Energy White Paper: Friend or FoE?
23 May 2007
With the UK now increasingly dependent on imported oil and gas the UK strategy document highlighted the need ensure to fully exploit its remaining reserves in the North Sea, develop a diverse range of imports sources and further open up international energy markets.
There is also a pressing need for investment in new low carbon sources, said Trade & Industry secretary Alistair Darling, noting that a third of the UK’s current electricity generation capacity due to close in the next 20 years.
“We will work to ensure there is a market price for carbon into the long term by strengthening the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. We will triple the amount of electricity we get from renewables by 2015,” said Darling. “We want to lead in the development of carbon capture and storage. And we will consult on the significant role that new nuclear power stations could play in cutting emissions and diversifying our supply.”
Steve Elliott, chief executive of the Chemicals Industries Association, said the government had taken on board the CIA's calls for " broad mix of energy sources to give both industry and domestic consumers the confidence that their energy supply is secure for the future.”
The chemicals industry now wants to see the proposals put into action, continued Elliot, noting how companies were alarmed by last year’s volatile energy prices and threat to supply.
”Next Government needs to signal its commitment to business and investment in the UK by ensuring decisions on energy policy take full account of the UK’s economic interests as well as the environmental challenge,” concluded Elliott.
For its part, Drax Power Ltd said the White Paper recognized the contribution that coal-fired electricity generation makes to the UK’s energy mix.
“As the country moves towards a low carbon economy the focus must be on reducing emissions of C02,” said Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax. “Coal-fired generation has an important part to play in this transition through deploying technologies, such as biomass co-firing.”
According to Thompson, the government’s proposals on renewables will “deliver a regime that is fair to all forms of renewables and one that will make an important contribution to reducing CO2.”
In his response, Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, said: the Energy White Paper had much in it that should be welcomed. This he said included the proposed creation of a new carbon trading scheme for large companies and the redesign of the renewables obligation in particular regarding offshore wind resources.
“News that businesses will obtain access to the latest metering technology is also a major step forward to drive through energy efficiency savings,” according to Delay.
For Friends of the Earth the Energy White Paper was “a huge missed opportunity,” as it failed to demand “tougher polices on energy efficiency,renewable power and cleaner transport to make the UK a world leader in developing a low carbon economy. The group added that the UK could tackle climate change and keep the lights on without building new nuclear power plants.
The environmental lobby group is now calling for the Government to strengthen its planned new climate change law, which will set legally binding targets for cutting UK carbon dioxide emissions.
Emission reduction targets can be achieved and the lights kept on without building new nuclear power stations, added FoE, which also wants a moratorium on new centralised gas power stations until Combined Heat and Power construction is back on target, and a halt to all coal schemes that do not capture and store their carbon emissions.
Announcements in the White Paper include:
- Consultation to double energy suppliers' current obligation to deliver energy efficiency measures to customers through a new 'Carbon Emission Reduction Target'.
- Simplification of energy market and licensing arrangements for localised energy by the end of 2008 and clearer export tariffs from all six major energy suppliers for microgenerators to sell excess electricity.
- Legislation to band the Renewables Obligation to benefit offshore wind, wave, tidal and other emerging technologies. The cap on the amount of co-firing generation qualifying for support will be removed.
- Publication of a Biomass Strategy as well as a response to ' Creating Value from Renewable Materials' - a two-year progress report on the Strategy for Non-Food Crops and Uses.
- Competition to build the world's irst end-to-end Carbon Capture and Storage plant, which will deliver at east 300MW capacity, 90% CO2 saving, and be up and running between 2011 and 2014.
- Legislation to allow the storage of natural gas under the seabed and unloading of Liquefied Natural Gas at sea.
- A three-month deadline within which DTI will make consent decisions on large scale energy projects, pending more radical reforms set out in the Planning White Paper.
