By Claire Coutinho

Published 23rd Oct 2023, 06:00 BST

That’s a huge responsibility on all our shoulders. So as the new Secretary of State, my pledge to the industry is to work with it as closely as possible and to listen. To make sure our ambitions chime with your capacity to deliver and grow.

I feel enormously optimistic about the energy sector. At a local level it supports millions of jobs around the country. Offshore wind jobs in Humber, Cornwall and East Anglia. Nuclear jobs in Somerset and Suffolk. Oil and gas jobs in Scotland. And jobs throughout the supply chain.

Energy is helping revitalise communities that played an instrumental role in Britain’s industrial growth, yet declined for much of the 20th century. And it is increasingly important for us to think long term in light of rising global instability at a time when much of the world is transitioning to clean energy. I can’t help but feel that this is the most important sector when it comes to changing our world for the better.

The sun sets behind the Burbo Bank Offshore Wind Farm in Liverpool Bay in the Irish Sea. PIC: PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

We are on the brink of perhaps the most important transition of all, when centuries of change are being compressed into years.

And what’s exciting, is Britain’s potential to shape this transition and seize this opportunity, through our own innovation and investment.

Of course we’re conscious of what other countries are doing to stimulate green investment, particularly the US and Europe. I’ve made investment my top priority. I’ve also tasked my department to prioritise investment decisions. And we’re looking across government at how we can further accelerate investment in green industries.

But how many other nations are spending £20bn to get their carbon capture and storage industry up and running?

No other technology offers Britain bigger or more exciting potential for our green energy future than carbon capture.

We will only succeed in the energy transition if we double down on sectors with the greatest opportunities. The greatest opportunities to decarbonise. To help polluting industries go green and to grow our economy.

Make no mistake, carbon capture and storage is one of those sectors. So we’ll be publishing a long-term vision for CCUS later this year. But we’re also investing in our world leading offshore wind sector, delivering enough offshore wind to power the equivalent of every home in Britain by 2030.

In addition, we’ll generate enough solar energy to power over 28 million electric vehicles by 2035. We’re spending £700m to boost fusion technology.

We’re backing space-based solar projects and Britain’s nuclear revival is well under way. With Hinkley Point C in Somerset set to provide enough secure, low carbon electricity to power around 6 million homes. And Sizewell C in Suffolk, a sister project featuring the most powerful electricity generators in the world, to supply another six million homes. We’ve launched Great British Nuclear to deliver our programme. Its first priority is to accelerate the development of Small Modular Reactors.

An abridged version of a keynote speech delivered by Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho at the Energy UK conference.

Energy security is key to prosperity and protecting our population - Claire Coutinho