U.K. Power Grid Needs Investment to Deliver Johnson’s Green Plan

Boris Johnson’s green industrial revolution will strain the U.K.’s electricity network with a huge boost in consumption that will require billions of pounds of investment in new transmission lines and systems.

The program aimed at decarbonizing the economy by 2050 calls on more parts of the economy to use electricity. It brings forward by 10 years the target for phasing out cars that run on diesel and gasoline, favoring electric vehicles, a quicker shift than industry had been anticipating.

All told, power demand will jump by a third by 2050 in the U.K., according to BloombergNEF. That will ...