Government plans to overhaul energy system with 10 new nuclear plants
Peta Hodge
9th November 2009
Energy and Climate Secretary Ed Miliband set out his plans for the overhaul of the UK’s energy system today, publishing proposals to remove planning delays facing large energy projects, as well as naming 10 potential sites for new nuclear power stations and outlining a framework for the development of clean coal.
The plans were presented in the form six draft National Policy Statements (NPSs) which the Secretary of State set before Parliament today – one overarching one, and one each for fossil fuels, nuclear, renewables, transmission networks and oil and gas pipelines. The Government’s final framework for the development of clean coal was published alongside.
The NPSs are intended to help the new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) make what the Government describes as “faster and fairer” decisions.
Decisions on proposals for onshore wind farms bigger than 50 megawatts (MW) (or 100 MW for offshore wind) will be made within one year (rather than the current two or more years) and up to £300 million a year will be saved in unnecessary expenses incurred by UK industry, the Government claims.
In an interview with Greenwise last week, a spokeperson for the IPC made it clear than no planning application would be fast-tracked, but that the new system put the onus on promoters to carry out extensive consultation before submitting an application.
The Government wants to move away from the current planning system which it sees as hampering the development of the UK’s energy future system and its abiity to deliver a low carbon, secure energy mix.
It cited the examples of the Fullabrook 66 MW wind farm, which took more than three years to secure planning permission and Sizewell B, which took six years to secure its planning consent – racking up a £30 million bill in the process.
Announcing his proposals, Miliband said: “The threat of climate change means we need to make a transition from a system that relies heavily on high carbon fossil fuels, to a radically different system that includes nuclear, renewable and clean coal power [...]
“The current planning system is a barrier to this shift. It serves neither the interests of energy security, the interests of the low carbon transition, nor the interests of people living in areas where infrastructure may be built, for the planning process to take years to come to a decision.
“That is why we are undertaking fundamental reform of the planning system, which will result in a more efficient, transparent and accessible process.”
Housing and Planning Minister, John Healey, who led the Planning Bill through Parliament, added: “Instead of major projects going through, three, four, five separate applications, sometimes sequentially, there is now one single consent system, with one full expert and public examination. This includes new steps that require open public consultation before applications can even be submitted.”
The draft nuclear NPS sets out why new nuclear power is needed, and that the Government is satisfied that effective arrangements will exist to manage and dispose of the waste that will be produced by new nuclear power stations.
But the policy is vehemently opposed by environmental campaigners. Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins said: "Nuclear power leaves a deadly legacy of radioactive waste that remains highly dangerous for tens of thousands of years and costs tens of billions of pounds to manage.
“And building new plants would divert precious resources from developing safe renewable power, while doing little to bring about the urgent emissions reductions that are desperately needed within the next decade."
Ben Ayliffe, head of Greenpeace's nuclear campaign, was even more critical, adding: "Our lawyers will be examining this announcement very closely. You can't justify building more nuclear power stations when there is no solution to radioactive waste and when international regulators are saying there are huge uncertainties surrounding the basic safety of new reactor designs."
The 10 sites identified by the Government as suitable for new nuclear deployment by 2025 are Bradwell, Braystones, Hartlepool, Heysham, Hinkley Point, Kirksanton, Oldbury, Sellafield, Sizewell and Wylfa.
An eleventh potential site, nominated by the industry – Dungeness – was rejected because the Government considered the environmental impacts at this site could not be mitigated and also expressed concern about the possibility of coastal erosion and associated flood risk.
Alongside the NPSs, a framework for the development of clean coal was published today confirming that, with immediate effect, to gain development consent, all new coal plant will have to show that they will demonstrate the full CCS chain (capture, transport and storage) from the outset on at least 300 MW net of their total output.
The Government also confirmed that it has received two bids – from E.ON and Scottish Power – to proceed to the next stage of the current carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration competition and that the European Commission has provisionally selected Powerfuels to receive €180m to develop a pre-combustion CCS power station at Hatfield.
A public consultation on the NPSs starts today and will run until February 22 2010.