E.ON Says Coal Plants are Vital for Back Up

It now appears that the chief executive of E.On, Paul Golby, said that coal plants are vital back up for the UK’s energy needs. These aging coal fired power stations should be exempted from environmental regulations and kept open to stop the lights from going out.

Paul Gobly said that some of the coal and oil fired plants are due to close this decade because of European pollution regulations. However, he feels that they should remain operational and ready to come online during periods of peak demand, such as those experienced in recent weeks.

This month almost 100 large power users had to switch to alternative sources when the National Grid had problems with their power supply. Globy said that given that the issue that Britain is trying to overcome is climate change, there is a question mark over keeping one or two of these oil or coal fired plants mothballed to secure supplies for a few days per year when these kinds of cold conditions come up.

He went on to say that it might be a small economic and carbon premium worth paying for security of supply and getting everyone through the transition to a low carbon energy system. It is something that everyone has talked to the government about.

Globy’s view is privately supported by many UK power station operators who fear a looming energy gap in a few years when old coal and nuclear plants have been closed, but new reactors, clean coal plants and wind farms have not been built.

The idea puts the energy industry on a collision course with environmentalists who are opposed to a continued use of coal in the energy mix. This is because coal plants emit about twice as much carbon as equivalent gas plants.