobel prize-winners: “The extraction and burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of the climate crisis, fuelling extreme weather, fires, lethal heat, droughts and flooding that are threatening lives and livelihoods around the planet,” they wrote in a letter to the event organisers.

    “Yet this isn’t the end of the carnage – the extraction and burning of fossil fuels undermine all 17 [United Nations] Sustainable Development Goals, including jeopardising public health, fuelling conflict, exacerbating social inequalities and threatening biodiverse ecosystems worldwide.” There is a wilful blindness to the harms of fossil fuels, caused by the mutual dependence of some politicians and big oil and gas companies, and abetted by electorates who are understandably reluctant to pay now for to benefit future generations (even if those beneficiaries include their own grandchildren).

    At a time when international cooperation is at a low ebb, with geopolitical tensions and insularity replacing the globalisation of recent years, the world needs a new rationale for multinationalism. What better than something which threatens all of us, and for which there are already proven solutions: renewable energy in the form of solar, wind and new areas such as tidal power generation.

    “We call on the UN to ensure that the Pact for the Future includes robust commitments to manage and finance a fast and fair global transition away from coal, oil and gas extraction in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit agreed to by nations in the Paris Agreement,” added the signatories. “If the Summit of the Future does not address the threat of fossil fuels, it will not be worthy of its name, risking undermining a once-in-a-century opportunity to restore trust in the power of international cooperation.” As the consequences of fossil fuel use grow increasingly hazardous to human life, while the remedies are increasingly affordable and accessible, we’re surely approaching a tipping point.

    Until then, it’s crucial that voices such as these 77 objectors are heard, heeded and amplified.

     

    Dinesh Dhamija founded, built and sold online travel agency ebookers.com, before serving as a Member of the European Parliament. Since then, he has created the largest solar PV and hydrogen businesses in Romania. Dinesh’s latest book is The Indian Century – buy it from Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1738441407/

  • Solar Cell Breakthrough

    Dinesh Dhamija

     

    In the 70 years since the invention of the silicon photovoltaic cell, its efficiency has risen enormously, and its cost plummeted.

    But now, with the arrival of a revolutionary new technology, solar energy is poised to become dramatically more efficient and cheaper. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are made from materials such as calcium titanium oxide which share a crystal lattice formation. What’s amazing is how they can be manufactured at low cost, with up to 45 per cent efficiency, compared with silicon cells which are expensive and only hit around 26 per cent efficiency.

    In scientific language, PSCs have a greater variable energy bandgap than silicon PV cells. In other words, they absorb more of the sun’s energy. Perovskite itself was named in 1839 after Lev Perovski, a Russian mineralogist. Yet it was only in 1999 that Japanese researchers first used the material for solar cells. In 2010, a spin-off from Oxford University Physics, Oxford PV, sought to commercialise the technology. “We have raised power conversion efficiency from around 6 per cent to 27 per cent,” said Dr Shuaifeng Hu at Oxford University Physics. “We believe that, over time, this approach could enable the photovoltaic devices to achieve far greater efficiencies, exceeding 45 per cent.”

    Besides cost and efficiency, PSCs are just one micron thick, almost 150 times thinner than a silicon wafer. This means that they can be coated onto buildings, clothes, cars, plastics or almost any surface, which would help to make solar energy by far the most popular and accessible form of renewable energy. It would also reduce the need for solar farms and panels, making solar energy an integral part of our lives.

    Next year, Oxford PV plans to produce silicon-perovskite tandem cells for high-value industries such as aerospace, followed in 2026 by products for the residential housing market, then for utilities in 2027. But first, the company – along with other PSC manufacturers – has to overcome degradation from moisture, oxygen and heat: PSCs are more sensitive than silicon panels, and to ensure that any lead used in their manufacture does not pollute the environment (or else find a way to make them lead-free).

    These are exciting times for solar energy pioneers. When you read about breakthroughs such as this, with the potential to double the power of the technology, slash its cost and potentially apply it to every building in the world, you realise what extraordinary progress could be made in just a few years.

    Dinesh Dhamija founded, built and sold online travel agency ebookers.com, before serving as a Member of the European Parliament. Since then, he has created the largest solar PV and hydrogen businesses in Romania. Dinesh’s latest book is The Indian Century – buy it from Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1738441407/

     

  • Oil-rich nations see the (sun)light in 2024

    Dinesh Dhamija

     

    For decades, oil-rich Middle Eastern nations have ignored the bounties from solar energy all around them in favour of extracting oil and gas from beneath their soil and seas. Yet as the reality of climate change and the tremendous advances in renewable energy technology take hold, the region is gearing up to become a powerhouse in a whole new way.

