Energy White Paper

23-May-07

A new energy white paper was published on 23 May 2007.  This white paper has significant implications for planning and the implementation of the planning white paper published on the 21 May.  Its proposals for the development of energy policy provide a window into the way that new national infrastructure policy statements and the proposed independent planning commission might work.

The paper sets out the government's current thinking on security and sustainability of energy supply.

Consultation on the development of a new generation of nuclear power plants has also commenced, which closes on 18 October 2007.

What Does the White Paper Say...

The key planning content of the white paper is set out in chapter 8.  This articulates (in the paper's own words):

  • the cost, delay and uncertainty created by the energy planning system and the impact on our energy policy goals;
  • the causes of this cost, delay and uncertainty;
  • the progress we have made in implementing the package of planning measures set out in The Energy Challenge; and
  • how the further and wide ranging planning reforms proposed in the planning White Paper 2007, Planning for a Sustainable Future 278, will impact on the energy planning system.

It is important that planners as individuals and as a profession consider the proposals in the paper and contribute to the debate.

New Nuclear Consultation

This consultation paper characterises the energy security and sustainability dilemma faced by the UK in the following terms.

  • Nuclear power has been part of the UK’s energy mix for the past five decades. Currently it provides about 18% of the electricity we use in our homes and workplaces. In the UK, about one third of our emissions of carbon dioxide come from electricity generation. The vast majority of those emissions come from coal and gas power plants.
  • Energy companies will need to invest in around 30-35GW of new electricity generating capacity – as coal and nuclear plants retire – over the next two decades, with around two-thirds needed by 2020. This is equivalent to about one-third of our existing capacity.
  • ...
  • Of the capacity that is likely to close over the two decades, two thirds is from carbon intensive fossil fuel generation and about 10GW is nuclear and therefore low carbon. So companies’ decisions on the type of power stationsthey invest in to replace this capacity will have significant implications for the level of carbon emissions. As an illustration, if our existing nuclear power stations were all replaced with fossil fuel fired power stations, our emissions would be between eight and sixteen MtC (million tonnes of carbon) a year higher as a result (depending on the mix of gas and coal-fired power stations). This would be equivalent to about 30-60% of the total carbon savings we
    project to achieve under our central scenario from all the measures we are bringing forward in the Energy White Paper. Our gas demand would also be higher, at a time when we are becoming more dependent on imported sources of fossil fuels.

The 18 detailed consultation questions are strongly grounded in planning and environmental impact assessment issues.

  • Is nuclear power the answer?
  • What implications will a new nuclear programme have for planning policy, decision making and community involvement?

 

  • Click here to download the nuclear consultation
  • Click here to access the DTIs consultation microsite
  • Click here to send your views to the RTPI by 18 September 2007

 

 

 

 
Author:
Rynd Smith
Publisher:
The Royal Town Planning Institute
Date:
23-May-07
Categories:
Practice, Policy 
Sections:
What Planning Does

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