The government needs to stop dragging its feet on energy policy – before the lights go out

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This government has been dragging its feet on energy policy since 2010.

This government has been dragging its feet on energy policy since 2010

The prospect of the televisions blacking out in the middle of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing on a bleak, cold winter evening sometime soon should focus the minds of politicians that the UK’s energy policy needs the long view when it comes to planning and strategy.

Too often politicians look at issues through a narrow short-term prism – it was Harold Wilson who said: “A week in politics is a long time.”

A collective shiver went down the nation’s spine when this week the National Grid warned that its capacity to supply electricity in the coming months will be at a seven-year low due to generator closures and breakdowns.

Spare electricity capacity, which ran at about 5 per cent last winter, would be nearer 4 per cent this year – just three years ago the margin was a more warming 17 per cent.

Unite has more than 30,000 members working in the energy sector and we believe that this government has been dragging its feet on energy policy since 2010. For example, there have been hold-ups in the nuclear power programme and we have fallen behind such countries as Canada when it comes to developing carbon capture.

For the first time since the industrial troubles of the early 1970s the spectre of the lights going out in homes across the land  has once more entered into the realms of probability.

The basis of a prosperous economy providing plentiful well-paid jobs, as well as the burgeoning domestic needs of a population of more than 60 million, is the provision of relatively cheap energy  from the ‘mix’ of coal, gas, nuclear, oil and renewables.

What we need is a balanced energy policy from an incoming Labour government that increases a dependence upon indigenous sources of fuel supply such as ‘clean’ coal and tidal power.

At the same time, we need to take on board the legitimate concerns of communities about the real and perceived threats to the environment of some energy initiatives on this crowded isle.

The National Grid has given a timely warning that the age of energy supply complacency is over – and there is no divine right that the lights will go on for Len Goodman and his fellow Strictly judges, unless we get our skates on in melding together a coherent energy strategy

As Aneurin Bevan said: “This island is almost made of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish in Great Britain at the same time.”

Kevin Coyne is Unite national officer for energy

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21 Responses to “The government needs to stop dragging its feet on energy policy – before the lights go out”

  1. itdoesntaddup

    The greatest procrastinator of all was David Miliband. Under his watch we saw virtually a complete halt to new generating capacity. The present reality is that with the premature closure of coal capacity and the loss of capacity to accidents and maintenance (including crucially this winter in Belgium), we are discovering that wind needs 100% backup from dispatchable sources, while interconnectors can be a two way street. That’s why the Grid conclude:

    184. For the 1 in 20 or ACS demand, a level of interconnector exports would be manageable but maximum export to the continent and Ireland would not be possible. National Grid, as System Operator, would need to take mitigating actions to avoid any loss of load. These
    include the emergency assistance service from interconnectors, maximum generation service
    and voltage reduction. We do not have sufficient data to calculate the likelihood of a full export scenario, as interconnector arrangements have recently changed and because we do
    not have all the French and Dutch market and weather data.

    185. In the event where our full reserve levels would not be met. System Warnings, such as the
    Notification of Insufficient System Margin (NISM), would be issued ahead of time to inform the market and to encourage an increase in available generation or reduction in demand. It is worth noting that Figure 25 assumes average generation losses; if generation losses happened to be less than average then margins would improve, with the converse also being true.

  2. steroflex

    “As Aneurin Bevan said: “This island is almost made of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish in Great Britain at the same time.”
    Yup. Allow me to add the shale gas to that. And the small nuclear power stations which could be locally manned and organised, and we could go for CHP as in Denmark.
    As it is we are stuck with the useless windmills and, pretending that this is California when it manifestly isn’t, we have the ridiculous solar power panels taking up very valuable farming land.
    It is not fair to blame Mr Miliband for the Climate Change Act of 2008 because every MP (almost) voted it in. But that certainly needs looking at. As does Global Warming. All very 1990s.

  3. David Lindsay

    Nuclear power. And coal. Not necessarily in that order.

    Plus, if necessary, anything else that might present itself.

    But mostly, nuclear power. And coal. Not necessarily in that order.

  4. David Lindsay

    And privatisation. All very 1980s.

  5. Guest

    Ah, things past their time. Well well.

    And you want about the worst way to deploy nuclear power too, as you ignore the fact that CHP can’t be retrofitted for reasonable costs.

    Then you talking about your anti-science stance, and your determination thus to dump off the costs onto the poor.

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