Liz Truss has pledged to ramp up nuclear and renewable energy generation

aim of tackling the current energy crisis and ensuring the UK is a net energy
exporter by 2040. Speaking in the House of Commons today, Truss said that
“energy policy has not focused enough on securing supply”, adding
that there is “no better example of this than nuclear”. As such, she
said the government will “end the short-term approach to energy security
and supply” and “make sure we are never in this situation
again”. New government body Great British Nuclear – announced in the
Energy Security Strategy – will launch later this month, and Truss said that
small modular reactors are also an “important part of the energy
mix”. Great British Nuclear will bring forward new nuclear projects at a
rate of about one a year this decade. This will support the Energy Security
Strategy’s plans which envisage a significant acceleration of nuclear, with an
ambition of up to 24GW by 2050 to come from this source of power. In total,
this would represent up to around 25% of the country’s projected electricity
demand. In addition, a new Energy Supply Taskforce has begun negotiations with
domestic and international suppliers to agree long-term contracts that reduce
the price they charge for energy and increase the security of supply. It will
produce a plan in the next two months. It comes after the Climate Change
Committee and National Infrastructure Commission wrote to Truss, outlining
their views on energy security, low carbon energy, fossil fuels and the role of
infrastructure in delivering net zero. Key among the recommendations is the
need to make full use of new auctions for onshore wind and solar. The letter
emphasises that “renewables are the cheapest form of electricity
generation” and “onshore wind and solar have the potential to be
deployed fastest and thus reduce our reliance on natural gas sooner”. A
new report also recently found that the UK’s new government must double or even
triple the rate of offshore wind turbine installations to meet the Energy
Security Strategy’s target of a four-fold increase in offshore renewable energy
by 2030. The UK already has the world’s second largest installed offshore wind
capacity, at around 12GW. The strategy aims to increase it to 50GW by 2030, of
which at least a tenth is to take the form of floating wind farms.



 



New Civil Engineer
8th Sept 2022



https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/truss-backs-nuclear-and-renewables-in-bid-to-solve-energy-crisis-08-09-2022/