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< New turbine designs 'will slash offshore wind costs' | Oil spill costs energy company £20,000 >
Wind power could undermine carbon reduction agenda, says report
The government could put its broad 2050 commitments on reducing carbon emissions in jeopardy, if it encourages too much investment in wind power in the early stages.
That was the conclusion of engineering and energy consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff, in the outcome of a two-year study into all aspects of the government's low-carbon agenda.
The group said its study had suggested that meeting the government's targets was practicable - they were achieved in five out of 12 scenarios studied. But the report said, "to achieve this will require urgent and large-scale effort across every sector of the economy and a delay in any one sector will jeopardise meeting the commitment."
Parsons Brinckerhoff director David Rutherford said, "Far from having the luxury of considering 'choices' our findings suggest that we have 'few choices' - all measures must be fully applied if we are to meet the 2050 targets."
Key findings include:
* strong government leadership is essential - a 'piecemeal' approach will lead to failure
* widespread adoption of wind power to meet the 2020 EU Renewables Directive will undermine UK's ability to meet critical 2050 targets
* a large-scale and rapid switch to electric vehicles and development of a nationwide vehicle charging infrastructure is essential
* insulation levels for existing domestic and commercial buildings needs to radically improve
* UK industry requires unprecedented investment in carbon efficiency measures - and carbon capture technology for energy intensive processes
* the UK faces a critical need to have new electricity generating plant available from 2020 onwards.
The report said the rapid switch to electric vehicles would be critical - 80 per cent of road fuel consumption must be displaced by electric cars and vans by 2050. "This will require an extensive new nationwide vehicle -charging infrastructure that will use half of all electricity produced by 2050."
Since UK electricity generating capacity is forecast to fall to half its current value by 2023, the report said that new plant would have to be built at a rate that is at least equal to the highest historical rate achieved by the UK; this at a time when the capacity of the indigenous UK power plant industry is greatly reduced.
It added that decisions taken now could have adverse impacts on the UK's ability to meet 2050 carbon targets. "For example the early and widespread adoption of wind power would severely undermine the viability of other low-carbon technologies."
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