Energy groups have hit back at incoming US president Donald Trump after his attack on the UK’s wind turbines.
On Friday, the president-elect told the UK to “get rid of windmills” and to re-open the North Sea to exploration for oil and gas.
But wind power is a boon for energy security in Britain, said industry body Energy UK, which represents clean power and fossil fuel power companies, but not those that explore for new oil and gas.
And Energy UK spokesperson said: “Offshore wind is a UK success story – a big part of why the UK now gets the majority of its power from clean sources, as well as increasing our energy security and bringing economic benefits to different parts of the country.”
Volatile gas prices are to blame for recent record energy bills suffered by UK consumers, and domestic clean power like wind will reduce the country’s dependency on gas, they added.
There is also very little gas left in the North Sea anyway, said Jess Ralston from energy and climate thinktank ECIU, as Sky News analysis has previously shown.
“Whatever your policy on it, the North Sea is running out of gas, so unless we start to reduce our gas demand and build out more renewables, we’ll just have to import more gas from abroad.”
The wind industry is “thriving and supports jobs and economic growth all over the country”, she added.
There are 30,000 UK jobs in the offshore wind industry, according to the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC), and the number is set to rise to 100,000 under government plans to triple capacity to 43-50GW by 2030.
OWIC says each new gigawatt of wind adds £2bn-3bn to the UK economy.
The Crown Estate also says UK offshore wind is a “success story”, providing enough energy to power the equivalent of 50% of UK homes.
The government, which has set out to make the UK a “clean energy superpower”, said an extra £34.8bn of private investment has poured into home-grown clean energy industries since it was elected in July.
Meanwhile China, the US’s major economic rival, is powering ahead with wind energy, installing two-thirds of all new wind and solar in the world.
But the UK still relies on oil and gas for 75% of its energy, and the offshore fossil fuel projects still support about 100,000 jobs. Offshore Energy UK (OEUK), whose members include the offshore oil and gas industry, says the UK should maximise what remains in order to support jobs and the economy.
Tessa Khan from Uplift, which campaigns against oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, said on Friday: “Ill-informed attacks on the UK’s efforts to become a clean energy superpower will not change reality – the nation has burnt most of its gas, and what’s left of our oil is mainly exported.”
She accused Mr Trump, who takes office on 20 January, of “looking after the interests of US oil and gas firms”.
The UK government last week said it was looking forward to working with the new US president, but that the UK needed to “replace our dependency on unstable fossil fuel markets with clean, homegrown power controlled in Britain”.
The government spokesperson added: “Our priority is a fair, orderly and prosperous transition in the North Sea in line with our climate and legal obligations, and we will work with the sector to protect current and future generations of good jobs.”