Responding to Chris Huhne's announcement on energy policy today (1), Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader and MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:
"Only a combination of renewable energy, and a nationwide programme of energy efficiency, together with investment in decentralised energy and Combined Heat and Power, will bring our carbon emissions down quick enough to avoid the chance of runaway climate change.
"It's intriguing that Chris Huhne now says he is 'fed up' with opponents of nuclear energy. Maybe he's fed up with grassroots activists across the country in his own party. When people voted for the Liberal Democrats in the election, they certainly weren't voting for 8 new nuclear plants and new coal plants".
We need government to lead, not just encourage
"For Chris Huhne to say that 'the market needs certainty to make this investment happen' is wishful thinking. The only way that we will make the changes to de-carbonise our economy quickly enough is a government-led programme of direct investment to build green infrastructure.
"Councils across the country need to take the lead, as Kirklees has on home insulation as a right for residents, or as Birmingham has with solar installation on council housing. We need massive investment in a nationwide 'smart grid'.
"Just last week, the Swedish utility Vattenfall (2) cancelled plans to expand its Thanet offshore windfarm by 198MW, enough energy to power 132 000 homes. What we need to do is invest in port facilities and grid connections for off-shore wind projects, and build a skills base for engineers working in tidal, wind and solar energy, so we don't lose out on opportunities like this. That kind of swift and direct investment can only come from government."
No nuclear subsidies ... apart from the hidden nuclear subsidies
"In spite of Chris Huhne's rhetoric about no public subsidy for new nuclear power, it seems clear that a subsidy will indeed continue. By saying that the government will not rule out "action ... to take on financial risks or liabilities for which it is appropriately compensated or for which there are corresponding benefits", the door is left wide open for further significant subsidies. Indeed Huhne's plan to introduce a fixed unit price for disposal costs means that a price will be fixed now for a cost which cannot be known for many years, and which is likely to be significantly higher than the fixed price.
Notes
1. Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy said: "I'm fed up with the stand-off between advocates of renewables and of nuclear which means we have neither. We urgently need investment in new and diverse energy sources to power the UK. We'll need renewables, new nuclear, fossil fuels with CCS, and the cables to hook them all up to the Grid as a large slice of our current generating capacity shuts down. The market needs certainty to make this investment happen, and we are determined to clear every obstacle in the way of this programme. So today we are setting out our energy need which will help guide the planning process, so that if sound proposals come forward in sensible places, they will not face unnecessary hold-ups. And I am making clear that new nuclear will be free to contribute as much as possible with the onus on developers to pay for the clean-up".
2. See Business Green/The Guardian, 18 October, "Vattenfall scraps plans to extend world's largest offshore windfarm", http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/18/extension-scrapped-largest-offshore-wind.