SSE boss calls on ministers to support renewable energy industry as inflation bites

Utility company to increase spending by 14% because of sharp rise in costs of building windfarms and electricity grids

The boss of SSE has called on the government to take bold action to support the renewable energy industry as rising inflation across the global supply chains threaten to slow the rollout of new clean energy projects.

The SSE chief executive, Alistair Phillips-Davies, told investors that the FTSE 100 utility would increase its spending by 14% to 20.5bn for its current budget in part because of a sharp rise in the costs of building windfarms and electricity grids.