Dirty power fights back
Unless the British Government takes action, the UK will run short of electricity sometime in 2015. Under EU pollution rules six coal and three oil fired power stations will have to close by then, reducing the UK’s generating capacity by 15%. You could fill this gap – of about 12GW of electricity – by building some nuclear power stations but unfortunately the ten recently approved by the government won’t be ready until 2018 at the earliest. You could also fill the gap by building two huge new windfarms on the Dogger Bank and the Norfolk Bank, but these won’t be ready until 2020 at the earliest.
So it looks like power cuts are on the way, probably just as the new government we’re about to elect this May is coming towards the end of its first term…
… unless power companies RWE npower and E.ON, the two German owned firms who run these coal and oil fired power stations are successful in gaining an exemption from EU rules. Which is why they are ‘in private talks’ with senior Conservative politicians right now.