    Dubai’s $14 billion Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Solar Park is already operating, with a further phase in progress, including a 262m-tall tower in the desert. The emirate has pledged a further $30 billion to fund a climate investment fund, alongside its existing Masdar renewable energy investment fund.

    In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, ACWA Power is among the world’s most important power developers in emerging markets, competing with huge infrastructure developers from Europe, the United States and Australia. It has invested more than $94 billion in projects across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, many of them in solar, wind and hydrogen technologies.

    Last year’s COP28 climate conference, held in Dubai, highlighted the dual role of Middle Eastern power players: they are in no hurry to decarbonise their economies, but leaders such as UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman have long spoken of their aim to decouple their economies from oil and gas. After all, one day it will run out, and demand is already falling.

    By contrast, demand for renewable energy is increasing exponentially. Prospective solar-generated electricity in Gulf Cooperation Council countries will more than quadruple from 30 TWh this year to 130 TWh in 2030, according to the latest projections, while gas-generated electricity will level off and oil-based generation will fall by a half.

    When you consider the extraordinary transformation of Dubai from a fishing village to a megapolis in a couple of generations, attracting millions of visitors each year, along with the determination of the region’s leaders to pioneer new societies and urban communities, it’s tempting to believe that the region can become a hotbed of renewable energy production. For all their faults, I prefer the enterprise and ambition of Middle Eastern states to the lethargy and corruption of oil-rich nations like Nigeria or Venezuela, which have fallen prey to resource curse.

    The sooner the world – especially those countries like Saudi Arabia with almost nine hours of sunshine per day, all year round – recognizes that solar is the key solution to their energy needs, the sooner we will have a cleaner, more secure and less climate-threatened future.

     

    Dinesh Dhamija founded, built and sold online travel agency ebookers.com, before serving as a Member of the European Parliament. Since then, he has created the largest solar PV and hydrogen businesses in Romania. Dinesh’s latest book is The Indian Century – buy it from Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1738441407/

     

  • Promoting Community Relations to Advance Net-Zero: An Interview with Marjorie Neasham Glasgow

    Marjorie Neasham, Promoting Community Relations to advance Net Zero, Glasgow

     

    Sir Keir Starmer swept to power and is proposing a ‘mission driven government.’ He is making clean energy one of Labour’s top missions. Vowing to make the UK a ‘clean energy superpower,’ Labour have set bold targets to double onshore wind, treble solar and quadruple offshore wind by 2030.

     

    Their dedication to decarbonising society is welcome. Labour has also made welcome signals they are committed to translating ambitious targets into action through necessary planning reform.

     

    To attract the level of investment required for us to achieve net zero – especially in the timeframe Labour have suggested – and for renewables to meet their economic potential, we need a more efficient planning process. In her first major speech as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves lifted the de-facto ban on onshore wind. This overturns planning rules that have made it almost impossible to secure planning consent for onshore wind in England in the last decade.

     

    The UK can yet become a global leader in renewables innovation, enabling a rollout of onshore projects that make environmental and financial sense amid a world without consensus on climate change. In fact, the UK is making more progress than many think in the transition to a more renewables-based energy sector.

     

    For the first time ever, renewables accounted for more than 40% total UK electricity demand in the second half of 2023. Analyses by Drax Electric Insights showed that in the 12 months leading into October 2023, coal supplied less than 1% of the UK’s electricity use for the first time.

     

    The UK is also the first major economy to cut its emissions by half since 1990, compared to the EU, who have cut emissions by 30%, the US not at all, while China’s emissions are up by 300% according to the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in a 12 March 2024 statement on reinforcing energy supply.

     

    Further, a growing proportion of new jobs in the UK are ‘green jobs’, defined by the Office for National Statistics as ‘employment in an activity that contributes to protecting or restoring the environment, including those that mitigate or adapt to climate change’. Recent PwC data indicates that 2.2% of new UK jobs are classified as ‘green,’ green jobs growing four times faster than jobs in the wider UK market. And research by the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources indicates UK green jobs could increased by 150,000 by 2030.

     

    Yet, while the data shows we are making progress, we are still some way off bringing local communities on board with the transition. To deliver on decarbonisation, we don’t just need political will and investment.

