BRIAN Wilson makes some interesting observations on the Government’s energy policy as outlined in the King’s Speech ("Can GB Energy overcome resistance of vested interests?", The Herald, July 18). What was not made clear was the infrastructure investment needed and the source and interest rates of this money. Looking at the proposals for wind energy alone gives cause for concern.
The proposal is to increase installed capacity of onshore wind to 30 GW and offshore wind to 60 GW by 2030. This is estimated to provide an average electricity output of approxrimately 36 GW. This will result in serious consequences.
First, it is a huge proportion of electricity demand in 2030 which will result in high restraint payments, and, secondly will require an increase in combined cycle gas turbines installed capacity to provide grid stability. This presently is about 36 GW and will probably need to be increased to 72 GW. To avoid increasing carbon dioxide emissions huge infrastructure investment will be needed to have carbon capture and storage installed at these plants which will impact the price of electricity.
What was missing from Mr Wilson’s article was mention of the Government’s proposals for increasing the installed capacity of nuclear energy. The Conservative Government was proposing to increase nuclear capacity to 25% of electricity demand by 2040. I think this was the date.
In my opinion this target was far too low and should be 50% by this date. Nuclear is the only source .