THE government announced plans for a new era of “clean energy” today.

Labour has pledged to create a 95 per cent low-carbon electricity grid by the end of the decade. 

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband described the transition as the “social justice fight of our time” and that it aimed to shield working people from the “ravages of global energy markets.”

New measures will deregulate to speed up planning decisions on critical infrastructure and give ministers, rather than local councils, the final say on approving large projects such as onshore wind farms. 

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) confirmed that it may result in lower electricity costs and the government said bills “could” fall by £300 by the end of the decade.

But a report by the UK Energy Research Centre cautioned that anyone expecting that increased use of cheap, low-carbon energy “would translate into lower energy bills” would likely be “disappointed” that Neso has “not been clearer in its commentary on the direct cost impact of changing the generation mix.”

The government said the plans will “unlock” £40 billion of investment a year and create thousands of jobs across the country.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said it is “clearly a step in the right direction” but that “oil and gas workers need real, equivalent, jobs to go into and we still don’t know exactly what these jobs are. 

“Where is the solution for the Grangemouth refinery and the plan to manufacture our own wind turbines?

“They have also missed a golden opportunity to bring the national grid under public ownership.”

The clean energy plan will see increased reliance on onshore, offshore and solar wind.

The government has also pledged to invest £21.7bn in questionable carbon capture and storage (CCS), which works by capturing CO2 at sources like fossil fuel plants, then storing it underground. 

Claire James from Campaign against Climate Change said: “Even if successful — and this technology has consistently underperformed — there will still be emissions. 

“Most worryingly, methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. The impact of leaks from gas extraction and transport (as LNG, liquefied natural gas) are only recently being fully understood.”

An XR spokesperson said: “What the government proposes is set to make a lot of money for a handful of people and in no way guarantees what we actually need: a rapid and fair transition away from a culture of fossil fuels and environmental exploitation.”

Joe, spokesperson for Axe Drax, which campaigns against the Drax wood-burning power plant, slammed the “vague inclusion” of biomass in the plans. 

Drax’s owners have been paid more than £7bn in public subsidies since 2012, after government accepted their claims that their tree-burning power station in North Yorkshire is “carbon neutral.”

Joe said: “Burning woody biomass is just as dirty as coal. Woody biomass is one of the most expensive forms of energy, vastly increases carbon emissions, destroys vital forests, harms communities, costs bill payers billions and actively weakens our energy security.” 

Just Stop Oil, which has 16 members serving a combined 41 years of jail time over protests demanding an end to oil and gas, said: “Whatever the Labour Party does, the world is going to pass through 2°C of heating in the 2030s. 

“To pretend that ‘clean electricity’ will protect us from the consequences of this is to lie to, and to betray the British people.

“The predicament we find ourselves in needs the Labour Party to change everything to defend our values and hard won rights. 

“It requires us to mobilise the country as if going to war, and the starting point is planning to end oil and gas extraction and use by 2030, while adapting our villages, towns and cities to the weather extremes coming our way.”