Our use of cookies 
What is Clean Power 2030?
Clean Power 2030 is the UK Government’s flagship energy policy, aiming to decarbonise the UK’s electricity system by 2030.
It was a key Labour manifesto commitment and has been pursued by the government since taking office in mid-2024.
This guide explains the aims of Clean Power 2030, how it will be achieved, and its impact on the energy industry and consumers.
Why the UK is transitioning to clean electricity
Before we dive into the details of the Clean Power 2030 plan, here’s a summary of the two key reasons the UK Government is pursuing the difficult and expensive objective of achieving clean electricity.
Climate change and net zero
The UK is legally committed to achieving net zero overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Electricity generation currently accounts for 12% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Clean Power 2030 would effectively eliminate this portion of the country’s emissions, making it a key component of the climate budgets.
However, achieving Clean Power 2030 will also enable the decarbonisation of other sectors of the UK economy, in particular:
- Heating (c.20% of overall emissions) – A clean electricity supply to properties makes heating buildings using heat pumps a genuine carbon-free alternative to gas boilers.
- Transport (c.25% of overall emissions) – Clean power makes electric vehicles a carbon-free transport option compared to petrol and diesel cars.
Energy security and price stability
Britain suffered an energy crisis in 2022, in which rises in global natural gas prices caused domestic and business electricity prices to soar. The government argues that the grid’s current reliance on imported natural gas represents a serious energy security issue.
The price of power on the wholesale electricity market is currently determined by the cost of operating gas power plants, which nearly always fill the gap between renewable generation and grid demand.
Under the Clean Power 2030 plan, the grid will rely on gas power only as a last-resort backup, and wholesale electricity prices will become more stable because wind and solar power have no fuel costs once built.
What counts as clean power in the energy system?
The electrical grid uses a mix of energy sources to generate power. Clean power refers to low carbon energy sources which cause minimal emissions of greenhouse gases compared with electricity generation from fossil fuels.
Here’s how the Government’s Clean Power 2030 plan defines clean energy sources:
| Type | Clean Power? | Examples | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renewables | Yes | Wind, Solar, Hydro | Uses naturally replenishing sources of energy. Very low carbon intensity. |
| Nuclear | Yes | Nuclear | No direct carbon emissions from electricity generation at nuclear power stations. |
| Fossil fuels with carbon capture | Yes | Gas power stations with CCUS | Emissions from using natural gas will be captured and stored to achieve a lower carbon intensity. However, this is an emerging technology and will barely contribute to power generation in 2030. |
| Unabated gas power | No | Gas power stations without carbon capture. | Emissions from combusting natural gas have a significant carbon footprint. |
| Biomass | Depends | Converted coal power plants like the Drax power station that burn wood pellets. | Depends on how the biomass is sourced. |
💡Visit our National Grid Live page to see the current mix of energy sources contributing to the grid.
The aims of Clean Power 2030
The Clean Power 2030 plan has three aims for how Britain’s electrical system will operate in a typical year:
Aim 1: Clean power sources will produce at least as much power as Britain consumes
Clean Power 2030 aims for generation from renewables and nuclear to exceed the overall power consumption of Britain’s households and businesses.
The excess power generated will be exported via undersea interconnectors to continental Europe and Ireland, making Great Britain a net exporter of power.
Aim 2: 95% of Britain’s power generation will come from clean power sources
The Clean Power 2030 plan recognises that electricity generation from gas power plants will remain a feature of the grid in 2030.
Gas power will shift from being used almost every day to serving a backup role during periods of low wind and low solar output.
Aim 3: Carbon intensity of power generation will fall to less than 50gCO₂e/kWh
The intended consequence of the first two aims is to significantly reduce the overall carbon footprint associated with electricity generation, hence “clean power”.
The Clean Power 2030 plan aims to reduce carbon intensity from 171 gCO₂e/kWh in 2023 to “well below 50 gCO₂e/kWh” by 2030.
How the electricity system will change under Clean Power 2030
The diagram below compares the latest annual statistics on Britain’s power generation and demand to the Clean Power 2030 forecast.
Data Sources: gov.uk DUKES data and NESO Clean Power 2030 workbook
This section explains the key changes to the electricity system under the Clean Power 2030 plan.
Increasing power generation from renewables
The Clean Power 2030 plan relies on significant increases in the contribution of the following renewable power sources:
- Onshore wind: A 67% increase in electricity generation from 2024 levels to provide 16% of the grid’s overall generation.
