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by Mathew Beech
An “aggressive” nuclear programme should be pursued to help create a low-carbon energy sector, according to David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC).
Speaking at last week’s National Grid Future Energy Scenarios 2012 conference, Kennedy said “plan A” should be an energy industry that emits only 50g of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour by 2030.
To achieve this, Kennedy said an “aggressive nuclear programme”, with 20GW of generating capacity, coupled with “successful onshore and offshore wind” and “successful delivery of carbon capture and storage [CCS]”, would be needed.
The electricity mix should be 40 per cent nuclear, 40 per cent renewables, 15 per cent coal and gas with CCS – which Kennedy said was the threshold to make it commercially viable – and the remainder unabated gas.
If such a policy towards a low-carbon sector was not followed, Kennedy said “we should move to plan B”, with emissions of 100g CO2/kWh.
This would see unabated gas form about 20 per cent of the energy mix, with 10GW of nuclear added to the system and investment in offshore wind and the deployment of CCS technology not as widespread as expected.
However, Kennedy said the scenario of an energy industry emitting 50g CO2/kWh “is our best estimate and what we should be aiming for”.
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 5th October 2012.
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