During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Britain the two governments signed the £24.5billion Hinkley Point project, heralding a new age of nuclear development for the UK as it strives to meet its EU carbon targets.
It has been estimated that the UK will need to install another 35,000 wind turbines to meet its 2020 targets. However, these developments need to be set against the headwind of Energy Secretary Amber Rudd’s recently announced cuts in subsidies to renewables, and George Osborne and the Treasury’s lobbying for a 25 per cent cut in subsidies to onshore wind. Public opinion appears to be on the government’s side, with growing opposition to onshore wind farms and a recent Opinium survey revealing that 44 per cent agree that the UK needs to build more nuclear power plants.
