The announcement by the National Grid that no coal-fired power was produced in Britain yesterday has been widely covered in today’s national news. BBC TV showed the National Grid “meter” with coal at zero. This has been seen as a triumphant step on the way to meeting our climate change obligations.
What has NOT been highlighted in this coverage is that, at the same time as using no coal, the weather has been largely windless and cloudy. This morning, wind generation was contributing about 4% of our requirements and solar about 5%. At the same time, we were importing 10% of our needs on the interconnectors from the continent. The backbone of our electricity supply was from gas, almost half of the total.
Nuclear power accounts for a fifth of our generation and it is a tragedy that the next generation of nuclear stations is mired in so much uncertainty, most recently the financial problems of Toshiba putting at risk the project in Cumbria. It is of fundamental national importance that we secure an ongoing nuclear generation baseload.
In talking up the achievements of Britain in building renewable generation, we MUST recognise that its variability is inescapable. Secure and affordable gas supplies are vital. Importing gas is less beneficial than domestic output. It really IS time for the public to be educated in the whole story and to consider the well-regulated development of shale gas as a national priority. For too long, opponents have been allowed to promulgate scare stories and whip up opposition to exploration and development of shale gas.
