Friday, 11 November 2016
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The Brexit referendum came at a difficult time for the energy sector in the UK, struggling after former Prime Minister David Cameron cut many subsidies that helped new technologies become commercially viable. The country’s power system needs fresh investment to replace aging nuclear and coal plants scheduled for retirement.
While renewable energy is making waves in Europe, UK has one of the lowest renewable energy shares in Europe. Until very recently the country has invested heavily in expensive renewables such as offshore wind. For successive energy ministers, the climate change impact of shifting has outweighed considerations of cost and competitiveness. That has begun to change since the election in 2015, but the shift to greater cost consciousness could easily be reversed.
With the value of the pound sliding since Britons v...