- Offshore wind: A 285% increase in electricity generation from 2024 levels to provide 53% of the grid’s overall power generation.
- Solar: A 213% increase in electricity generation from 2024 levels to provide 13% of the grid’s overall power generation.
Decreasing power generation from gas power stations
In 2024, 31% of electricity generated on the grid came from gas power stations.
The Clean Power 2030 plan intends to keep the majority of Britain’s gas power stations open to act as a back-up power supply for when the contribution of renewables is not sufficient to meet demand.
In 2030, the plan forecasts only 4% of overall power generation to come from gas power stations.
Decreasing power generation from nuclear
The Clean Power 2030 plan forecasts a decrease in nuclear power generation, with contribution falling from 40 TWh in 2024 to 25 TWh in 2030, despite nuclear being a reliable source of low-carbon energy.
The planned reduction in contribution is due to several existing UK nuclear power stations scheduled to shut down before 2030.
The Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C nuclear power stations, which are under construction, will not be completed by 2030 but will together contribute approximately 15% of the UK’s power needs once built.
Net importer to net exporter
One of the Government’s key objectives is to generate more low-carbon power than is consumed by households and businesses in the country.
This necessarily implies that there will be excess electricity exported abroad via undersea cables.
In 2024, the grid consumed 38 TWh of electricity from net imports. In 2030, due to the rise in renewable generation capacity, the government forecasts 36 TWh of net electricity exports.
Being a net exporter is a key goal of the Clean Power 2030 plan, as it increases the UK’s energy security by insulating it from global fossil fuel markets.
How the Clean Power 2030 goal will be achieved
Achieving Clean Power 2030 is not simply a case of building more renewables. There are several bottlenecks that prevent the National Grid from being able to absorb additional renewable energy.
This section explains the key, interconnected steps the government must take to achieve the Clean Power 2030 plan.
Increasing renewable capacity
The foundation of the Clean Power 2030 plan is an enormous increase in renewable energy capacity.
The following table compares the capacity of renewables in 2024 to the ranges forecast in the Clean Power 2030 plan.
| Renewable technology | 2024 Installed Capacity (GW) | 2030 Planned Capacity (GW) |
|---|---|---|
| Offshore wind | 14.8 | 43 - 51 |
| Onshore wind | 14.2 | 27 - 29 |
| Solar | 16.6 | 45 - 47 |
Source: Clean Power 2030: Action Plan
The Government’s primary mechanism for encouraging this development is the Contracts for Difference scheme, which guarantees the price of electricity for newly built renewables.
Most of the capacity planned for 2030 is already in the planning or construction pipeline. For example, the under-construction Dogger Bank Wind Farms aim to power 17% of the UK’s power demand. Find out more about future planned renewables in our guide to UK wind farms.
Grid upgrades
Currently, the British national grid cannot reliably absorb power from even the existing fleet of wind farms.
In windy conditions, the grid operator must pay wind farms to disconnect from the grid to prevent it from being overwhelmed, using a process called wind curtailment.
The grid operator NESO has identified 80 transmission projects required to absorb power from existing and new renewables. Find out more in our guide to the Great Grid Upgrade.
Connection queue reform
One of the first actions taken towards the Clean Power 2030 plan was the reform of grid connections.
Previously, grid operators used a first-come, first-served basis for new generators connecting to the grid, which took no account of where and when new renewables were needed on the grid.
The queue management reform allows the National Grid and Distribution Network Operators to filter the queue and select projects based on whether the capacity is needed, in the right location, and ready to build.
Granular advice on where renewable energy resources should be built is being informed by the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan, which is being prepared by the grid operator NESO.
The connections queue reform aims to accelerate the construction of new renewables and energy storage facilities required for the decarbonisation of the grid.
Planning reform
The Clean Power 2030 plan identifies the time required to obtain planning permission for new renewables as a key bottleneck in achieving the necessary growth in renewable capacity.
The Clean Power 2030 plan proposes the following reforms to speed up the planning process:
- The government will bring forward a Planning and Infrastructure Bill to fundamentally streamline the approval process for critical energy infrastructure.
- The planning system will be actively resourced and prioritised for Clean Power 2030.
Formation of Great British Energy
The UK Government has created Great British Energy, a publicly owned investment company capitalised with £8.3bn.
Great British Energy plans to invest directly in local and community energy projects to increase renewable capacity. It will also seek to make strategic investments in domestic supply chain capacity for building wind farms.
