4th September 2026

Will the lights go out?

The headlines

UK

• NESO engineer: blackouts only a matter of time

• Labour failing to deliver Net Zero jobs promise

• Labour to load new green levy on bills

• Foreign investment in energy projects halves in a year

• Bowie promoted to Shadow Energy brief

International

• Milei targets Falklands’ oil

• Britain hog-tied to China for wind power

Watch

• Andrew Bowie’s interview with the GWPF

Etcetera

• Media, opinion

UK

NESO engineer: blackouts are only a matter of time

A National Energy System Operator grid engineer claims problems with the electricity network means power cuts are only “a matter of time”. The engineer described demand, solar and wind forecasting available to control-room staff as “atrocious” and said operators lacked the information needed to anticipate movements on the network. It is less easy for NESO to monitor the output of wind farms, solar panels and batteries, compared with big fossil fuel plants.

Labour failing to deliver on Net Zero jobs promise

Ed Miliband, the former energy secretary, pledged in 2025 that Labour’s “clean energy jobs plan” would aim to create 860,000 “good jobs” in the energy sector by the end of the decade. A new report estimates fewer than one in 10 of these jobs – just 70,000 – would be permanent roles in industrial hubs such as Aberdeen and Grimsby, with the rest either scattered across the UK or only offering temporary work.

Labour to load new green levy on bills

Labour is set to load a new green levy on to household energy bills to help subsidise hundreds of millions of pounds for clean hydrogen projects. The gas shipper obligation, which will be introduced in 2027, will initially add up to £7.10 to average gas and electricity bills. The money raised will be used to fund an initial round of 10 green hydrogen schemes, with another 27 projects already shortlisted, meaning the levy’s costs will keep rising to fund them.

Foreign investment in British energy projects halves in year

Foreign investment in Britain’s energy sector has plunged to a 12-year low, as investors shun North Sea oil and gas projects. The number of foreign-funded British energy projects halved to just 27 last year, with just three of these in oil and gas, down from 16 the previous year, as Labour kept new North Sea drilling on hold and maintained a windfall tax on operators’ profits.

Badenoch promotes Bowie to energy brief

This week, Kemi Badenoch reshuffled her Shadow Cabinet. Andrew Bowie, MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, has been appointed shadow energy secretary, replacing Claire Coutinho, after previously serving as shadow Scotland secretary. Countiho has been promoted to Shadow Business Secretary and Deputy Head of the newly created Economic Affairs Unit.

International

Milei targets Falklands’ oil

The Falklands War may have begun and ended in 1982, but for Argentina a new battle is beginning – for the islands’ oil. Early reports suggested about 791 million barrels of oil could be recovered from one project, but that was upgraded to 917 million barrels last year – twice the annual output of the entire North Sea. The growing tension does put foreign secretary Ed Miliband in an awkward position of defending a new oil field development when, in his last job as energy secretary, he did his best to permanently block those in the North Sea.

Britain is hog-tied to China for its wind power

An audit by The Times found that more than a third of offshore wind farm capacity in Britain will be produced by sites linked to Chinese companies by next year, including organisations blacklisted by the US over ties to the military.

Watch

REWATCH THE GWPF’S INTERVIEW FROM MARCH WITH ANDREW BOWIE THE NEW SHADOW ENERGY SECRETARY

Etcetera…

Read: Maurice argues for Spiked how Net Zero is leaving the country defenceless.

Read: Andrew Sabisky writes for the Telegraph that fixing the UK’s energy mess will take decades.

Read: Matt Ridley writes for The Spectator that climate change is not to blame for the Himalayan flash floods.

From the blog

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