We're facing some of the biggest challenges in history. The pressure is on for energy companies to provide affordable, sustainable and secure supplies - while continuing to meet the UK's climate change targets.
Within the next decade, around 25% of the UK's power stations will close and the resulting energy gap will have to be filled - and pretty quickly! The UK will need to build at least two new power plants every single year to keep the lights on. Billions of pounds will be needed to make sure future energy supplies are secure - and affordable for customers.
In 2000 the last Government set a target of generating 10% of electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind, wave or solar by 2010. There is also an EU target to generate 15% of all energy from renewables by 2020 against 1990 levels. Also, by 2020, the UK must have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 34% - and a whopping 80% by 2050.
Earlier this year, the energy industry regulator Ofgem published its 'Project Discovery' report, which investigated whether or not future security of supply could be delivered by the existing market arrangements over the coming decade. www.ofgem.gov.uk/MARKETS/WHLMKTS/DISCOVERY/Pages/ProjectDiscovery.aspx
The report highlighted that the UK electricity market required radical reform and that prompt action was needed to reduce risk to energy supplies, help lower costs to consumers and help progress towards climate change targets. It added "there is a need for unprecedented levels of investment to be sustained over many years in difficult financial conditions and against a background of increased risk and uncertainty."
These are challenging times for the whole of the energy industry but for us to be successful in reaching these targets, customers must play their part too - in cutting down their energy use and also looking to generate their own electricity through microgeneration.
