It seems plainly obvious that we need a good combination of renewable energies as well as more conventional methods such as nuclear. More windfarms are a step in the right direction but I agree that tidal and solar power should also be something we need to take advantage of.

Mark, Bradford, UK

Remember that wind turbine generators are nasty little animals to deal with if you are a grid electricity stability analyst. They have a very "dirty" output waveform; need expensive "reactive power" stabilisers on the network to handle faults; the more you have the higher the risk of black-out!

Acorn, Southampton, UK

What happens when the wind slows or stops?

Are you willing to be in the dark for 20 minutes while the powerstation generators start up and get to operating temperatures?

Or do you expect the them to keep running to pick up the load, immediately, which means that there isn't much fuel being saved

Tony, Vegas, US

If we are going to write about watts and gigawatts and then truncate them, please use the correct SI unit. The prefix is G for giga and the unit is W for watt. Together this gives GW as the correct truncation.

I say this now as I feel we are going to hear a lot about GW's over the next few years.

David, Dubai, UAE

The UK needs to get on with its wind farms, we are lagging behind our potential. This country gives too much voice to neigh-sayers with opinions founded on hear-say and not fact. Yes, wind is unpredicatable, but smart guys at National Grid will determine the solution to balancing demand and supply.

Mike, London, UK

Of course renewables is the way to go. But you are i know it will never get huge because the gov. will not be makeing enough tax from it.........

John, London, uk

lots of country seems to think nuclear power is the way forward but it only a sort term thing there only so much Uranium in the world and are more countrys use it goes up in price.
if we used all the renewable sources eg .solar, wind and tide power would this give us electricity.

chris, Doncaster, uk

Hydrogen is the way to go. Some very clever people are working on the idea of using the wind turbines to produce hydrogen at sea, from the sea, then pipe it ashore as gas, then liquify it into storage, then it is burnt on demand to produce electricity. Solves the no wind problem. Good eh!

Phil, Ashburton, New Zealand

Wind is not as unreliable as is claimed but, yes, there will be variability issues to manage. They are much easier to manage than the issues raised by nuclear. Wind is only one of the family of renewables. We need to use all renewables across the whole of Europe linked together by a HVDC super-grid.

Adam1, London, UK

What is wrong with these Labour politicians. The word Right Decision actually means wrong. Wind turbines are only at best 25% efficient yet undersea turbines placed in Ocean currents are 100% efficient and work 24/7. But can we get these people to listen. Rather blight the landscape.

Jas, Alders, Uk

Now here's a thing, and topical too.

If diesel is around 30% more efficient and much less CO2 polluting, why does the government put additional tax on a litre to make it more expensive than petrol?

When the consevatives were in power the greener diesel was taxed less than petrol. not so now!

wullie, luss, scotland

People should be encouraged by town planning committees to fit photovoltaic solar cells on their roof tiles.
This alone could save some families about 25percent of their
power consumption during day light hours.
In the future more efficient solar cells and batteries must be developed.

Joel Fridjohn, Hod-Hasharon, Israel

Think of those warm summer days where an anticyclone sits over the British Isles and air conditioning is on at full load, precisely because there is not a breath of wind. However many of these wind farms are built, fossil fuel fired power stations will still be needed to provide the energy.

Paul, Coventry,

Why should wind turbines be intrusive? Its a question of getting used to them. Think positive and learn to love them. They are saving our planet. Sails on ships could have been considered as intrusive, once upon a time, only to be eventually romanticised by artists.

keith bentham, Wigan, UK

We are governed by fools and charletons. The radar problem will not go away, but the wind to drive these monstrosities surely will. We need nuclear energy and any more hand wringing and prevarication will play into the hands of the oil barons of this world, none of whom are very fond of the West.

robin biles, gainsborough, lincs

I live on the coast by a small river a new hydro-electric scheme is being built even though, with no rain for 6 weeks up here, the river is virtually dry - yet a million times more water comes in and out of the sea loch twice every day whether it rains or not, whether the wind blows or not ....

David Kirkham, highland, Scotland

Looking at the Lyme Bay proposals I am wondering how well thought through this really is. During storms the bay is used as a shelter by the majority of shipping in the Channel, appearing that you could almost walk from one side to the other across the assembled vessels. Where would this shipping go?

Jamie, Teignmouth, UK

There is a real urgency to reduce carbon intensive generation aswell as the fact that we have several conventional plants due to close over the coming decade. It makes sense to act now and wind is a viable technology. Wave is also important, but it is comparitivley a very fledgling technology.

Sam, Coventry,

What I just don't understand is why there isn't more push for solar installations on roofs. Planning rules may be one factor but these are overwhelming guided by visual impact - how many planning decisions are dictated by the view of the roof? What else are roofs used for? Inert inactive space

John, Knutsford, UK

I would guess it's mainly just a matter of accessibility. We can all do small scale development of our wind & solar ideas in our homes etc. but to do the same with wave power would require having access to an area of suitable shoreline which very few of us have including most commercial entities .

Mickey Finn, London, UK

Why, other than for short-term ease, is this country investing so heavily in wind-power? It is so unreliable and environmentally intrusive. The constant reliability and much greater strength of tidal power must surely make this a much better way of solving the problem.

Richard Stephens, Bromsgrove, UK