     

    Many people see the value and importance of transitioning to renewable energy. For instance, they are aware that producing and burning fossil fuels creates air pollution that harms our health and generates toxic emissions that drive climate change. Imperial College research finds that air pollution is the largest single environmental risk factor in the UK, associated with the premature deaths of 28,000-36,000 people each year and affecting the poorest in society the most. The transition to renewable energy will help address these health concerns.

     

    However, people understandably also want to know what tangible economic, cultural and social benefits the transition will bring to their daily lives and their communities. Right now, the renewables industry is struggling to convince people that we can genuinely deliver a green energy transition with respect for landscapes, livelihoods and heritage.

     

    Sir Keir Starmer vowed to make public trust a central theme of his government. That must be the foundation of all our work across the renewables sector too. In my 30 years in this sector, I have learned that trust is the cornerstone for driving meaningful change in the renewable industry.

     

    Without communities onboard, in a way that engages them based on their local needs, concerns and aspirations, it is difficult to develop the trust that is so vital to seizing the opportunities in front of the UK.

     

    Trust fosters collaboration, ensuring that local needs, concerns, and aspirations are addressed. This engagement not only facilitates smoother project implementation but also enhances public support and acceptance.

     

    Trust can only be developed gradually through relationships between real people, not corporate language or platitudes. This process takes time – there are no shortcuts. A recent King’s College London study found that 98% of the UK population say they trust people they know personally – joint top out of 24 countries with Sweden and Norway – showing that trust can only be built through relationships between real people rather than conglomerates and brands.

     

    For responsible developers, months if not years of investment in community relations are necessary to understand who they are and what they care about. Consultation processes must not be tick-box exercises. They must be proactive and truly collaborative, with developers actively approaching community members at the onset of every project.

     

    Developers need to demonstrate to local communities that a green energy transition is worthwhile for them socially, culturally and economically as well as being sustainable.

     

    Communities must be consulted and allowed to shape projects from the start, considering the potential impacts on their lives. That includes listening and learning about their specific needs as well as generating local jobs and creating cleaner, more sustainable energy sources.

     

    Developers have so many assets and areas of expertise they can offer communities, should both sides be open to a genuine, real relationship.

     

    At Ridge Clean Energy we look beyond our renewable energy projects when partnering with local communities, and use our resources and expertise to advance community initiatives that are important to them. In some cases, communities may seek investment for local initiatives that are not at all directly related to energy. That doesn’t preclude a developer from helping, they just need to think creatively.

     

    For example, we recently lent our fundraising and development expertise to one community in Scotland that wanted help to restore its much-loved local pier, an important point of cultural pride. We worked with community leaders and groups in the town of Inveraray near one of our development sites.

     

    Our team helped the community to apply for and secure £244,000 in funding to take ownership of the pier and restore it, finally seeing it open to the public for the first time in a decade. We supported local community negotiations with the previous pier owner, helping to provide the confidence that a repurchasing was possible. This was all undertaken years before we submitted a planning permission application for our site.

     

    We are also in the process of establishing a Climate Care Awards scheme for primary schools in the vicinity of our projects, to help contribute to their academic growth and foster a sense of ownership and responsibility towards their community and the planet.

     

    As part of the Awards, children will be encouraged first to work together with their classmates and their families to calculate their carbon footprint, and second to take small steps to reduce it, by, for example, turning off lights, shopping second-hand and planting their own vegetables.

     

    We are excited about the project’s potential, and would like to share the programme with other renewables companies who could take it to the schools in the communities they serve.

     

    American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett once said ‘trust is like the air we breathe. When it’s present nobody really notices. But when it’s absent, everyone notices.’ As we navigate the complexities of the green energy transition, trust cannot simply be a buzzword.

     

    There is a profound importance to fostering genuine long-term trust among communities. Developers and politicians alike must acknowledge that will only happen through real actions, not just words, one genuine relationship at a time.

     

    Marjorie Neasham Glasgow is CEO of Ridge Clean Energy

  • Labour’s Ambitious Green Policies

    Labour’s Ambitious Green Policies: Navigating Challenges for a Sustainable Future, Dinesh Dhamija

     

    When Sir Keir Starmer took office as Britain’s new Prime Minister on 5 July, there was a sense of relief among many people in the renewable energy sector that the Conservative government, which had begun to make a virtue of its opposition to green measures, was gone.

