Frank Gordon
Director of Policy at the Renewable Energy Association.
We are constantly dealing with the fundamental weakness in Britain’s energy system: events thousands of miles away can determine how much British households pay to keep the lights on.
Yet, the political response from some quarters is to argue that Britain should return to North Sea oil and gas. This would risk locking the UK into the same volatile system that caused the crisis in the first place.
Trapped by global gas prices
The UK is already a net importer of gas, and North Sea production is in long-term decline. More domestic extraction would not insulate households from international price shocks because gas is traded on global markets. The price consumers pay is driven by the international wholesale price, not by whether the gas comes from the North Sea or elsewhere.
But Britain is upgrading ageing networks, replacing power stations
reaching the end of their lives and expanding the system to meet growing demand
The problem is made worse by how Britain’s electricity market operates. Gas sets the wholesale electricity price for much of the day, meaning a spike in gas prices can increase the cost of electricity even when more than half of our power is being generated from renewable sources.
This is why renewables are not simply a climate policy; they are the route out of the energy insecurity created by fossil fuels.
Renewables are energy security
The wind, sun, marine, bioenergy and geothermal resources available in the UK are domestic and endlessly replenished. They have no fuel cost at the point of generation and cannot be disrupted by conflict in the Strait of Hormuz or a decision by an overseas gas supplier.
Critics point to high electricity bills and blame renewables. But Britain is upgrading ageing networks, replacing power stations reaching the end of their lives and expanding the system to meet growing demand. Much of this investment would be necessary regardless of the technology chosen. Meanwhile, new renewable generation is increasingly cheaper than new fossil fuel capacity and will reduce the underlying cost of energy.
If Britain wants to stop foreign wars and global gas markets determining the cost of energy at home, it must accelerate the transition to home-grown clean power and forget the insecure fossil fuel past.
