Britain facing rolling blackouts by 2017?

A political fall-out has occurred in the UK, with claims that by 2017 rolling power cuts may be necessary to deal with short-falls in power production.

The opposition Conservative Party has used figures published in the government’s own discussion paper ‘The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan: National Strategy for Climate & Energy’. One section of this paper highlights the potential for power shortfalls at peak periods by 2017 and beyond.

The Conservative’s issued a press release which stated:

“For the first time since the 1970s consumers will be told to prepare for blackouts because the supply of electricity will fail to meet demand at peak times, according to new government figures.

“Over the next few years many power stations will come to the end of their lives or will be required to close by EU law, but the Government has failed to ensure that replacements are available in time.

“As a result, by 2017 the Government has pencilled in power cuts expected to be around 3000 megawatt hours per year - this is the equivalent of the whole Nottingham urban area being without electricity for a day.

“The next government has an urgent task to accelerate the deployment of a new generating capacity, and to take steps to ensure, that as a matter of national security, there is enough capacity to provide a robust margin of safety.”

The government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change responded with the following statement:

"It's wrong to take a single chart out of context, and alarmist to talk of 70s style three day weeks.

“No one's head is in the sand. We're already seeing the benefit of putting extra incentives behind renewables, we have two new nuclear operators gearing up to invest because of our work to remove unnecessary hurdles and our proposed framework for clean coal is the most advanced in the world.

“There’s 10GW of new electricity capacity being built right now and, with the recent opening of the Milford Haven terminal with capacity to meet a fifth of our gas needs, the UK's gas imports are more diverse than ever, alongside still significant North Sea production.

“The public should be reassured the UK energy system is one of the most resilient and responsive in the world, it will deliver for the long term and our transition plan will shift it onto a secure low carbon footing.”

•Date: 2nd Sept 2009• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: Power management
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