Powering forward

WITH the cold nights drawing in, and the profits of energy firms soaring almost as fast as the average home electricity bill, there can be few more contentious issues than fuel prices.

Chris Huhne, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, finds himself walking a precarious tightrope between the need to offer incentives to develop Britain’s fledgling green energy sector, and concern about the amount it now costs to heat our homes.

The early indications are that the Minister struck the right balance with his announcement on subsidies for renewable energy schemes. Firstly, Whitehall’s overall subsidy for green energy schemes is being cut – the correct decision in such straightened times.

What Mr Huhne has found is a way of targeting the support in a smarter way. Inevitably, there will be winners and losers. Drax is “disappointed” in the support for its planned biomass power stations. Onshore wind farms will lose funding – though this will please at least as many people as it upsets.

But most importantly for Yorkshire, extra investment has been found for offshore wind – a sector which coulf kickstart the region’s economic revival.

It is to be hoped these subsidies will finally give the circling investors the certainty they need to press forward with their long-proposed turbine factories.

The prizes at stake are significant. Up to 10,000 new jobs across the region. A revitalised manufacturing sector on the banks of the River Humber. An energy supply no longer dependant on foreign imports and no longer choking the planet. Mr Huhne set his course wisely. The private sector should now rise to the challenge.