Does a hung parliament risk an energy crisis?

As the UK political parties make their way through the morass of policy issues pointing the way to (or potentially blocking) coalitions or electoral deals, the focus has been on the budget deficit and electoral reform. Justifiably so to a degree, but it is concerning that the area of energy policy seems far down the list of priorities. In the worst analysis, will people be filling in their Alternative Vote ballot papers by candlelight because we failed to keep the lights on?

In the area of energy, if not in wider policy, a Conservative-Labour pact would make most sense. The differences between the parties are small and mainly in terms of emphasis and decisiveness, however at a basic level they both want an expansion in renewables, clean coal and nuclear – leading us to the fabled ‘low carbon’ economy. The Liberal Democrats, by contrast, have a sharply differing view of the future of atomic power. Namely that there shouldn’t be a new generation of nuclear reactors at all – a position that juxtaposes with the Tories’ ambitions to build a new nuclear power station as regularly as every 18 months, once all the obstacles are overcome.

Nuclear, we would argue, is a ‘necessary evil’. It is unloved and evokes memories of Chernobyl. To coin a phrase however. the ‘inconvenient truth’ for those against the power of the atom is that we are bereft of alternative low carbon, baseload ‘always on’ power generation that is absolutely vital for our future economic growth prospects. See here for a critique of the nuclear debate. The argument runs that a secure energy mix will combine three basic sources:

• Nuclear for reliable low carbon baseload
• Renewables such as wind power for clean ‘first choice’ power
• Cleaner fossil-fuelled generation to provide ‘back-up’ response

Let there be no doubt, our green credentials will prove hugely expensive – the consumer will pay. Of even more pressing concern is that removing one of these three elements from the future power supply will result in the objectives not being met. Influential industry figures are lining up to criticise Lib Dem energy policy as naive at best. Let’s hope that common sense prevails. It will be difficult enough to secure the £200 billion investment required in the UK’s energy infrastructure – a hangover from the lack of planning in the last decade – without ruling out the nuclear option.