The debate on the Performance and Innovation
Unit’s Energy Review continues to rumble on, with the DTI’s consultation
paper providing a new focus. Some of the issues were identified in a
House of Commons debate on the PIU report in March, although this
turned into a pro and anti nuclear exchange. The antis were ably led
by Dr. Desmond Turner (Labour, Brighton). ‘We
must remember the awful history of the early 1980’s. Research into renewables,
in which this country then led the world, was stopped, and more nuclear
capacity was built. It is reasonable to suggest that to maintain the
nuclear option, the possibility of renewables was set back 20 years.
This country was ahead in wind power, but Denmark stepped in and took
over world leadership. Wave power was coming along nicely, but it was
stopped dead in its tracks and only now is it reaching the point it
had reached 20 years ago. If we are not careful, the nuclear option
could be developed at the expense of renewables.’
The pro-nuclear view was put strongly by another
Labour MP Dr. Ashok Kumar (Middlesborough, S and Cleveland, East)
who welcomed the pro nuclear statement that had been made by the Chief
Scientific Advisor, Prof David King and pointed to the Trade
and Industry Committee, of which he was a member, on the security of
energy supplies, which concluded: "the
Government should make a clear statement on the future of nuclear energy
as quickly as possible".
He went on, ‘we
have not at this moment in time developed the technology for renewables...we
must recognise what is providing electricity at the present, whatever
the process. I do not have any objection to renewables and other developments,
but they would not be ready in time because the technology that is
required would still be in a primitive state in 20 or 30 years’ time.
Nobody can take that risk because the lights will go out. Hon. Members
should remember what happened in California. In order to ensure that
that does not happen, we should remember that this technology works’.
That didn’t leave much for the Conservatives energy
spokesman Robert Key (Salisbury) to add- as he put it, he ‘hardly
dare intrude on Labours private grief’
in relation to its internal debate on nuclear policy. Fortunately, there
was also some coverage of renewables. For example Dr. Desmond Turner
commented that ‘the most baffling feature of the (PIU) report is that
although it recognises the enormous power-producing potential of marine
renewables- wave and tide- it makes little reference to them thereafter,
save to suggest that although they might be making a major contribution
by 2050, but they will be making only a small, unspecified contribution
by 2020.
We’ll review the debate in full in Renew 139.
