SECURING OUR ENERGY FUTURE – Why and how it must be done
In the launch paper of a new think tank, the Economic Policy Centre, a radical overhaul is called for in UK Energy Policy, as featured today in The Engineer and in an op-ed by Dan Lewis in the Yorkshire Post.
The paper calls for;
i) A return to basics – putting energy security first
ii) Scrapping of wasteful programmes – smart meters, carbon capture levy, government-financed R&D
iii) Creation of Clean and Secure Energy Obligation – based on Renewables Obigation but with 100% target by 2060 at a much lower buyout price and the inclusion of big impact technologies nuclear, large hydro, interconnectors and Severn Tidal Barrage / tidal lagoons
iv) Keeping coal-fired stations open beyond 2015 until new clean and secure plants come onstream
v) A new annual ranking system that keeps track of the energy security footprint and to create a competitive merit order
vi) Creation of clear lines of political responsibility for energy security
Says author and Chief Executive of the Economic Policy Centre, Dan Lewis;
“Britain has too much energy policy and it is back to front – it’s crazy to go on over-rewarding low impact, intermittent technologies while failing to secure investment for big impact, long lifespan, clean and secure technologies like large hydro, nuclear, interconnectors and a Severn Tidal Barrage or Tidal Lagoons. This will only lead to even greater future dependence on expensive, tight supplies of imported gas and very possibly, power cuts from the middle of the next decade. All this because government has failed to prioritise and factor in the energy security footprint of its own policy“.
[…] contrast, in December 2009 a report by the Economic Policy Centre (EPC) in London entitled, “Securing Our Energy Future: Why and How It Must Be Done,” challenges these priorities and criticizes them—at best by characterizing them as pandering […]
Hello, great article.