Johnson’s political cowardice applies the brake to cheap energy as he bets nuclear

theguardian.com:

The two main criticisms of the government’s new energy security strategy are fair. The tiptoeing around onshore wind, which got gentle words of encouragement but no change to planning regulations, looks a case of political cowardice. It is perverse to apply a handbrake to “one of the cheapest forms of renewable power”, to use the government’s own description, when public opinion is broadly supportive of turbines on land. Objections from Tory backbenchers should have been ignored.

Equally, the lack of new measures to tackle energy efficiency is bizarre since every serious body, from the International Energy Agency to our own National Infrastructure Commission, has been banging the drum for ages. “A gradual transition following the grain of behaviour,” translates as a win for the cold hand of the Treasury.

There were two clear positives in the mix, it should be said. First, the target for more offshore wind is genuinely ambitious. A fivefold increase in capacity to 50 gigawatts by the end of the decade is a significant upgrade on the previous aim of 40GW. The target may even be achievable given the current rate of progress. And, from the perspective of energy security – the focus of this policy, don’t forget – offshore’s bigger turbines and higher load factors are always going to score well versus onshore.

Second, solar was given a boost with the aim (though not a target, note) to increase capacity fivefold by 2035. It is illogical that the government seems more willing to flex planning rules for solar than for wind, but solar is the quiet success story of the renewables revolution. It has outpaced every cost projection over the past decade. Expansion looks the easiest to deliver.

Then, though, one comes to the meat of the