Energy firms urge coalition to press on with historic reforms
ENERGY groups yesterday pressed the coalition to stick to its plans to reform the power market and encourage green energy, or risk billions of pounds of investments in Britain’s ageing network.
National Grid boss Steve Holliday said in a speech at the British Business Embassy: “Clean energy… is going to be one of the defining risks of the 21st century. We can’t afford any delays or confusion about how committed the government and regulators are to this issue.”
EDF, meanwhile, said it will make a decision on whether to go ahead with its new nuclear projects by the end of the year, when a planning decision is expected.
“The energy bill must have made progress by then,” said the firm’s managing director of nuclear new build, Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson.
At a conference intended to persuade investors and companies of the strength of UK energy, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg joked that the coalition partners “offer political stability – some of the time, anyway”.
BP will today unveil a $100m investment in a UK energy research facility, while the coalition will detail the next round of contracts for the Cygnus gas field.