There’s a reason previous governments baulked at the net zero challenge – it’s absolutely colossal, something Labour’s new Clean Power 2030 plan lays bare.
Offshore wind generating capacity, which has taken 20 years to reach 14.8GW, must more than triple to about 50GW within just six years.
The plan calls for a tripling of solar generation too, and a doubling supply from onshore wind turbines.
And to get all that clean, locally produced power to where it is actually needed will require an overhaul of the National Grid not seen since the current system was planned in the 1950s.
The government projects that to deliver all that infrastructure will require investment of £40bn a year until 2030.
Image: The prime minister has pledged an overhaul of the UK’s power grid and renewable energy.
Pic: AP
Nearly all of that will come from the private sector – it hopes – knowing the Treasury certainly will not have any spare money to pay for it.
And all that is backed up by a promise that the project will lower consumer bills.
It’s a massive challenge and given the UK’s recent history of delivering large infrastructure projects – high-speed rail line anyone? – a major political gamble.
If they pull it off, most analysts agree that locally generated renewable power will reduce the wholesale price of electricity – currently dictated by the international gas market.
This, in turn, will protect customers from price shocks and lower bills. Definitely a vote winner.
The other main attraction is to “get Britain building,” creating new, skilled jobs with many of them in parts of the country where they are needed most.
Coupled with that, many countries are pursuing similar goals and UK companies and workers stand to benefit by exporting their knowledge and skills.
And not forgetting the fact this government, like its predecessors, is legally required to do all this under the terms of the Climate Change Act as well as fulfilling the commitment made when we signed the global carbon-cutting Paris Agreement.
But none of that makes it any less difficult.
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From September: Can the UK achieve its offshore wind target?
Take the grid for example.
Right now, as new renewable projects like large offshore windfarms are connected to our old, fossil fuel orientated national grid, on really windy days, there is already more electricity than the system can handle.
Increasingly big wind farms out to sea and a long way from consumers are having to be paid not to generate electricity, and gas-fired power stations closer to customers have to be paid to come online instead.
The bill for these “grid constraints” is already about £2bn a year.
Re-wiring the grid will solve that problem – benefitting everyone.
But imagine there’s a delay – thanks to local opposition to new pylons, or a labour shortage, or poorly managed construction – and the grid doesn’t get upgraded in step with generating capacity.
The constraint costs are projected to hit £8bn a year – that’s £80 per household – by the late 2020s.
That would make very bad headlines for a government that promised to lower bills. And the grid is just one of the pieces of the zero-carbon electricity puzzle.
Everything – from reforming the retail market for energy, to smart metering, EV charging, connecting heat pumps and new technologies that can store excess electricity for when the wind isn’t blowing – will all have to happen in parallel, at pace, to ensure the project delivers the benefits promised.
The Clean Power plan will be a genuine test of whether Britain can “get building again”, but also of Keir Starmer’s political stomach when it hits the inevitable bumps along the way.
Michelle Bond, the wife of former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame, who faces federal campaign finance charges, is pushing for dismissal on the grounds that US prosecutors deceived her husband in a plea deal.
In a May 7 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bond’s lawyers reiterated some of the claims Salame made in opposing his plea deal with the government, which ultimately still led to him serving time in prison. She claimed that prosecutors obtained a deal with Salame through “stealth and deception” by allegedly agreeing they would not file charges against Bond.
“Mr. Salame and Ms. Bond’s attorneys were advised that the agreement to cease investigating Ms. Bond could not be placed within the four corners of the Salame plea or other written agreement, but the government still offered it as an inducement to induce the plea,” said the filing, adding:
“At a minimum, enough exists to demonstrate a legitimate factual dispute as to the nature and scope of the promises made to Mr. Salame and Ms. Bond to induce his guilty plea such that a hearing with discovery is required.”
May 7 filing requesting a dismissal of one charge for Michelle Bond. Source: Courtlistener
Prosecutors charged Bond in August 2024 with conspiracy to cause unlawful campaign contributions, causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions, causing and receiving an unlawful corporate contribution, and causing and receiving a conduit contribution related to her failed run for a seat in the US House of Representatives in 2022. Salame, who pleaded guilty to two felony charges in 2023 and was later sentenced to more than seven years in prison, attempted to void his deal with prosecutors, claiming it had included an agreement not to charge Bond.
The May 7 filing requested the court suppress any statements Bond made after the alleged “inducement” in Salame’s deal. The former FTX executive made similar claims in court filings attempting to nullify his plea, but later dropped the matter and reported to prison in October 2024.
Bond hinted that her running as a Republican — similar politically-motivated claims made by Salame — had contributed to the campaign finance charges. The indictment alleged she filed false reports to the Federal Election Commission related to funds used for her campaign.
The FTX saga hasn’t ended… yet
Since the collapse of FTX in 2022, nearly all former executives indicted on charges related to the misuse of the crypto exchange’s funds have had their day in court.
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who pleaded not guilty, went through a trial in 2023 and was later sentenced to 25 years in prison. His lawyers filed a notice of appeal, and reports suggested he may be looking for a pardon from US President Donald Trump.
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2024 as part of a plea deal and began serving her time in November. Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, former FTX executives who also pleaded guilty to charges, were each sentenced to time served in 2024.
The US federal court for the Southern District of New York has sentenced former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky to 12 years in prison for fraud.
