CEAC-2020-11-November

UK Government to Invest Millions on
Wind Power, Johnson Says
By Danica Kirka | Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged Oct.
6 that every home in Britain will be powered by wind energy
in a decade as the government kick-starts a “green industrial
revolution” that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
In a speech to the annual Conservative Party conference,
Johnson said the government would invest 160 million
pounds ($208 million) in ports and factories to support
production of the next generation of wind turbines. That is a
tiny fraction of what it will cost to reach his goal as the U.K.
currently gets about one-sixth of its electricity from wind, or
enough to power 18.1 million homes, according to statistics
from renewableUK, an industry association.
“There is one area where we are progressing, quite literally,
with gale force speed and that is the green economy — the
green industrial revolution that in the next 10 years will create
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of jobs,” Johnson
said in video address to the conference, which is being held
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the headquarters of Octopus
Energy in London, Monday Oct. 5, 2020. They visited the startup company
to promote the company’s plan to create 1,000 new technology jobs across
sites in London, Brighton, Warwick and Leicester, and a new tech hub in
Manchester. (Leon Neal/Pool via AP)
online this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Johnson’s comments come as he tries refocus the political
debate away from the government’s widely criticized efforts
to battle the pandemic. COVID-19 has killed more than
42,000 people in Britain, Europe’s highest death toll, and the
government recently was forced to launch an investigation
into how almost 16,000 new coronavirus infections went
unreported as a result of a technical glitch.
The continuing crisis has pushed other initiatives off the
agenda, but green issues remain part of Johnson’s plans.
Oct. 6, he pledged to back a wide range of wind power projects,
including “windmills that float on the sea,” and sought
to portray himself as a visionary.
“You heard me right,” he said. “Your kettle, your washing
machine, your cooker, your heating, your plug-in electric
vehicle — the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly
and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these
islands.”
Contact Paul Borchert:
Office: 773-486-1000 | Direct: 773-796-4248
Email: paul@maddockindustries.com
Volume 85 · Number 11 | 45