A dash of common sense

With the dust now settling around the Energy Bill, Autumn Statement and related announcements, such as the Gas Strategy, there are clear signs of common sense breaking out around UK energy policy.

In particular, the government’s plans for the building of up to 40 new gas-fired power stations represent a realistic way to balance the competing concerns around emissions, security of supply, electricity costs and industrial competitiveness, in the near-to-medium term.

Despite concerns about global gas-price trends, these facilities can be built more affordably and quickly than nuclear stations. They, therefore, offer a realistic way of bridging the looming energy gap.

Alternative technologies, such as biogas, wind and wave power, simply cannot make up for the imminent loss of many coal-fired and ageing nuclear plants.

The extra 27-37GW of new gas-fired capacity – up to 50% of the UK electricity demand – should help buy time for developments in areas such as shale gas and carbon capture & storage, to kick in.

With the lights kept on, policy makers might just have enough breathing space to work out a sensible approach to ‘decarbonisation’.