The Institution of Engineering and Technology write for ePolitix.com on the UK's energy future.
Please view a copy of the Institution of Engineering and Technology's manifesto.
Despite an order of magnitude increase in government attention in recent years, UK energy policy remains in difficulty. We are in an era of unprecedented change. Massive reductions in carbon emissions from all energy users are needed to achieve the decarbonisation targets for 2050, concerns about supply security for imported primary fuels remain significant and much of the existing infrastructure, in particular electricity generation, needs to be replaced quickly.
We have a liberalised energy market with all key decisions in the hands of the private sector. But there are significant concerns over both whether the market is capable of signalling the long term strategic investments needed across all forms of electricity generation, electricity networks and fuel import infrastructure. And there are concerns whether even the large companies active in the sector are able to raise the necessary finance – the UK needs to spend around £200bn on energy infrastructure by 2025 and critically, some £40bn - £50bn of that investment must be committed to before the end of 2012.
The energy future is developing very fast and contains many uncertainties – for example:
-The opportunity around retrofitting energy efficiency improvements to the existing built environment is only beginning to be explored. Much is possible but the challenge is massive, not least in gaining public acceptance
-Decarbonisation of transport is only beginning, if this is to be by electric vehicles, a massive investment in the supporting charging infrastructure is needed. And it will take time to deploy on a large scale
-Nuclear requires massive capital commitments which seem unlikely without further government support
-The renewables target for 2020 is extremely challenging, requiring technology and supply chain development at wartime levels of intensity as well as large amounts of capital
-The future electricity system will combine relatively inflexible plants such as nuclear with variable generation from wind, something that will require a much smarter grid and full demand participation to operate successfully. This is even more the case if we move towards electric transport and heating. We have hardly begun the technological and investment journey towards the smart grid required to enable this
In the shorter term we are running out of generating capacity as coal, oil and existing nuclear plants close down. Urgent action is needed to renegotiate commitments on coal and oil closures with the EU and the industry, so that plant owners can restart long term maintenance programmes.
An incoming government will be faced with difficult and quite urgent decisions with both short and long term consequences for the economy, the environment and the lifestyles of all of us. It is vital that new ministerial teams engage rapidly and take the actions needed to secure supplies in the short term and decarbonise for the future.
The IET is Europe's largest professional body of engineers with 150,000 members in 127 countries. Dating back to 1871, the IET has offices in Europe, Asia and the US. For more information, visit www.theiet.org.