    Instead of delaying the deadline for the phase out of petrol and diesel cars, Labour is keen to re-establish it. Rather than pandering to the oil and gas lobby, Labour will allow more onshore wind energy development. Overall, the incoming government aims to double onshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple offshore wind energy as it pursues its goal of net zero carbon power generation by 2030.

    The trouble is that the undercurrent of opposition to many green policies, which the Tories identified and tried to harness, has not gone away. Reform, which won 14 per cent of the popular vote (4 million votes), promised to do away with subsidies for renewables and instead ‘drill down’ to harness Britain’s remaining reserves of coal, oil, gas and shale. This appeals to the same instincts that Reform appeals to more generally, opposing immigration, reducing imports and fostering nationalism.

     

    Labour’s task is to foster nationalism of a different kind, persuading the nation that its future prosperity lies in clean energy rather than in the extractive industries of the past. There is a deeply regressive feel to this debate: in the 1980s, it was the right wing of British politics under Margaret Thatcher that sought to move the country on from its dependence on coal mining, while Labour fought to maintain it. Today, the right-wing Reform party is trying to re-introduce this dirty, polluting, climate-change-inducing (but still cheap) energy source, against the flow of history.

    Labour will face other obstacles to its green agenda, including from green activists themselves, who decry the miles of pylons that must be erected to transmit clean power around the country and from anti-immigration parties like Reform, who oppose bringing in overseas labour to help build the necessary infrastructure. Then there is the cost of the plans, which Labour kept quiet about during the campaign, fearing that any specifics would be held against them by the Conservatives, accusing them of planning tax rises.

    This is all the business of politics, making unpopular choices for the long term good of the economy and the nation. It remains to be seen whether this government has the courage to act on these instincts and face down its detractors, knowing that with every year the potential for climate catastrophe comes ever closer.

    Dinesh Dhamija founded, built and sold online travel agency ebookers.com, before serving as a Member of the European Parliament. Since then, he has created the largest solar PV and hydrogen businesses in Romania. Dinesh’s latest book is The Indian Century – buy it from Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1738441407/

     

  • Dinesh Dhamija: SunTrain, Innovative Renewable Energy Transport by Rail

    SunTrain: Innovative Renewable Energy, Dinesh Dhamija

    In 2023 Bill Gates mulled the future of renewable energy. One of the problems, he concluded, was transmitting energy from the windswept plains of Iowa, or the sunny deserts of Arizona. “You can’t exactly ship sunlight in a railcar,” he wrote.

    Electrical engineer Christopher Smith had other ideas. Inspired by train wagons full of coal traversing the Alaskan wilderness, he devised a novel business. SunTrain will transport large batteries full of solar-generated electricity on flatbed wagons, moving them from energy rich locations (windy, sunny, or with hydroelectric generation) to energy poor neighbourhoods.

    Smith is now raising finance and signing deals with utility companies, to bring his vision to life. He aims to run trains with 120 wagons, delivering electricity to power hundreds of thousands of homes. A gap in the market has emerged thanks to the glacial pace of planning consent for high voltage transmission lines. One major line in New Mexico took 17 years before it could begin construction last year. Many such lines are in development, but meanwhile, SunTrain could make use of the existing rail infrastructure, to deliver results far sooner. It would also save many hundreds of rail industry jobs.

    Just as pharmaceutical companies, tackling a major health challenge such as HIV, must experiment with multiple strategies before they find a hybrid solution, coming to grips with the climate crisis will take concerted effort along hundreds of different avenues.

    Repurposing railways is just one of the innovations that are now underway, as the world drives down its carbon emissions. A new fleet of ships, chartered by Airbus to transport aircraft parts across the Atlantic from France to Mobile, Alabama, will have a set of sails to complement its engines.

    Deploying an electric-powered suction system which boosts the power of the sails, Airbus will save up to 1,800 tons of CO2 per year compared with the existing sail-less ship. Similarly, agricultural trader Cargill chartered a Mitsubishi-owned ship in 2023 retrofitted with 37.5-metre-high sails to reduce its reliance upon fuel.

    Some will point out that using sails for getting around has been tried before. But when you see the space-age designs for the America’s Cup yachts, with their wings, hydrofoils and aerofoils, you realise that we have come a long way from the Mayflower and the Cutty Sark. For some, a massive breakthrough in nuclear fusion will be the solution to our energy and climate crisis. But this remains many years, if not decades away, according to the latest estimates.

    Shuttling batteries around by train may seem old fashioned, but it’s achievable and cheap.

