HOME You are here: UK experts give major blackouts warning?
UK experts give major blackouts warning?
Excepts from Environment analyst, BBC News November 12 2008.
Energy experts asked by BBC News warn the UK could face an unacceptable risk of major blackouts in less than 10 years unless policy is improved.
They said the government has dithered for too long over policies vital to energy security and climate security.
The possible energy gap is being created because of the impending closure before 2015 of nine of our major coal and oil-powered plants. That is within next 6 years and yet there will be no new built power stations until at least 2020 leaving a short fall of both power and capacity
We do not claim our questionnaire of 30 experts is definitive. But its findings do help to map out the scale of the huge challenge facing the new secretary of energy and climate change.
Experts
Experts stated there was an unacceptable risk of blackouts as key elements of policy appeared paralysed or compromised.
Of the 31 experts who took part in our questionnaire, there was a feeling that the government's long-term ambitions on nuclear won't be achieved due to a lack of industrial capacity.
And many warn that government renewables targets are unlikely to be hit thanks to a combination of a lack of political will and engineering challenges for offshore wind especially since the London Gateway project had lost its main contractor EON who have pulled out.
The experts demanded much more urgent action on carbon capture and storage from coal, on which the government is due to make a decision soon.
Mike O'Brien, minister of state for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), said: "There are a whole range of options that the government has available to make sure we have secure supplies of energy - not just for the next few years but also from 2015." He added: "And we will ensure that we exercise these options to make sure we keep the lights on."
PowerContinuity Means Business Continuity
