Labour plans grid supply chain ‘super-tender’

Labour has announced plans to hold a “super-tender” to secure the supply chain capacity to “rewire Britain”.

The party said the tender would ensure Britain is at the front of the “global queue” and provide a clear signal to manufacturers to build up the supply chain within the country.

Speaking at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool on Monday (9 October), shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said new energy projects are being “forced to wait up to 15 years – until the late 2030s – to connect to the grid,” leaving £200 billion of investment “stuck in limbo.”

If voted into office, Labour said its new publicly-owned energy company – GB Energy – will work with transmission owners to launch the “super-tender”. The party said it will also open up new grid construction to competitive tendering and allow GB Energy to bid for projects or co-build infrastructure where necessary.

Reeves said the party will also tackle the “antiquated planning system,” including by investing in an expansion of local authorities planning capacity and ensuring local communities benefit from hosting national infrastructure, for example, through lower energy bills.

In his conference speech, Labour’s shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband set outs the party’s case for the creation of GB Energy: “Some people will tell you that we don’t have public ownership of energy in Britain. But, of course, we do. It’s just by state owned firms from other countries: France’s EDF, Sweden’s Vattenfall, Denmark’s Orsted. Other countries own nearly half of our offshore wind because they know it creates jobs and wealth for their countries. I say: If it’s good enough for them, why not us?”

He continued: “Under Labour the British people will own things again, build things again, profit as a country for these investments again. GB Energy: owned by the British people, built by the British people, for the benefit of the British people. That’s the new Britain we can build together.

“And a key industry of the future is floating wind offshore wind, but get this: Under the Tories, our largest floating wind farm wasn’t built in Britain. It was built in Spain, assembled in the Netherlands and then was towed into place off the Scottish coast. I say: not under Labour.”

Labour claimed its plans would save consumers £93 billion by its target date for decarbonising the power grid of 2030.

Responding to the announcements, a spokesperson for the Energy Networks Association said: “We welcome any initiative which will help us speed up grid connections. The network operators are already pressing ahead with this and tackling the challenge head on, through initiatives working alongside Ofgem and the system operator.

“However, current planning rules mean it can take years to provide consent to vital new infrastructure projects – it can take more than 10 years to build a new transmission line, 7 of which are for planning for example – so we are particularly keen on any initiative which will speed up the consenting process.”

Separately party members voted to reiterate their stance on renationalising energy companies. Despite the Labour leadership distancing itself from the policy, members agreed to keep the demand that UK energy be brought back into public ownership, starting with National Grid and National Gas.

Introducing the motion, the union’s general secretary Sharon Graham accused energy companies of “filling their boots by picking the pockets of workers”.

She added: “Labour’s job is to be the voice of workers and our communities and yes, it should make different choices, we must take energy into public ownership.”

While the motion made no mention of water companies, the sector was in the sights of shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed, when he spoke earlier in the day.

He pledged to ensure water bosses face personal criminal liability for “extreme and persistent lawbreaking”; to introduce “severe and automatic” fines for illegal discharges and to force companies to monitor “every single water outlet”.