UK ‘facing an electricity crisis’

The gap will be caused due to the closure of all coal-fired plants in the UK by 2025, as well the decommissioning of most UK nuclear facilities and a growing demand for electricity, the Engineering the UK Electricity Gap report says.

As part of its report, the IMechE used the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s “energy calculator” to discover what effect the latest energy policy changes would have on UK supply.

It found the UK would need to build 30 additional combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants in less than 10 years to fill a 22% demand gap.

However, the IMechE says plans to plug the electricity gap with CCGT are “unrealistic”. It says the UK has only built four CCGT plants in the last 10 years, and has closed one and eight other power stations in that time.

Jenifer Baxter, head of energy and environment at the IMechE, said: “The UK is facing an electricity supply crisis. As the UK population rises and with the greater use of electricity use in transport and heating it looks almost certain that electricity demand is going to rise.

“However with little or no focus on reducing electricity demand, the retirement of the majority of the country’s ageing nuclear fleet, recent proposals to phase out coal-fired power by 2025 and the cut in renewable energy subsidies, the UK is on course to produce even less electricity than it does at the moment.”

Baxter, who is also the report’s lead author, said the UK cannot rely on CCGTs alone to plug the electricity gap.

“We have neither the time, resources nor enough people with the right skills to build sufficient power plants. Electricity imports will put the UK’s electricity supply at the mercy of the markets, weather and politics of other countries, making electricity less secure and less affordable.”

According to Baxter, it is virtually impossible for electricity demand in the UK to be met by 2025.

“Government needs to take urgent action to work with industry to create a clear pathway with timeframes and milestones for new electricity infrastructure to be built including fossil fuel plants, nuclear power, energy storage and combined heat and power,” she said.

Commenting on the IMechE’s report, Tanuja Randery, president UK & Ireland at Schneider Electric, said that although closing coal-fired power station was a step in the right direction, doing so without clear plans for more sustainable alternatives will not address the issues of energy demand effectively.

“The government needs to take a robust approach to ensure that the lights stay on while we decarbonise. It needs to consider the UK’s provisioning of reserve capacity, combined with active network management and integrating renewables into the grid. This multi-faceted approach must not ignore the ‘fifth fuel’ – energy efficiency,” Randery said.

Recommendations outlined in the IMechE's report focus on energy efficiency and energy security.

The recommendations are as follows:

1. The UK Infrastructure Commission should assess the necessary incentives for industry and the public to reduce the demand on the electricity system through engineering efficiencies into processes and equipment, awareness raising and advocacy.
2. The UK Infrastructure Commission must urgently implement the changes necessary across the industry and supply chain to deliver security of electricity supply with no coal-fired generation. These include investment in research and development activities for renewables, energy storage, combined heat and power and innovation in power station design and build.
3. Collaboratively the UK Government and its delivery bodies, along with industry, should review the capacity in the supply chains to deliver the construction of the ‘most likely’ new power infrastructure. This includes identifying timeframes and milestones for conventional and unconventional power generation build (fossil fuel, nuclear, energy storage, combined heat and power and off-grid options) along with growth in skills and knowledge within the UK to meet the potential increase in demand.

David Cockshott, chief commercial officer at business energy consultancy Inenco Group, said: “As the Institute of Mechanical Engineers' report makes clear, without decisive action now British businesses and consumers will suffer in the future from potential blackouts and crippling price hikes.

“It has never been more important to prioritise investment in UK energy for the future health of our economy.”