Find out more in our full guide to Great British Energy.
Increasing energy storage capacity
The final essential part of the Clean Power 2030 plan aims to improve the flexibility of the electrical grid.
Renewables are weather-dependent, so the grid needs to be able to store excess electricity on windy days and release it on low-wind days.
The grid operator NESO estimates that achieving the Clean Power 2030 plan requires the capacity of battery storage facilities on the grid to increase from 4.5 GW in 2024 to 23 – 27 GW by 2030.
Increasing demand flexibility
The Clean Power 2030 plan also relies on increased demand-side flexibility in the grid. This means that businesses and households will consume less power on days when there is not sufficient wind and solar output to meet demand.
Currently, energy-intensive businesses provide the bulk of demand flexibility for the grid by using peak shaving to respond to the incentives of the Balancing Mechanism and demand flexibility service.
The Clean Power 2030 plan will enable households to take part in demand flexibility by implementing the market-wide half-hourly settlement reform, which will mandate smart energy meter readings every 30 minutes for all households.
This is designed to encourage the adoption of innovative time-of-use tariffs for households that incentivise reducing consumption during periods of peak grid stress.
Who is responsible for delivering Clean Power 2030?
The Clean Power 2030 plan impacts many aspects of Britain’s energy industry, and many different organisations are responsible for delivering specific components of the plan.
Here’s a summary of the key organisations involved and their responsibilities:
- Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero – Currently Ed Miliband, who holds overall political responsibility.
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) – The Government department that will act as mission control for the delivery of all projects, identifying blockages and intervening where required.
- NESO (National Energy System Operator) – Leading the grid connections reform and will publish the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.
- Ofgem – Responsible for the approval of grid upgrades proposed by the transmission and distribution network operators.
What Clean Power 2030 means for businesses
Business owners in Britain are understandably concerned about the effect of Clean Power 2030 on electricity prices.
The decarbonisation of the grid will significantly affect the cost base of business energy suppliers, which will, in turn, affect the electricity prices available to businesses.
The Clean Power 2030 plan is expected to have the following impacts on prices:
- Wholesale electricity costs – The government expects that delivering Clean Power 2030 will result in cheaper and more stable wholesale electricity prices that are not reliant on global fossil fuel prices.
- Network charges – TNUoS and DUoS charges are expected to increase significantly due to the grid upgrades required to support the expansion of renewables.
- Balancing costs – BSUoS charges are expected to increase as the growing contribution of intermittent renewables makes it more difficult for the grid operator to balance supply against demand.
- Environmental levies – The supplier obligation that funds the CfD scheme is expected to continue to rise as more new renewables are subsidised by the Contracts for Difference scheme.
💡Businesses can opt for greater stability over future energy costs by using our business electricity comparison service to find the best fixed contracts available on the market.
Key challenges in delivering Clean Power 2030
The Clean Power 2030 plan is extremely ambitious, transforming the way the electricity system in Great Britain works in a short period of just six years.
To deliver the plan, there are many challenges, but here we have summarised the three most prominent risks that may prevent the goals from being achieved:
The speed of grid upgrades
To deliver Clean Power 2030, twice as much new transmission infrastructure needs to be built by 2030 as has been built in the past decade.
Some of the critical transmission upgrades already have delivery dates that are planned after 2030, making this a key risk for delivery.
One particular problem relates to supply chains for high-voltage cables, which are globally constrained and may delay the delivery of the required upgrades.
Attracting private investment
The Clean Power 2030 plan requires £40 billion per year of private investment into energy assets.
Attracting this investment into the UK’s energy system requires sustained investor confidence in the government’s ability to deliver the connection and planning reforms that are required to build large-scale new infrastructure.
Stability and reliability of the grid
The electricity grid must balance supply and demand in real time. In the current grid, gas-fired power stations can be quickly turned up or down in response to demand.
Under the Clean Power 2030 plan, power generation will be dominated by wind and solar, power sources which cannot be directly controlled.
A legitimate concern around Clean Power 2030 is that the government is rushing into decarbonisation, which will make the grid less reliable and could lead to issues such as blackouts.
However, the key back-up option is being retained, with no planned closures in Britain’s fleet of gas power stations. This means that if the government falls short in making the necessary changes for Clean Power 2030, the grid can fall back on current levels of fossil fuel-based power generation.
Back to blog- Share:
