UK Energy boss says clean energy must ‘benefit’ local groups

New clean energy projects must “show benefit” to local groups as ministers accelerate the UK’s transition to net zero, the boss of Great British Energy has said.

Jurgen Maier, head of the newly formed utility, said policymakers needed to “take communities with us” during the transition to green energy.

His comments come as Labor seeks to decarbonise Britain’s electricity grid by the end of the decade, a move that will require a massive increase in the number of power poles and wind farms in rural areas to meet rising energy demand.

The policies have already caused a backlash; Local councils took legal action earlier this year over plans to build a solar farm in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, but the action was later canceled.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has vowed to tackle “obstructionists” who oppose the commissioning of new turbines and masts, describing it as a matter of “national security” and “economic justice”.

Officials are also consulting on reforms to the planning system to help implement green energy plans faster.

But outlining GB Energy’s plans at the CBI’s annual conference on Monday, Mr Maier said: “We need to take our communities with us in all of this.”

He said: “We need to pass an infrastructure and planning bill but you actually need to go through planning and take communities with us.

“We want to invest in community energy plans, local energy plans…to show that we can pass on some of the benefits of this wonderful renewable energy to our consumers, which I don’t think we’re doing enough of yet.”

GB Energy, based in Aberdeen, was put forward as a key part of Labour’s clean energy strategy during the general election.

The utility will invest in onshore and offshore wind and other schemes to help accelerate private investment in the sector, and £8.3bn of public money has been promised over the next five years.

Mr. Maier called the effort a “tripartisan partnership.” Mainly private sector, public sector and society.”