     

    Dinesh Dhamija founded, built and sold online travel agency ebookers.com, before serving as a Member of the European Parliament. Since then, he has created the largest solar PV and hydrogen businesses in Romania. Dinesh’s latest book is The Indian Century – buy it from Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1738441407/

     

  • Dinesh Dhamija: Labour’s Brave New Energy World

    Labour’s Brave New Energy World: Sir Kier Starmer’s Ambitous Policy Proposals, by Dinesh Dhamija

     

    With the UK election barely a month away, voters are scanning the parties’ manifestos for clues to the future – particularly that of the likely winner – Sir Kier Starmer’s Labour Party.

    As a solar energy entrepreneur, I’m alert to the parties’ renewable promises and ambitions. The most recent Conservative government talked a brave game, but gradually ditched its green commitments, because a vocal minority of its supporters hated the plans. This resulted in a fragmented approach to renewable energy, with many initiatives either scaled back or abandoned altogether.

    The Labour Party has promised a new energy deal in its pitch to the nation, including a state-owned business – Great British Energy – to invest in renewables: onshore and offshore wind, solar power, gigafactories, energy storage, and green hydrogen. This comprehensive approach aims to cover a wide array of renewable energy sources and technologies, ensuring a diversified energy portfolio for the UK.

    Listening to Sir Kier address a meeting in Leith in Scotland, you might think that he was the world’s green energy Messiah. Launching his party’s ‘national mission on clean energy’, he promised: “It will power us forward towards net-zero, generate growth right across the country, end the suffocating cost of living crisis and get Putin’s boot off our throat with real energy security.” These ambitious goals reflect a deep understanding of the interconnected challenges of energy security, economic growth, and environmental sustainability.

    It is, he proclaimed, “a plan to use clean power to build a new Britain, a plan to get our future back.” Stirring words, and a welcome commitment. But as recently as February this year, Labour ditched a promise to invest £28 billion a year in green spending, shrinking it to just £4.8 billion a year. What kind of a new deal is that? This significant reduction raises questions about the feasibility and impact of Labour’s green energy initiatives.

    Sir Kier bemoans the lost opportunities of the Tory government and the squabbles of the Scottish National Party, for whom a British success would contradict their drive for independence. He plans to headquarter GB Energy in Scotland and harvest the blowy conditions through a massive new wind energy programme, extending right down the eastern coast of the country to Grimsby in Lincolnshire. This strategic location aims to maximize the potential of wind energy, leveraging the geographical advantages of the UK’s coastline.

    He plans tidal energy in the Firth of Forth and in South Wales, with clean hydrogen programmes in Yorkshire, Merseyside, and Grangemouth. These projects highlight Labour’s commitment to exploring diverse renewable energy sources, recognizing the unique potential of different regions across the UK.

    Quite how far £4.8 billion will go, spread across these many fields, is an open question. The substantial reduction in proposed spending necessitates a careful reassessment of priorities and expected outcomes. Achieving significant progress with limited funds will require innovative approaches and efficient allocation of resources.

    Sir Kier points to the transformations of US President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. But that included $783 billion for renewable energy and climate measures. He also wants to model GB Energy on Denmark’s Ørested or Sweden’s Vattenfall, but both of those countries have long traditions of renewable energy champions, paid for through high taxation. The comparison underscores the scale of investment and cultural commitment required for such a transition. Labour’s brave new energy world is an incredibly positive but also very expensive undertaking.

    Is Britain ready for the Scandinavian model? This question remains at the heart of the debate, as the UK’s political and economic landscape differs significantly from that of Scandinavian countries. Adopting a similar approach would necessitate substantial shifts in policy and public perception.

    Labour’s energy policy is targeted at the Red Wall seats lost during the Brexit saga. It aims to claw back support in the industrial Midlands and north (including Scotland) by promising a brave new world of clean, secure energy, with hundreds of thousands of jobs. This focus on job creation and regional development seeks to address economic disparities and garner broader support for Labour’s vision.

    All very inspiring, but without cash to back up its promises, I fear it is little more than hot air. The ambitious plans for Labour’s brave new energy world need substantial financial backing to move from rhetoric to reality, ensuring tangible benefits for the UK’s economy and environment.

    Dinesh Dhamija founded, built, and sold online travel agency ebookers.com, before serving as a Member of the European Parliament. Since then, he has created the largest solar PV and hydrogen businesses in Romania. Dinesh’s latest book is The Indian Century – buy it from Amazon.