Mashinsky’s legal team sought a light sentence. They highlighted his spotless record before the Celsius incident, along with his military service and willingness to plead guilty. But US prosecutors were less inclined to leniency, suggesting on April 28 that the judge deliver a 20-year sentence for his actions.
Betting markets predicted a light sentence ahead of the May 8 hearing. Polymarket showed only 11% odds for a 20-year sentence or higher.
President Donald Trump began his second term with high-profile pardons of crypto executives, signalling that his administration may bring leniency to crypto fraudsters like Mashinsky. His sentencing today, however, suggests otherwise.
Trump’s DOJ wants Mashinsky sentence to serve as a warning
Crypto-related crimes have their limits, according to the current US Department of Justice. Jay Clayton, the Trump-nomianted US attorney leading the prosecution, said on April 28 that the suggested 20-year sentence serves as a “critical warning to other entrepreneurs, executives, and promoters in the cryptocurrency industry and in any future industry as-yet unconceived: that fraud will be punished severely, regardless of the technology or industry in which it occurs.”
Bitcoin advocate Jameson Lopp quotes the prosecution’s argument that Mashinsky targeted retail investors. Source: Jameson Lopp
Clayton argued that a strong sentence was warranted as the fraud targeted unsophisticated retail investors rather than institutional parties with protections and expertise. Mashinsky “preyed on ordinary individuals who relied on his promises of safety and financial security.”
The Mashinsky defense team drew attention to Mashinsky’s character, highlighting his long career in business, devotion to family and service with the Israel Defense Forces.
His lawyers also drew distinctions between Mashinsky’s case and that of Bankman-Fried, claiming, “There are no allegations — let alone any proof — that Alex misappropriated, embezzled or stole any customer assets or any Celsius money.”
On May 5, Mashinsky’s legal team argued that these mitigating factors should warrant a sentence of no more than 366 days.
“The government’s venom-laced submission recasts this case as one involving a predator with an intent to target victims, harm them, and steal their money,” his team said.
Mashinsky’s lawyers called the suggested 20-year term a “death-in-prison sentence.”
Mashinsky’s sentence follows high-profile Trump pardons for crypto execs
Trump started his term with the pardon of Silk Road 2.0 founder Ross Ulbricht, whose acceptance of Bitcoin (BTC) on his narcotics trading platform endeared him to the crypto community.
The president also commuted the sentences of Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, three BitMEX crypto exchange executives who pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and failing to establish a proper Anti-Money Laundering program.
Sam Mangel, a consultant to white-collar convicts who advised former Trump staffer Steve Bannon and Bankman-Fried, told Politico there has been a large spike in interest in presidential pardons.
“Everybody that is in prison now is keenly aware of the environment, and it’s become a very hot topic within the low- and minimum-security inmate communities,” said Mangel.
High-profile crypto defendants seem to have taken notice, too. Roger Ver, an early Bitcoin advocate and libertarian activist, is facing federal tax evasion charges. In January, he released a video making an outright plea to Trump for a commutation. Ver claimed that he is the victim of lawfare and likened his persecution to Trump’s legal problems following the Jan. 6 scandal.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former CEO of now-defunct exchange FTX, likened his court experience with Trump’s defamation lawsuit in an interview with The New York Sun on Feb. 18. He claimed his trial was politicized under the Biden administration and that he didn’t think there was “a very fair and balanced view or approach.” His parents also reportedly met with lawyers and people close to the Trump administration to explore the possibility of a presidential pardon.
Trump’s commutation of the BitMEX executives has even led former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to apply for clemency. On May 6, Zhao said that his lawyers had submitted an application and were awaiting a response.
The current administration is still writing the rules of the road as regulators reshuffle personnel and priorities and new legal frameworks for crypto take shape. The picture is further muddled by Trump’s own crypto projects, which have raised concerns over corruption and conflicts of interest. Mashinsky’s sentence shows that, for the financial world, certain crimes will not go unpunished.
The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins of 2025 Act, known as the GENIUS Act, failed to pass cloture in the United States Senate on May 8, dealing a slight blow to cryptocurrency regulation in the country.
To address the concerns of Senate Democrats, the bill had already been amended to include stricter requirements for stablecoin issuers for further provisions for Anti-Money Laundering.
The GENIUS Act was seen as a bipartisan effort to increase regulatory clarity for digital assets in the United States. The focus of the bill, stablecoins used for payments, was looked at as extending dollar dominance internationally and straying away from more controversial crypto topics.
After the procedure failed, Senate Majority Leader John Thune criticized Democrats, saying, “Democrats have been accommodated every step of the way […] frankly, I just don’t get it.”
‘Disappointment’ at cloture vote failure
After the GENIUS Act failed to meet cloture, some individuals took to social media to express their displeasure at Congress’s lack of progress toward a sensible digital asset regulatory framework.
Lummis published a statement that read, “I’m deeply disappointed that we were unable to pass this important, bipartisan-crafted stablecoin legislation today. Make no mistake, digital assets are the future and America must lead the way.”
She wasn’t the only Republican sharing her thoughts about the situation.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a lengthy statement on X, writing that for stablecoins and other digital assets “to thrive globally, the world needs American leadership.”
Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said in a statement that while “disappointed that the GENIUS Act did not pass its cloture vote today, we remain encouraged by the bipartisan engagement on this critical digital asset legislation.”