Britain will need to a build offshore windfarms at an unprecedented rate if Labour is to reach its 2030 carbon-neutral goals, according to fresh analysis from Aurora Energy.

A five-fold increase in turbine installation and an enormous expansion on port capacity would also be required.

Labour's targets would mean expanding offshore wind by 7.5Gw a year, approximately 750 turbines.

That would require a huge jump from current levels of roughly 1.4Gw a year, equivalent to around 150-200 turbine installations annually.

Labour's target risks knock-on impacts

The report warns the country could risk running out of steel for the undersea cables to connect turbines to the grid.

It adds: "Labour’s aim of deploying 60GW offshore wind by 2030 will require significant expansion of the transmission network and a rapid scaling up of supply chains.

"Installing 60GW of offshore wind by 2030 would require increasing the yearly deployment rate by a factor of 5× between 2024 and 2030, at a time when supply chains are increasingly constrained due to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and rising global demand."

The analysis also says Labour's green policies are very similar to the Conservatives, the key difference being Ed Miliband's plan to implement them at a record speed.

"Finance, skills, supply chains and planning times will be key barriers to delivering Labour’s target of decarbonising the power sector by 2030," it adds.

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