Blackouts

Ed Milliband yesterday refused to rule out a blanket ban on coal power stations.

There's good reasons for this - when assessed against the conditions imposed upon electricity generators by the government.

Probably the largest though is security of supply. Yes - I don't want global warming, and yes - if it happens - it will be hugely expensive.
Can you imagine how expensive it will be if we don't have electricity?

The national grid yesterday warned of regular rolling blackouts. This is no myth - everyone is talking about the energy gap.

Just a quick graphic to show how large the problem is (taken from the RWE factbook (it's easy to find on the web).

The blue shows how much electricity is being generated (read it with the vertical axis on the left) whilst the grey line shows how much is spare (used when plants are offline being serviced, or when peak demand rises above long term projections). That can be read with the vertical axis on the right.
As you can see we'll run out of electricity just in time for the opening ceremony of the 2012 olympic games.

Ofcourse this is with no new build - and remember that renewables can be expected to fill some of this gap - but I believe the timescales involved (when compared against the timescales for windpower grid connections) mean that coal and nuclear (on existing sites with current grid connections) must play a role - right Mr. Miliband?

Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband yesterday gave a speech at the Energy Futures Lab, here at Imperial College.

I didn't manage to press him about Kingsnorth, but he certainly was frank about the problems facing the UK electricity generation sector.
I believe that his over-riding concern is that the lights have to stay on (not guaranteed in this day and age where 1/3 of our power stations are being shut down). He also spent a long time talking about carbon capture and storage - he certainly understands the need and potential for that.

I know it's very dull for me to say that he gave a good speech, and that I think he's doing a good job - but genuinely, I do.

...and I think that he will approve kingsnorth.

Ed Miliband

I didn't realise this, but Ed Miliband's consituency contains the Hatfield Colliery. This means that he understands coal generation.

That's really all I ask. If he votes down Kingsnorth then, asside from being dissapointed, I will at least know that he understands how coal fired power stations work.

Ed Miliband has been campaigning for the re-opening of Hatfield pit as part of Clean Coal Power Station.

I hope and believe there is increasing recognition in government of the role that coal can play in our future energy mix.