64% of people support building a new grid to boost energy security & decarbonize economy

A recent poll, carried out by Survation, shows 64% of people are interested in a new grid to enable the decarbonization of the UK economy and improve Britain’s energy security.

People see the lack of new grid infrastructure as the biggest barrier to making the most of new renewable energy sources, with 51% citing it as a severe or moderate problem. This rises to 55% among Conservative voters.

The fully-weighted Survation poll of 1,039 people in the UK was conducted In July.

The Government’s Electricity Networks Commissioner Nick Winser published a major report on the 4th of August on how to speed up building much-needed new grid infrastructure, including proposals to ensure that communities benefit from this.

The polling carried out by Survation found 61% of people said a guaranteed community benefit fund provided by a grid developer would make them more in favour of an electricity powerline within five miles of their home. This support increased to 65% among Conservative voters.

The research also found having a voice to influence what is installed is also important to most people. With 62% wanting clear guidance from grid developers about the various ways in which the grid infrastructure could be changed - for example, if the cables could be undergrounded and how the pylons would be designed - would make them more favourable towards it. Even higher proportions of Conservative voters supported all these measures (63% to 71%).

Survation found similar proportions of people (59%-62%) said clarity on how the new powerline would increase energy security, maximise jobs and industrial investment, support decarbonisation and tackle climate change would be important to them.

RenewableUK’s Director of Future Electricity Systems Barnaby Wharton said:

“This polling shows that, contrary to some widespread misconceptions, most people are actually in favour of building vital new grid infrastructure to connect up clean energy projects and enable them to deliver cheap power to British homes and businesses, increasing our energy security. It’s interesting for Government to note that Conservative voters support this even more than the general public.

Find out more here.