Renewable investment needed as UK faces blackouts for first time since 1970s - Mick Bates AM (Montgomeryshire Liberal Democrats)

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Montgomeryshire Liberal Democrats <montlibdems@gmail.com>

Renewable investment needed as UK faces blackouts for first time since 1970s - Mick Bates AM

September 1, 2009 12:00 AM

Government projections show that energy demand will exceed supply from the national grid within eight years, leaving the UK facing the prospect of widespread power cuts for the first time since the 1970s.

Shadow Minister for the Environment and Sustainability, Mick Bates AM, is calling for the UK Government to face up to the consequences of its inaction over the past decades and find real solutions to bridge this energy gap.

The projections, contained in the appendix to the Government's Low Carbon Transition Plan, forecast that the shortage of supplies will hit the equivalent of many as 16 million families for at least one hour during the year.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Mick Bates AM stated:

"For too long the Government has been complacent and dithered and delayed over action into research and development of alternative forms of energy. Now it must face up to the consequences of this inaction and find real solutions to this energy crisis, which could see the UK facing blackouts within the next few years.

"The distraction of nuclear power has seriously threatened our future energy security. The Government has failed to provide serious investment in renewable energy, cushioned by oil and gas reserves and hoping that nuclear would be the answer to bridge the future energy gap. Yet the Government has admitted that there is unlikely to be much in the way of new nuclear electricity on stream before 2020 - and the majority of the UK's existing nuclear power stations are due for decommissioning long before then.

"The real solutions to the energy gap and climate change are available now - energy efficiency, cleaner use of fossil fuels, renewable energy and state of the art decentralised power stations. This combination has the potential to deliver reliable, quick and cheap low carbon energy. They are also safe and globally applicable, unlike nuclear.

"We need swift progress to harness the vast power of the Severn Estuary and the removal of the planning barriers which hold up the development of renewable energy across the country. If this action and investment had taken place a decade ago, we would already have the energy infrastructure and capacity in place to secure our energy supply for the future."

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