Mr Miliband spent years in Opposition preparing for the day when he could unleash his decarbonising zeal on what is left of U.K. industry. Once in office he announced a firm target of all electricity generated here being clean or carbon free by 2030. Only after this extremely expensive revolutionary pledge was made did he write to National Grid asking for urgent site of the plan to do this,and an estimate of the costs. What a disaster to have to admit he had no plan and settled for a target with no idea how much it would cost to hit it, or even whether it could be hit.
Yesterday his embarrassment should have got bigger. National Grid published a reply saying they do not have a plan either, but they will work hard to produce one. They will consult everyone who would need to do so much to bring it about and presumably include in consultation all those who would be expected to stump up the cash. To plunge the friendly knife further into Miliband’s side they said they would need from the government a definition of the grand target Mr Miliband has set. Ouch!
So there we have it. An impossible target to hit unless you redefine it to allow the burning of fossil fuels in stand by generators when wind and sun let us down. A huge and unspecified budget to end all our current nuclear and gas power stations and to build enough replacement power taking account of the variability of wind and solar.
One final thought. As Mr Miliband has admitted he does not know the costs of putting in all that renewable power, how can he offer us £300 off our bills were all the money to be found to build so many windfarms.
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