Dear Editor
THE Telegraph reports that Ministers are struggling to combat the spiralling cost of net zero subsidies.
Around £220billion of ‘green levies’ has been spent this century – much on offshore wind – while their output Capacity Factors have been downgraded, as reported by the DT. The relentless cost increases are outweighing further marginal gain in energy production.
At an average of £50 million/GW, the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) cost for the planned 120GW of wind capacity, will exceed £6billion pa – to which the cost of back-up power must be added – and so they will never be free.
What is the alternative? SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) have a life expectancy three times that of wind farms, with a lower LCOE (Levelised cost of Electricity). Unlike wind farms, they don’t need expensive back-up power when wind and solar intensity is low.
SMRs can also avoid much of the £15billion grid interconnection cost associated with wind, along with the transmission losses. They can be designed and built in the UK, creating thousands of jobs, plus revenue and export opportunities, while giving us more independence in technical knowledge and spares.
We may continue to need gas turbine generators until we can be satisfied upon the ability of SMRs to respond rapidly enough to load changes, but we should be using any spare money to replace ageing assets, while making the grid stable and fit for purpose.
The first priority is to stop eye-watering subsidies for intermittent offshore wind and to provide 80GW of gas and nuclear power to carry the consumer demand, when there is negligible sun and wind. The 20GW planned by Mr Miliband will not be enough.
Roger Arthur
West Sussex
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