As part of her energy policy ‘reset’ announced today, Rudd said the support will be “strictly conditional on the delivery of the cost reductions we have seen already accelerating”.
“If that happens we could support up to 10GW of additional offshore wind in the 2020s,” she added. “We have already seen the cost of solar come down by 35 per cent in the last 3 years.”
The commitment comes ahead of the United Nations climate talks in Paris which begin 30 November, where world leaders are hoping to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate.
Rudd has promised to cut unabated coal-fired power from the UK generation mix by 2025 and replace much of it with less polluting gas-fired power generation which, alongside nuclear plants, could secure the UK’s power supplies in the next decade.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) will launch a consultation in the spring on when to close coal-fired power, setting out proposals to restrict its use from 2023 and fully close it by 2025.
In her speech, Rudd also said a “fully smart energy system” could help reduce costs by tens of billions of pounds over the decades ahead.
“Smart meters are a key building block and every home and small business in Britain will get them by the end of 2020,” she said. “Alongside the National Infrastructure Commission, we will work with National Grid, Ofgem and others to consider how to reform the current system operator model to make it more flexible, responsive and independent.”