The future for power generation (or what’s wrong with Kingsnorth)

The UK at present generates most of its electricity in coal or gas fired power stations, both of which generate the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂).  Nuclear power contributes around 20%, and renewables less than 2%.  The EU has given the UK a target of increasing the renewables share to 15% by 2020.  The government says it is committed to meeting this target, mainly by a massive expansion of offshore wind generators.  If it does achieve this, how will the remaining 85% be generated?  The power industry says that one third of its capacity will be worn out and have to be replaced in the next ten years, so this is becoming an urgent issue.

The government believes the best hope is a combination of coal fired power stations and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).  The first proposed plant is at Kingsnorth in Kent.  It will burn coal as normal, but the flue gas containing the CO₂ will be chemically treated to remove the CO₂.  The recovered CO₂ will be compressed and piped away, to be stored indefinitely in an underground reservoir, probably in an old depleted oil or gas field.  This all sounds fine but there is one big problem.  Although a lot of the technology for CCS exists, it has never been applied yet on the scale required and most industry experts do not expect to see commercial CCS plants operating before 2020.  The Kingsnorth power station will therefore run as a conventional power station for several years without CCS. This will increase our greenhouse gas emissions in a critical period when we must reduce emissions as fast as we can.  CCS simply cannot deliver in time. The UK’s decision on Kingsnorth has international implications too.  There will be little chance of persuading other countries to avoid burning coal if a rich developed country like the UK can’t.

Coal should therefore not be an option for the next ten years at least.  Top priority should be energy conservation to reduce electricity demand, and the expansion of wind energy which is commercially proven and fully renewable.  If there is still an energy gap and you want a ‘big’ solution, the most attractive appears to be Concentrating Solar Power or CSP.  The World Bank and the International Energy Agency say this is the cheapest way to generate electricity from solar energy.  The technology is tried and tested.  It’s better than nuclear on pretty well every measure you can think of.  The one big drawback is that the UK cannot go alone on CSP.  We will have to work through the EU as the plants will be sited in southern Europe or North Africa.

If you want to discuss any of the subjects raised, I am very happy to talk to groups of people.  My email address is derek.leatherhead@ntlworld.com.  I will also try and reply to emails from individuals, either directly or in a future article.