Miliband's clean power goal branded a ‘fantasy' after wind project axed
Ed Miliband's hopes of achieving clean power by 2030 have been branded a 'fantasy' after a massive offshore wind project was axed by developers.
Claire Coutinho, the Conservative former energy secretary, said Ørsted's decision to axe the Hornsea 4 project had dealt a potentially fatal blow to the Energy Secretary's goal to wean Britain off oil and gas by the end of the decade.
She said: 'The Clean Power by 2030 [initiative] was already pretty unachievable but this makes a bad situation worse.'
When in office Ms Coutinho aimed to decarbonise the power grid but by 2035, a target widely considered be more realistic. Ms Coutinho said: 'Ed Miliband is going to spend a fortune trying to achieve a fantasy because he's staked his entire political reputation on it.
'Wind developers have Ed over a barrel and it will be businesses and consumers that pay the price. We can't afford Ed Miliband and his eco lunacy.'
Dr John Constable, director of the UK charity Renewable Energy Foundation, said: 'This cancellation puts the feasibility of the net zero targets into question, and puts huge pressure on Ed Miliband to increase green subsidies, which are already costing British electricity consumers £25bn a year.'
Ørsted pulled the plug on the Hornsea 4 project off the east of England on Wednesday as it blamed rising costs and interest rates.
The scheme would have seen 180 giant turbines built off the Yorkshire coast providing 2.4 gigawatts (GW) of power – enough for up to 2.6m homes when the wind was blowing.
The project's contribution would have been essential to Mr Miliband's plans. The UK has just 16GW of offshore wind in operation, but Mr Miliband's Clean Power 2030 Action Plan relies on reaching at least 43GW by 2030 – a target that was always going to be tough.
The UK has 15GW of wind projects currently under construction or contracted. That gave a total of 31GW of wind either in operation or planned. However, the cancellation of Hornsea 4 removes 2.4GW of expected capacity, meaning 28.6GW is being built or is planned to be built.
Mr Miliband must now fill a gap of 14.4GW to reach his minimum target for 2030. In practice that means the UK needs to install about 3,000 giant wind turbines, averaging about 850 feet high, in under five years – a rate never achieved in UK waters.
Rasmus Errboe, chief executive of Ørsted, said the Hornsea 4 project had suffered 'several adverse developments' since it secured the contract in September 2024, including rising supply chain costs, higher interest rates and 'an increase in the risk to construct and operate Hornsea 4 on the planned timeline for a project of this scale'.
The Danish company also cited increased 'execution risk', suggesting it underestimated the difficulty of installing the planned 180 giant turbines.
Hornsea 4 benefited from government subsidies known as contracts for difference that guarantee a certain level of income after a project is built. Dr Constable said: 'The prices offered by Ørsted to win the subsidies available under the contracts for difference system were unrealistic and did not reflect the underlying capital and operating costs.'
A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: 'We categorically reject this analysis and are confident we will reach our clean power targets by 2030.
'We recognise the impact of global inflation and supply chain pressures on offshore wind projects across Europe and will work with Ørsted to get Hornsea 4 back on track.
'With £43bn of private investment secured since July, the UK remains one of the most attractive markets in the world for offshore wind.'
In a separate development, Rachel Reeves's National Wealth Fund handed Scottish Power a £1.35bn loan on Thursday to upgrade the power grid between Scotland and England.
The financing package will help pay for work on several major offshore cabling projects carrying electricity from Scottish wind farms into England, via the North Sea.
The Eastern Green Link (EGL) 1 will carry electricity from Torness in south-east Scotland to Hawthorn Pit substation in County Durham. Another line, the EGL 4, will carry power from Fife to Lincolnshire. The financing will also help pay for grid upgrades including new substations and overhead lines in Scotland.
The Telegraph previously reported that the Eastern Green Link 1, which was expected to be completed by 2028, had been hit by delays caused by a struggle to source key equipment.
Mr Miliband added that the cash would 'help to deliver clean power by 2030 by speeding up grid upgrades – bringing cheaper, home-grown renewable power into homes and businesses, while supporting skilled jobs across the country.'
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