Industry Summary

UK energy policy has concentrated on fossil fuels with the majority of large power stations in the country powered by coal, and to a lesser extent gas.

The electricity supply is a constant, and it is always expected to be so. In the past, UK energy policy has concentrated on fossil fuels with the majority of large power stations in the country powered by coal, and to a lesser extent gas.

With the growing importance of the effects of global warming due to CO2 emissions there has been a movement towards 'cleaner' and more sustainable power production. The power industry has two major issues to consider – security of supply and meeting Kyoto targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions.

UK power generation

With an aging power-generation infrastructure the UK government has been in consultation about UK energy policy – how we will generate enough electricity over the next 20 to 30 years. In May 2007, Alistair Darling, the current energy minister, released a white paper reporting their conclusions and outlining plans for the future of the UK power industry.

This document proposes renewable and clean power-generation methods (low carbon producing) to help protect the environment. The clean sources will include wind, wave (still experimental), nuclear, gas and cleaner coal gasification technology.

Securing the UK's future power supply

Although renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are the cleanest sources of power, the supply is intermittent (with an average percentage load factor of 30%–35%) meaning they could not guarantee the steady supply required across the grid. Therefore, the safest approach is the adoption of a mix of energy sources to spread the risk, while maintaining a bias towards cleaner power.

Although renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are the cleanest sources of power, the supply is intermittent.

Projections have indicated that by 2050 the UK use of electricity will have doubled, creating a large energy gap, which the power-generation industry will need to address imminently. Nuclear power in the UK is expected to contribute significantly towards filling this energy gap.

British Energy, which operates eight of the remaining ten nuclear power stations in the UK, is expecting to construct new installations with more efficient technology. In addition, Airtricity has recently received permission to build a 500MW wind farm off the Suffolk coast. This will bring the UK's offshore wind power capacity to 2,484MW with a target of 10GW by 2015.

Meeting Kyoto targets for CO2 emissions

Meeting emissions targets set by the Kyoto Treaty is a major consideration in energy policy. Although coal is not as desirable as the 'cleaner' generating sources it will still be a part of energy policy in the UK for many years to come.

The technology to build cleaner pulverised coal power plants is being developed along with methods to decrease their carbon emissions through various carbon sequestration techniques. As a comparison, coal power generation (generation only) produces 900g of CO2 per kWh of electricity, while nuclear power generation (Torness lifecycle study) produces 5g of CO2 per kWh.

Nuclear power is as clean as wind power (on the basis of CO2 emissions) but has the added bonus of providing a constant supply of clean electricity.

The situation is simple – the UK needs clean electricity now, and a stop gap to develop renewable energy sources. The energy policy of the UK power industry must sensibly reflect needs and cleaner technology.