‘Overwhelming’ renewables support in all constituencies

A new poll of more than 6,000 people has found overwhelming support for renewable energy across all of the UK’s parliamentary constituencies.

The survey, commissioned by Renewable UK and conducted by Survation, found 76% of people support building renewable energy projects in their local area. Support within individual constituencies ranged from 74% in Orkney and Shetland to 93% in both Fareham and South West Devon.

There was strong backing for all of the main renewable technologies, with 81% of respondents in favour of solar, 76% in favour of offshore wind, 74% in favour of onshore wind and 72% in favour of tidal and wave power.

Support for onshore wind projects, on which there is an effective moratorium in England due to extremely onerous planning requirements, ranged from 62% in East Devon to 93% in Elmet and Rothwell.

Only 19% of respondents said the government should continue to block onshore wind projects, even when there is local support, compared to 57% who said the block should be ended where there is local support. There was no majority in favour of the block in any constituency, with the highest level of support being 40% in Birmingham Ladywood.

Renewable UK noted that support for renewables is higher than average among Conservative voters, with 81% of respondents who voted Tory in last general election supporting projects in their local area, and 81% saying the government should use new wind and solar projects to cut energy bills, compared to a figure of 77% among all respondents.

It said the 100 constituencies with the strongest support for offshore wind, onshore wind, solar and tidal power are now predominantly conservative.

Furthermore, 61% Conservative voters said they opposed the effective block on onshore wind in England, with only 16% saying it should remain.

On Tuesday (6 September), the new prime minister Liz Truss appointed Jacob Rees-Mogg to replace Kwasi Kwarteng as the secretary of state for business and energy. Rees-Mogg has previously dismissed proponents of decarbonisation as “doomsayers” and was last month labelled a “climate dinosaur” by Liberal Democrat leader and former energy secretary Ed Davey.

The poll found 68% of people want the new prime minister to increase or maintain investment in renewables, compared to just 14% who want to see it reduced. Only 16% said they would view the Conservative party more favourably if its leader weakened climate change policies, compared to 40% who said they would view it less favourably.

Renewable UK chief executive Dan McGrail said: “These findings are wake-up call to every politician, including the new prime minister, that the overwhelming majority of people want to see new investment in renewables and are happy to see new wind and solar farms built in their local area to drive energy bills down.

“At a time when we need to shift from expensive gas to low-cost renewables as rapidly as possible, most people agree that if local communities support having a wind farm nearby, the government shouldn’t stand in their way”.

“We’re keen to work with the new prime minister Liz Truss to slash energy bills by building more renewable energy projects faster, which means bringing in a planning system which reflects the widespread public support for these technologies, and setting ambitious targets for clean energy in each of their annual power auctions over the course of this decade. That will also help us to maximise jobs and attract billions in private investment”.

Sam Hall, director of the Conservative Environment Network, commented: “This new polling shows that onshore renewables are popular not only with the public but even more so with Conservative voters. Renewables are popular and cheap, cut our reliance on imported fossil fuels, and support UK jobs.

“With new renewables nine times cheaper than gas power, the government should let the market deploy these technologies to ease the energy crisis. It should allow more solar farms to be built on unproductive land. It should also lift the de facto ban on onshore wind in England, provided that local communities consent in the same way that Liz Truss plans to do with fracking.”

Meanwhile, Renewable UK has also released a report showing the pipeline of onshore wind projects in the UK that are operational, under construction, consented or being planned has risen by more than 4GW – or 12% – over the last year to 37GW. Although the amount of operational capacity has only increased by 0.34GW over the past 12 months, the volume under construction or consented has grown by 1.1GW to 6.8GW.

The trade association said if all projects in the pipeline were to be built, the UK could have 29.8GW of operational onshore wind generation by the end of 2030. The vast majority of the pipeline – 78% -is located in Scotland.