Sir, Lord Turner of Ecchinswell wants a huge increase in wind and nuclear power in order to “decarbonise” Britain’s power grid (“Lord Turner calls for wind and nuclear power in race to cut emissions”, Nov 10). He also wants a ban on new coal-fired power stations unless their carbon dioxide emissions can be captured and stored safely.

However, wind farms produce power intermittently and the chief executive of Eon said recently that any big expansion in wind power would require back-up coal and gas power stations to provide “spinning reserve” in order to ensure reliable supplies to the grid. He suggested that the capacity of the back-up stations could need to be up to 90 per cent of the total capacity of the wind farms. So large quantities of coal and gas inevitably will have to be burnt to provide spinning reserve that can respond quickly to variations in wind speed. Another difficulty is that carbon capture and storage is an unproved technology and it may be 20 years or more before it can be put into practice.

Power cuts in the coming years are a possibility because of delays in the construction of new nuclear stations, and the Government may have to tell the EU that we will not be in a position to close down old coal-fired power stations in 2015 because sufficient alternative power sources will not be on stream by that date.

James Allan

Fellow, Institute of Energy

Hartlepool

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