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Last Updated: Jul 31st, 2011 - 17:29:39 |
British energy shift could cause shortages
By Peter Griffiths
Sep 1, 2009, 05:46
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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain could face widespread power shortages within eight years due to the country's switch to cleaner energy generation, according to forecasts contained in a government report.
The planned closure of coal- and gas-fired power stations and the wait for new nuclear plants to be built will both hit power supplies, the report said.
A growing reliance on intermittent renewable energy sources, such as wind, will exacerbate the problem, the report added.
The figures were contained in a little-publicised appendix to the British government's plan for the transition to a low carbon economy released in July.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said at the report's launch that 40 percent of Britain's electricity will have to come from nuclear, wind, solar, marine and cleaner coal, compared with a fifth today.
The transition is needed to help meet its legally-binding target of cutting emissions by 34 percent by 2020.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change said it was "alarmist" for UK newspapers to raise the prospect of a return to the three-day week of the 1970s, when energy shortages forced factories to limit their operating hours.
Plans for new nuclear, gas and clean coal supplies were well under way, it added.
"No one's head is in the sand," it said in a statement. "The public should be reassured the UK energy system is one of the most resilient and responsive in the world."
The level of "Expected Energy Unserved," the shortfall between supply and demand, could reach 3,000 megawatts per hour by 2017 and 7,000 megawatts per hour by 2025, the report said. It is currently close to zero.
The opposition Conservatives said Britain needs to replace a third of its generating capacity over the next decade and that the ruling Labour Party had left it "perilously late."
"Britain faces blackouts because the Government has put its head in the sand about Britain's energy policy for a decade," said Conservative energy spokesman Greg Clark. The International Energy Agency, which represents oil consuming nations, has warned of a possible energy crunch caused in part by falling investment in the energy sector.
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