Soon, however, all but one of the UK's existing nuclear plants are due to reach the end of their lives – by 2030 – cutting capacity from 8GW to just 1GW
Another argument for new nuclear is UK climate goals.
There's certainly a growing gap between the amount of low-carbon electricity that is in the pipeline vs what will be needed to meet UK targets (red wedge in chart):
This week's big news was official confirmation from Hitachi that it was cancelling Wylfa.
It had shelved the plans last year, despite what then-secretary of state Greg Clark called a "significant & generous" package of support inc a 1/3 equity stake.
So now No 10 is briefing journalists about a "nuclear summit" between the PM, chancellor and energy secretary, where they will discuss "new subsidies" for new nuclear:
If govt does want to give financial support to new nuclear, one of the key questions for the chancellor would be how to justify spending taxpayer cash on new nuclear, relative to alternative uses of the money:
I didn't talk about apparent controversy over Chinese involvement in UK nuclear…
Others will know better than me – but there's something a bit odd about the way that debate is being carried out, via newspaper op-eds from a certain clique of Tories
Clearly plenty more that could be said about all this. But it's nursery pickup time so that's it from me for now…
ends/
OK, a couple of extra things… @6point626 noted govt "seemed to recognise" this @EnergySysCat report on nuclear for net-zero, which says another 10GW of new nuclear would be "no or low regret"
@6point626@EnergySysCat I'd also flag this line, saying net-zero without new nuclear is "technically possible".
(It's interesting how blatant the report is, regarding what the authors think of this idea – "vast", "betting the farm" etc. is not exactly neutral language)
Just over a decade ago, then-PM David Cameron was infamously reported to have told aides to "get rid of the green crap" as a "solution to soaring energy prices"…
After Cameron's "get rid of the green crap" frontpage, a series of UK climate rollbacks followed
First, policy changes and funding cuts for home insulation improvements, with annual loft+cavity wall installations now 98% below previous levels
Fossil-fueled chemicals boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe has an anti-EV tirade in today’s Daily Telegraph, littered with outright falsehoods, half-truths and selective facts
Exhibit 1: Far from "coming to a halt", EV demand grew by 25% in Q1 of this year
Let’s take a look shall we?
1/
Exhibit 2: Ratcliffe cherrypicks Germany – where EV subsidies recently ended – to argue that demand is drying up
As already mentioned, global EV sales grew 25% in Q1 of this year, according to the IEA
2/
How about China, Jim? Ah yes, EV sales are up 35% so far this year. But I guess that didn't fit your narrative.
Nor does the UK, I guess, given sales are up 11% in 2024ytd (31% for plug-in hybrids, on which more later)
It seems @mattwridley thinks @Telegraph readers are idiots
Let's run the numbers:
244,000km2 = area of the UK
5-10% = share of UK Matt says would need to be covered with solar to meet electricity demand in June
40MW = solar capacity per km2
500-1,000GW = solar capacity, if covering 5-10% of UK
300% = share of total UK electricity demand that would be generated by 1,000GW of UK solar
650GW = current solar capacity of China, roughly half the global total
<30GW = actual UK summer peak demand
15GW = current solar capacity of UK, of which ~10GW ground mounted
0.1% = current solar land take
70GW = UK govt solar target, because no one thinks we can run the country on solar alone
<1% = future land take
>20% = reduction in UK gas imports if govt solar target is met
Zero = credibility of Matt's article
Sources:
Land requirement for UK solar 40MW per km2 = 6 acres per MW, based on current solar farms; as noted in the article, govt says future farms would need 2-3x less land
Despite all the UK govt rhetoric about "new gas", confirmation today in parliament that govt expects unabated gas to meet ~1% of demand in 2035
Minister @grahamstuart, responding to an urgent Q from @CarolineLucas, described new gas capacity as "back-up…sensible insurance"
1/
In the debate, we also saw the mask slip from former sec of state Jacob Rees-Mogg, who as a govt minister paid lip service to climate action (left) but now admits he wants to "postpone net-zero indefinitely" (right)
2/
Responding to Rees-Mogg – who clearly still doesn't understand why geography matters when it comes to energy, trade, or indeed trade in energy – Stuart "chide[d]" him & said there was a "climate…emergency"
UK emissions in 2023 fell to lowest since 1879, new @CarbonBrief reveals
💷Emissions now 53% below 1990, as GDP up 82%
❤️🔥Drop in 2023 largely unrelated to policy
⛰️Coal now lowest since 1730s (!)
🚗Transport is largest sector, then buildings
⚡️Power now likely emits less than farms🐄
UK emissions in 2023 dropped below 400MtCO2e for the first time since the Victorian era, even falling below the levels seen during the height of Covid-19 lockdowns