NE energy boss: PM’s solar farm threat is a ‘personal vendetta’ which ignores reality
PRIME Minister Liz Truss’s threat against new solar farms is driven by a personal, out-dated and illogical “vendetta” which flies in the face of climate science, public opinion – and even the economic forces she claims to champion.
That’s the view from a boss of the company behind a £20million solar farm set to come online in County Durham next year.
Chris Sowerbutts, co-founder of Lightrock Power – which won approval from Durham County Council for a 31MW (megawatt) solar farm just outside Newton Aycliffe – said he felt the PM’s “vendetta” is clouding her judgement.
But he believes she will be overwhelmed by the sheer mass of scientific evidence supporting climate-friendly renewables – and the now-overwhelming public and corporate backing for them.
“I’ve seen maybe a thousand people [about our projects] over the last year, and only once have I heard anyone say they don’t believe in climate change,” he said.
“People get that renewables need to happen, and everyone wants to see solar, but more pressing for them – especially now, with energy prices through the roof – is the money in their pocket, and we are the second-cheapest way to generate electricity, behind onshore wind.”
He described Ms Truss’s threat to make planning permission harder to get for solar farms as just the latest example of the “solar-coaster” his sector has had to endure from politicians in this country.
“The political headwinds that exist right now are purely political, and I do believe they’re not the view of the majority,” he said.
Mr Sowerbutts suspects the PM is influenced by her loyalty to the UK oil industry (she used to work for oil giant Shell).
He added: “It might also go back to the days, a decade or so ago, when renewables needed subsidies to get going, but that’s no longer the case: renewables are one of the fastest-growing sectors and they’re taking over everywhere. Times have changed.”
The Lightrock Power boss – who co-founded the company in 2017 with Benjamin Davies and has developed solar schemes in both the US and UK – said the change is now evident in the way companies are keen to invest in solar.
The PM, he said, is simply out of step with the reality of the times – including the opinions of the civil service and policymakers.
“It’s very clear that climate change is not a priority of our Prime Minister, but it’s still a priority to most of the civil servants and most of the wider population,” he said.
“Thankfully, we’re not a dictatorship yet, and one person’s view is going to be overwhelmed by the evidence and by wider political opinion. It’s a completely unfounded attack.”
Mr Sowerbutts pointed to surveys which showed 91% public support for solar farms – and 76% support even among the Conservative Party members who voted Liz Truss into office.
He added: “There’s no world in which it makes sense for us to have to import expensive fossil fuels, which we then burn, when we have the opportunity to generate our own cheap and clean electricity at home.
“It’s political suicide: even the Express and the Daily Telegraph are saying her ideas are biased: that’s where we’ve got to.”
Mr Sowerbutts – whose company’s 99-acre Whinfield solar farm will produce enough electricity for 9,000 homes when it comes on stream next autumn – said the solar and renewable energy sector are capable of transforming the North East.
“I think the important thing about the North East is the huge economic benefit that businesses on Teesside and the Humber Estuary provide,” he said.
“They’re the powerhouse areas of the country, and certainly of the North … and have a huge part to play in terms of wind farm production and offshore wind.
“Key manufacturing and engineering facilities are based in the North East, because a lot of our ‘good wind’ is off the coasts here.
“Renewables are really important for this region, because the more renewable energy we can produce here, the faster those places that used to be big polluters can wean themselves off older, polluting industries.”
Mr Sowerbutts finished by saying: “We know that money rules the world, and we know we’re the second-cheapest form of electricity generation, and in the medium-to-long term, what we’re doing is right for society as a whole.
“I’m not a great capitalist just trying to make fortunes: this is beneficial to my children and my parents and all the other families around us: it’s good for everyone.”
