UK to face an energy shortfall

Inenco, an energy consultancy, has issued a warning that the United Kingdom will be confronted with an energy shortfall during the Olympic year and this will be carried on into the ten years that follow.

The energy consultancy noted that the closing down of some coal power stations without replacing them with new plants would cause an energy shortage in four years’ time.

Inenco said the old coal plants, whose operating hours have been restricted by European laws, have been operating longer than expected because of higher petroleum prices. But even so, Inenco argues that prolonging the lifespan of the nation’s present nuclear plants will not help meet the expected energy shortfall. Michael Abbott the deputy managing director of Inenco urged that urgent action needed to be taken to avoid the energy shortfall expected in 2012.

In March the Government endorsed a new generation of nuclear plants but it will take approximately ten years for them to start supplying power to the national grid.

Part of the problem has been exacerbated by the Large Combustion Plant Directive, which aims to curtail noxious wastes such as sulphur dioxide. The directive demands that power units constructed prior to 1987 must either be fitted with emissions control equipment, or cut down on their operating period to just about a total of twenty thousand hours between 2008 and 2015, after which they must be shut down.

Inenco estimates that the power capacity of coal and nuclear plants that will be retired around 2012 totals more than ten gigawatts which is approximately a seventh of the total installed capacity in Britain.

www.inenco.com