Newark Advertiser reader letter: Tangled web needed if we want cheap energy

It seems to be that considerable renewable electricity can be — and is now — generated in Scotland.

To make use of this electricity, it is proposed to lay a cable from Scotland down to England.

Most of this cable will follow the coast and be under the sea but, to distribute that electricity in England, the cable will be laid underground to reach Drax power station.

This is necessary because much of the National Grid has been built based on the old coal-fired power stations which are no longer conveniently located for the use of renewable electricity, which means that considerable reconstruction of the grid will be necessary to employ the new renewable electricty.

Drax no longer burns coal but now burns wood chip pellets imported from USA and that electricity is distributed through the grid.

But the energy company which operates Drax has recently pointed out that, during the second quarter of this year, about 20% of our g r id ’s power needs were met through interconnectors with neighbouring countries at a gross cost of more than £250m per month (equivalent to about £3bn if sustained over a year).

If Labour were to succeed in reaching its target to make the national power grid net zero by 2030, there might be so much renewable generation available that, at times, much of it would be available for export to bring money into the UK. The real problem with ‘cheap’ renewable energy is that it is intermittent in nature.

Sometimes it is there and then, the weather changes, and it is not! It seems to me that, to reduce the cost of renewable electricity, we need to spend huge amounts on various types of cables to make any use of it.

It might eventually be possible to transmit it from Scotland to England or from England to France at the ‘click of a switch’.

Even were this to be achieved, I remember what happened to Germany when their supply of Russian gas was suddenly cut off by mysterious undersea sabotage.

I cannot see how our planned dependence on a ‘spiders web’ of new cables will improve our energy security or reduce our energy costs.

I am reminded of Robbie Burns’ line: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”.

I hope that any deception is inadvertent! — Robert Sheppard, Beckingham