Toshiba do not just have implications for the proposed Moorside nuclear plant. They expose the fragility of the UK’s energy policy as a whole.
The question of how Britain generates its electricity is taking on greater importance as the government aims to meet a 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 57 per cent compared to 1990 levels. As part of that goal, ministers want to eradicate polluting coal power stations by 2025. The issue is what will replace them: Britain has been investing heavily in renewables to help make up the gap but the government is also alert to the need for other, more stable sources of power generation to keep the lights on when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining — and have low emissions as well. Tuesday’s weather illustrated the point. It was sunny and calm across most of Britain, making nuclear the day’s second-most important source of electricity supply behind gas plants, according to Electric Insights, a website that tracks where Britain’s power is coming from.
Nuclear is key to the UK’s energy strategy: the government has the goal of 14 gigawatts of new nuclear generating capacity by 2035. Some 10GW is in operation today but most of the existing nuclear plants — except Sizewell B, a plant owned by French utility EDF Energy on the Suffolk coast — is due to be decommissioned during the 2020s. Moorside, the 3.8GW project in Cumbria proposed by Toshiba and French utility Engie, is among six planned plants — none of them owned by a British company — that the government hopes will replace the current outgoing fleet.
EmoticonEmoticon