Nuclear energy could increase fuel poverty

According to Oliver Tickell, it is not the push for wind power energy, as was broadcasted on BBC Radio 4 last week, but nuclear power which could lead to fuel poverty.

The ex-chief scientific advisor to UK government, Sir David King warned on BBC’s programme - The Investigation, that UK was over doing wind power. He said that pushing for 35 to 40 percent of capacity from wind turbines would push another half a million households into fuel poverty.

His claim has been refuted by Oliver Tickell. He claims that Sir David King has got his maths wrong. UK’s target is to produce 133 billion units (kW/h) by the year 2020 from wind power energy. This is 35 percent of its anticipated requirement of 380 billion units.

Wind turbines normally produce 28 percent of their designed capacity over a year. So a 1MW turbine would produce about 2.45 million units in a year. To achieve the 35 percent target, it would require 55,000 such turbines. With 2,000 MW already being generated by wind turbines, and a 1MW wind turbine costing about £1 million, the total investment required would be £53 billion.

Now let us check out the nuclear option. Country’s 23 nuclear power stations are scheduled for closure over the coming decades. Altogether, they produce only 80 billion units per year. Decommissioning cost of these plants have already risen to £83 billion and would most likely reach £100 billion which is roughly the cost of complete wind energy programme.

Sir David King is a known proponent of nuclear power. If wind projects take up 35 percent energy generation, there will not be much room left for nuclear plants. Maybe that is his real calculation.