Telegraph
10:00PM BST 31 Aug 2009

in Brief:

Britain is facing the prospect of widespread power cuts for the first time since the 1970s, government projections show.

Demand for power from homes and businesses will exceed supply from the national grid within eight years, according to official figures.

The shortage of supplies will hit the equivalent of many as 16 million families for at least one hour during the year, it is forecast.
Not since the early 1970s when the three-day week was introduced to preserve coal has Britain faced the prospect of reationing energy use.

The gap between Britain’s energy needs and demand throws fresh doubt on the Government’s assertion that renewable energy can make up for dwindling nuclear and coal capabilities.

Over the next 10 years, one third of Britain’s power-generating capacity needs to be replaced with cleaner fuels. But last night the Conservatives said that Labour had refused to face up to the problem.

The admission that Britain will face power-cuts is contained in a document that accompanied the Government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan, which was launched in July.
Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, outlined the plan amid much fanfare.

Under the plan, 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity will need to come from low-carbon energy sources including clean coal, nuclear and renewables.

Accompanying the report is an appendix, only published online, which warns of power shortages. It details supplies and expected demand between now and 2030.

Key points:

It highlights the first short-fall in 2017. The “energy unserved” level reaches 3000 megawatt hours per year. That is the equivalent of the whole of the Nottingham area being without electricity for a day

By 2025 the situation worsens with the shortfall hitting 7000 megawatt hours per year. That is the equivalent to an hour-long power cut for half of Britain.

It also assumes a rapid increase in wind farm capacity. There is also the assumption that existing nuclear power stations will be granted extensions to their “lifetimes".

There will be huge reliance in the short term on gas, with up to 50 per cent of electricity coming from gas fired power stations.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “We are moving in the right direction towards low carbon energy but we are in transition, we can’t just click our fingers and expect to end carbon emissions overnight. In the near turn there will be a need for the continued use of fossil fuels.

Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/6118113/Britain-facing-blackouts-for-first-time-since-1970s.html


Fluff.....

I think most of us Know the need to find renewable energies is paramount to modern environmental sustainability, but what we need to keep an eye on is how this is achieved and if it is run solely for profit!!

That would defeat all sustainability goals as corporate run energies that we buy into now would only prolong the greed and therefore consume for profits and not for change.