UK: Mind the Gap

Policymakers face a tricky decade as the target of decarbonising the electricity system by 2035 collides with the day-to-day job of keeping the lights on and ensuring electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial machinery are powered…

The scenarios vary wildly, but doomsday predictions leave Britain with 39 gigawatts less power than previous forecasts…The potential shortfall has resurfaced in recent weeks as market headwinds for low carbon projects have drawn sharper focus on the long-term future of Britain’s gas plants…

A cluster of new technologies offer an uncertain salvation. Switching gas-fired plants to green hydrogen appears viable, but costly; CCS allows fossil fuel stations to continue but is unproven at scale; and large battery projects, which are designed to store renewable energy when there is little sun or wind, are facing a backlog to connect to the grid…

An industry source says: “Everything relating to government decarbonisation targets has an asterisk with ‘subject to security of supply’ attached.” The path to relying solely on green power appears as long as the journey to Peterhead.

DB2

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