One year ago, on this day, October 26th, 2023,
The biggest piece of energy legislation in the UK’s history has become law today (Thursday 26 October), laying the foundations for an energy system fit for the future.
The Energy Act 2023 has received Royal Assent and will transform the UK’s energy system by strengthening energy security, supporting the delivery of net zero and ensuring household bills are affordable in the long-term.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 423ppm. As of 2024 it is 422ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was, a year ago today, the Energy Act finally got royal assent, much delayed, all singing, all dancing, going to deliver X, Y and Zed for renewables and CCS and so forth. And here we are a year later, and what’s happened, dot dot dot.
mark to fill in that a couple of weeks before the date itself. We’ve had an election but then who the fuck knows. But anyway, the usual what happened next isn’t really doable there.
What I think we can learn from this – the wheels grind slowly, don’t they?
What happens next
There is now, thanks to the Energy Act a NESO. Of course there is –
Energy ministers have tasked the newly established National Energy System Operator with creating a strategic spatial plan that maps where net-zero infrastructure such as renewables generation and storage should be located across the UK
Mace, M. 2024. UK to publish ‘spatial plan’ to map clean energy infrastructure and cut project waiting times. Edie, October 22 https://www.edie.net/uk-to-publish-spatial-plan-to-map-clean-energy-infrastructure-and-cut-project-waiting-times/
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
October 26, 1975 – “The Endangered Atmosphere” conference begins…
October 26, 2001 – BioEnergy Carbon Capture and Storage mooted