UK 'needs to play catch-up' in global race to upgrade power grids

The UK is lagging behind in the race to rewire the world's power grids by investing four times more on renewable energy projects than on the electricity cables needed to connect them to the grid and consumers, according to a report.

- Jillian Ambrose

For every pound spent on renewables it has spent only 25p on the cables and powerlines, according to the report by the Bloomberg NEF thinktank, which placed the UK eighth in an index of the world's 10 biggest energy markets.

The UK has trailed behind Germany, Spain and Italy in constructing the electricity grids needed for a surge of green energy projects due to its low investment. It was also behind China, the US, Australia and Brazil but was rated ahead of India and Japan.

Adapting the global electricity grid for a net zero future could require investment of $21.4tn (£16.8tn) to roll out 94m miles of cables, according to the report.

The findings were published days after it was revealed the UK had spent about £1bn so far this year paying for wind turbines to be turned off during windy weather, in part because there was not enough grid infrastructure to carry electricity from where it was generated to areas of high demand.