ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY

1. Nuclear power is 'last resort', says Cameron

A new divide in British politics opened today when the Tory leader, David Cameron, signalled that nuclear power should be "a last resort", while the government appeared to be clearing the path for a new generation of power stations.

Tony Blair told senior MPs this week that he had "changed his mind" on nuclear power, saying Britain's energy needs could not be met without it.

Today the Financial Times reported that next week's energy review is expected to recommend that local authorities objecting to new nuclear power plants should be overruled if the government decrees the stations to be "essential".

In an interview with the newspaper, the trade and industry secretary, Alistair Darling, said that he also favoured "rigorous" timetables on planning inquiries for all new power plants - be they nuclear or windfarms - to reduce wrangles often lasting years.

The preview of next week's energy review came as the Conservatives published interim results of their own energy taskforce, which does not rule nuclear out, but leaves it as a "last resort".

According to Mr Darling, next week's energy review will contain a proposal to make it impossible for councils to reject large power plants on the grounds that they were not needed.

He told the paper: "We need to streamline the planning laws for big infrastructure projects...we need to move to the stage where, basically, the government needs to publish a statement of need, saying this is a project of national importance."

Calling for "rigorous" time limits on inquiries, he added: "You would have thought that most issues can actually be covered in a matter of weeks or maybe months."

That could knock years of the current procedures.

He said "Given the fact that we may need to replace a third of our electricity generation, there is a serious risk that one day we'll switch on the lights and there won't be gas or electricity unless we deal with this planning problem."

Under the white paper proposals, planning inquiries could only change the appearance and precise location of sites. He said the government would not set a target for the number of new nuclear plants but would leave it to industry operators to make a "commercial decision" on whether to build and manage stations.

He insisted there would be no direct government subsidy, and that private contractors would have to pay for the costs of waste and decommissioning, but appeared to suggest that rising oil and gas costs and stricter carbon emission charging would make this economic.

The Local Government Association (LGA), meeting in Bournemouth, reacted coolly to the suggestion their veto could be removed from the decision-making process.

A spokesperson said: "Public consultation is an important part of the local planning system. Only councils, with their local knowledge, have the ability to make decisions which are suited to local circumstances. Under the government's proposals local people's right to have a say on new development in their area would be taken away."

In a speech today the Tory leader urged a massive increase in devolved "combined heat and power" production in the 21st century.

In his own speech to the LGA, Mr Cameron called for more electricity to be generated in local communities.

He told council leaders that decentralised energy could make "an enormous contribution" to slashing carbon emissions. Pioneering local authorities had already shown what was possible by using waste wood to fuel homes or setting up efficient renewable local sources, he said. Now that "exciting vision" had to be extended across the country.

"In Britain we are still lumbered with the same backward-looking, central-planning mindset that has dominated thinking on electricity since the first half of the last century, he said.

"There will always be a need for a robust and secure national grid; energy security is vital.

"But it is a myth that it can only be provided from remote and inefficient power stations or that electricity has to travel hundreds of miles to market.

"We live in a fast-changing world of scientific research and innovation. I want Britain to be at the forefront of the green energy opportunity and I want local government to be in the forefront of Britain's environmental progress.

"We need to think in an entirely new way about energy. The future of energy is not top-down, it's not centralised - it's bottom-up and decentralised."

He will add: "Decentralised energy - electricity generated in smaller, more local units such as neighbourhood combined heat and power schemes - could make an enormous contribution to reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency.

"Decentralised energy offers an exciting vision of 21st-century energy supply, re-engineering the system and opening it up to new, smaller technologies and more local participants.

"This would be to the long-term advantage of the consumer as well as helping to tackle climate change."

"One of the main awards was won by Barnsley council, which has pioneered the most extensive use of biomass heating in the UK."

"Barnsley uses waste wood to heat community housing and other public buildings and, by replacing coal and gas, the council saves nearly 3,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year."

Woking borough council was another example to be followed, he suggested.

"It isn't waiting for a global solution to climate change; it has pioneered the use of decentralised energy to reduce carbon emissions through the use of combined heat and power; solar power, geothermal power, and hydrogen fuel cells.

"It is developing more sustainable energy from waste, and delivering a 30% improvement in home energy efficiency. "In total Woking has been able to reduce its carbon emissions by a staggering 77% across its municipal estate.

Mr Darling later attacked Mr Cameron's talk of a "level playing field" for renewables and other energy providers, saying it would set the development of green energy sources "back by a generation".

Renewables are currently provided with a cross-subsidy which will be worth £1bn a year by 2010.

The Tory energy review proposed reform of the renewables obligation, which subsidises electricity providers to purchase energy from renewable sources.

Conservatives argue that in its current form, it encourages the sector to focus on a few technologies, such as onshore wind farms and methane from landfill, to the exclusion of others.

But Mr Darling said: "The question is whether you give renewables an advantage or put them on a level playing field. And if we're serious about getting more green energy, they need support to deliver it.

"If Cameron is going to talk green, sooner or later he's going to have to do something green. Scrapping the climate change levy and undermining renewables moves us further from a green future not towards it."

Meanwhile, Mr Cameron's own domestic wind turbine received recommended planning permission from his borough of Kensington & Chelsea today.

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 1038