'we need nuclear' - Prof Roger Kemp - response to D Tokes letter

[dave andrews]

David Toke et al letters 27th December argues for feed in tariffs for renewable energy, as opposed to technologically neutral support for low carbon electricity generation. The weather of the last month ( intense cold and negligible wind) has shown that dependence on renewables alone is unlikely to replace our existing generation capacity, let alone provide the power needed to replace burning of fossil fuels for domestic heating, as proposed by Chris Huhne,.  Polls may show that ' the public wants payments to be reserved or renewable energy, not nuclear', but their first priority is likely to be that they have the energy to heat and light their homes.

The challenge is that to ensure sufficient power for conditions like those seen recently, we will have excess low carbon generating capacity in the summer. A feed in tarrif when there is not a continuous demand is unlikely to be a suitable solution. The government is to be congratulated on starting to address the complex problems of how to decarbronise our energy use. To meet the objectives of the Climate Change Act, we will need both renewables and nuclear and we need to start construction, rather than continuing to debate the options. 

Professor Roger Kemp 

Lancaster University.

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Dave Andrews
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[dave andrews]

Professor kemp
Should know better than to raise the old canard that wind cannot be relied on because sometimes it is not windy. It is well understood that perhaps one month out of 12 there may be no wind in which case existing power stations would be started implying s carbon reduction of 11/12ths surely worth having?
The cost of this standby is tiny compared to the fuel savings the rest of the year.
Alternatively by better interlinking grids the existing 6 weeks of european hydro power can be shared and wind energy imported from distant regions where it is windy.
Detailed studies by czisch and the european climate foundation show that this can be done with the same reliability and costs as todays systems with zero carbon.
Dave andrews