Jobs to be at the heart of energy policy during UK election

Two UK energy trade bodies have said that jobs and skills will play a key role in the election campaign as the country gets ready to vote in July.

Last week, prime minister Rishi Sunak announced there would be a general election this summer, with voters taking to the ballot boxes on 4 July.

Both Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) and Renewable UK have argued that the rolling out of energy transition skills and jobs will be on the minds of all political parties as they aim to win over voters.

Renewable UK’s director of strategic communications Nathan Bennett said: “It’s clear that the vast majority of voters want a cross-party consensus on renewables, and an industrial strategy to boost industrial investment and green jobs.”

OEUK external relations director Jenny Stanning shared the sentiment, saying that a focus on industrial policy will include ensuring that the workforce has the skills necessary to deliver the energy transition.

© DC Thomson

Ms Stanning told Energy Voice: “I think we’re going to hear a lot of focus on people and on jobs and I think that’s absolutely right from all of the parties, that’s what I would expect them to talk about.”

On Friday, the two trade bodies reached an agreement to trial an ‘energy skills passport’ that will allow cross-sector recognition of industry training and expertise.

A statement from OEUK and Renewable UK highlighted that the passport is “intended to show both workers and employers how skills and qualifications can be recognised by employers across sectors such as oil and gas and offshore wind.”

On the importance of skills in the general election, Ms Stanning added: “The oil and gas part of the industry supports over 200,000 jobs right across the UK, and that means that we have a lot to say about jobs and they’re just the jobs in the oil and gas industry.

“If you think about potential jobs, future jobs, in offshore wind, in carbon capture and storage and in hydrogen, it’s really important that all of the parties understand what they need to do to make sure that people are well set for jobs in those parts of the offshore energy industry too.”

Trade bodies lay out their goals for election season

Earlier this year, OEUK launched its manifesto warning that the energy transition “will fail” if the industry is undermined by policy.

The group said its policy statement maps out a pathway for £200bn of investment in the UK sector this decade.

OEUK’s policy statement set out that “the UK can become a leading green industrial power”, but to do so “companies must see the UK as an attractive country to invest in”.

It added that although “parliaments may thrive on opposition and argument, particularly in election year, big engineering projects only succeed through collaboration”.

A poll commissioned this month by Renewable UK found “high levels of support for renewables among voters.”

The group shared that 75% of the 10,021 people interviewed said the development of renewable energy is a significant factor for the next government in decisions about driving economic growth outside London and the south-east of England.

© Supplied by Wullie Marr/ DCT

The survey, conducted by Opinium, also showed that jobs were high on the list of priorities for voters, with 83% of respondents supporting policies that would increase employment in the sector.

Mr Bennett commented: “There will be a lot of focus over the campaign period on how political parties plan to lower energy bills, increase energy security and drive future economic growth.

“Renewables help to tackle each of those key issues – providing low-cost power, drawing billions of pounds of new investment into the UK, and lowering the exposure of UK billpayers to volatile international gas prices.”

Making UK investment ‘attractive’

Renewable UK has offered up ways to “modernise CfD auctions” following recent disappointing results for offshore wind.

Contracts for Difference (CfD) are a private law contract between low-carbon electricity generators and the Low Carbon Contracts Company, a government-owned company manages which manages them at arm’s length.

Contracts are awarded via competitive auctions, known as allocation rounds (AR), in which the lowest priced bids are successful.

In September, the winners of the UK’s Allocation Round 5 (AR5) were revealed, with offshore wind projects being notably absent.

The government’s flagship scheme for renewable energy procurement saw no successful bids for offshore wind because the strike price was too low, forcing it to compete with cheaper technologies.

Since then, the UK government has revealed that the price will be raised by 66% to attract further investment in the next CfD round.

The price has jumped from £44/MWh to £73/MWh and rise by 52% for floating offshore wind projects – from £116/MWh to £176/MWh – ahead of Allocation Round 6 (AR6) next year.

Mr Bennett added: “We need to make the UK the most attractive business environment to secure the maximum amount of private investment in clean energy in the face of intense international competition.”