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BWEA Press ReleaseWednesday 10th January 2008Renewable energy body calls for mixed energy economy in response to Government's nuclear energy announcementBWEA, the UK's leading renewable energy body, has responded to the Government's decision to give the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power stations. BWEA Chief Executive Maria McCaffery said "Nuclear may well play a part in the UK's long term energy supply, but it cannot address the urgent need to fill the UK's growing energy gap over the next 10 years." She added "The UK needs to take swift action to ensure the security of supply for our energy as our traditional supplies are retired. We cannot afford to wait until a new generation of nuclear is ready. "There are already enough wind energy applications within the planning system to reduce significantly the impending energy shortfall." Even under the new fast track planning regime for major projects expected to be introduced in 2009, it will still take at least 10 years for a new generation of nuclear power stations to be built. Meanwhile, Britain faces an immediate supply shortage of home-grown energy as the current generation of nuclear and fossil fuelled power stations reaches the end of its life over the next decade. By 2016, 7GW of the current 11GW of UK nuclear capacity will already have been retired. By 2023 there will be just one nuclear power station operating, Sizewell B – generating just over a single GW of electricity. The current aging generation of large fossil fuelled stations will have to comply with the tough new emission standards of the EU's Large Combustion Plants Directive by 2015. This will mean that over 10GW of capacity will definitely be retired by 2015 and up to a further 15GW will either close or be severely restricted in use. McCaffery added "Nearly a third of the UK's domestic electricity supply could be decommissioned within the next decade. The only way to avoid Britain becoming massively overdependent on increasingly expensive imported gas is through the expansion of clean, affordable domestic wind, wave and tidal energy" Notes to Editors:1. The British Wind Energy Association is the trade and professional body for the UK wind and marine renewables industries. Formed in 1978, and with over 360 corporate members, BWEA is the leading renewable energy trade association in the UK. Wind has been the world's fastest growing renewable energy source for the last seven years, and this trend is expected to continue with falling costs of wind energy and the urgent international need to tackle CO2 emissions to prevent climate change. 2. The current generation of nuclear power stations is nearing the end of its life. Below are a list of operational nuclear power stations and their decommissioning dates and MW capacity.
3. A number of large fossil fuel plants will have to close or significantly reduce capacity by 2015 under the European Union's LCPD. These include:
4. By 2020 80% of the UK's gas supply will be imported. 60% of the worlds natural gas reserves are in Russia, Iran and Qatar. There has been a recent spate of applications for new gas powered stations. Applications for 4,980MW of capacity have recently been approved while a further 8,530MW are currently within the planning system. 5. There are over 13GW of wind energy applications outstanding (including 7.5GW onshore and 5GW offshore), while 2.1GW of applications including the 1,000MW London Array were approved in the last year. For more information please contact:
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