Posted on 08/19/2012 3:45:33 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Will the lights go out? The very question gives politicians sleepless nights, alarms business and bewilders the householder. Could Britain, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, really be plunged into darkness?
Experts believe it’s unlikely. But the question dogs the Government all the same - because its policy to ensure the lights stay on is in such disarray.
A combination of “legally binding climate targets, ageing infrastructure, and rising demand” means an unprecedented £110bn of investment in new power plants is needed this decade alone.
But plans for a new generation of nuclear plants hang by a thread, the Government is riven with infighting over the price for wind farms, and there is controversy over a new dash for gas. Policies to encourage the £110bn investment have been derided as “unworkable” and pressure is mounting on ministers.
So where is it all going wrong? The problem is the scale of the ambition. Ministers juggle the competing demands of energy security, ambitious green goals and affordability for customers - what the industry calls the "energy trilemma". It is not proven that all three can be reconciled.
There’s no shortage of power capacity on the system - in fact margins are some of the healthiest ever. There is almost 89 gigawatts (GW) on the grid, National Grid data show, and even in the peak of winter, usage barely exceeds 60GW.
But that’s all about to change as Britain attempts to become greener, shutting down old, polluting fossil fuel-fired power stations to comply with emissions regulations. Also, all but one of the UK’s nine nuclear power stations are due to be switched off between 2014 and 2023. Most of them are expected to gain life extensions, seven years on average, but that still leaves the prospect of closures looming next decade.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Zer0 wants the same third world electric supply system for the US.
If you keep the peasants in the dark they’re much easier to control.
Sorry, Emily. You were doing fine up until that point. The root cause of the problem is your uneducated electorate swallowed the Gaia nonsense hook, line and sinker, elected radical MPs who then in turn appointed radical enviro-kook energy ministers. Your government should never have signed up for "legally binding climate targets." You are useful dupes for the de-industrialization of the West.
Could Britain, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, really be plunged into darkness?
History says....
Yep.
In Cheshire, two students at the Alsager High School were punished by their teacher for refusing to pray to Allah as part of their religious education class. ... British schools are increasingly dropping the Jewish Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim(s)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2920483/posts
Sad fate for the birthplace of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution.
Civilizations most often die of complacency.
Our problem can be their solution!
Just pack-up the 125+ coal-fired power plants the EPA wants and IS closing here in the US, and send them off to Britain. Obviously, we don’t need them here.. we don’t want them... our leaders want us in the dark.
So, folks in Britain should have them.
How come the British Power Company was not feted during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games?
NHS: good; Power Company: bad.
Britain dosent have a nationalised power company, unlike the NHS, which is still nationalised.
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