Mark Kelly, CEO Baxi Group UK and Ireland, responds to the news that the Kingsnorth power project has been put on hold

Date:

19/10/2009

According to Ofgem, our energy bills could soar by as much as 60 percent in order to find the money to restore our old power plants and secure future supplies.  E.ON's decision to put its Kingsnorth power project on hold means further delays can be expected before new generation technology is deployed. 

Not long ago, the controversial Kingsnorth carbon capture and storage development was a 'must have', to help Britain in the race towards clean coal technology.  Now, E.ON says they are shelving the project because of the current economic climate, environmental protests and the Government's cautious approach to funding such projects.

Ofgem has warned that there may be a serious risk to security of energy supply - they can't guarantee that the lights will stay on - and consumers will be vulnerable to price increases as the UK becomes even more dependent on gas imports.

Maybe we should be looking at a radical new ways to provide electricity for homes.  Electricity which has been generated at a central power station and transported to the home can be as little as 35 per cent efficient.  However, electricity generated close to where it is used is over 95 per cent efficient.

It will take time for consumers to adopt some of the different microgeneration applications, such as PV and wind turbines, in big enough numbers to make an impact on carbon emissions.  However, micro-CHP provides a great opportunity for householders to use technology they are familiar with (gas boilers) and generate a large proportion of the electricity they need to run their homes.  If all SE boilers are converted to micro-CHP, carbon emissions will reduce by 5.39Mtc pa, which equates to 6.7% of 2006 household emissions. 

And according to HHIC, if all SE boilers were to be converted to HE boilers, carbon emissions would reduce by 2.5MtC pa.  Plumbers' merchant Mick Williams has started a petition to introduce a Boiler Scrappage Scheme, similar to the Car Scrappage scheme introduced earlier this year, which would encourage householders to replace their old, inefficient boilers.  To sign the petition, please visit http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/boilerscrappage/ or visit www.reheatbritain.org.uk to find out more about the scheme and who is supporting it.