Britain facing blackout crisis
LIGHTS could go out in Britain within years caused by government failures to secure energy supplies, an expert warned yesterday.
Repeated blackouts could lead to anarchy as society “crumbled”, Professor Ian Fells said in a report for a UK industrialist.[>
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Britain will lose one-third of its generating capacity within a decade as ageing nuclear and coal power stations are shut down, he said.[>
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Professor Fells said: “It will be a close run thing to provide electricity to keep the lights on through the next decade.[>
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“Electricity is the lifeblood of civilisation and without it we spiral down into anarchy and chaos.”[>
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He said blackouts would shut down the underground trains, while schools would have to close, hospitals would be unable to carry out operations and food prices would soar even further.[>
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The stark warning yesterday came amid fears of yet more energy price rises before next summer. Energyhelpline.com director Mark Todd said energy prices were “likely to jump again in the next six months with consumers facing rises of 10 to 20 per cent”.[>
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Industrialist Andrew Cook, who commissioned the report by Fells Associates and who runs Sheffield steel-makers William Cook Holdings, said: “A fearful void has opened in which we need more electricity yet increasingly lack the means to generate it.[>
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“I perceive a complete vacuum in the government to address this energy gap in the next five to 10 years. No life as we know it can function in an orderly fashion without electricity.”[>
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The report was welcomed by shadow energy minister Charles Hendry, who said: “Ian Fells is quite right to point to Britain’s looming energy crisis, caused by the government’s systematic failure to act over the last 10 years.”[>
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But Energy Secretary John Hutton said Professor Fells had “overstated” the risks. Mr Hutton said: “Ensuring we have enough clean and secure energy is a national priority.”[>
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He cited as evidence a tenfold increase in renewables, a renaissance of nuclear energy in the UK, and backing clean coal technology.[>
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Regulator Ofgem and the National Gird said they were confident supplies could be maintained.[>
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An Ofgem spokesman said: “At the moment an additional nine Gigawatts is under development which will deliver enough power to supply 9 million homes.”[>
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A spokesman for the National Grid said it was investing £3.5 billion over the next five years with power projects under way.[>
