By Ben Caldecott & Gavin Dick of the Conservative Environment Network.
Energy security is national security. The provision
of reliable, sustainable and affordable energy is of critical importance. The benign energy
security situation that has prevailed in Britain – as a result of relatively
plentiful North Sea oil and gas supplies, as well as sufficient excess
generating capacity – meant that energy security hasn’t been a major concern.
Times have changed. The benign energy security situation inherited by the
Labour Government in 1997 has steadily become the opposite. We now face a
significant energy security challenge.
The situation is getting worse all the
time. The retirement of our aging nuclear power stations and the closure of
many coal-powered ones due to the EU Large Combustion Plant Directive mean that
we face a rapidly growing energy gap. By 2020 between one-third and one-half of
our existing electricity generation capacity will need to be replaced.
We now have a situation where Britain is a
net energy importer and as North Sea oil and gas decline further, we’re being
exposed to high and volatile energy prices. This is a symptom of energy
insecurity - whilst our first dash for gas was founded
on secure North Sea reserves, the second is reliant on insecure foreign ones.
Energy price spikes highlight the problems of Britain’s growing dependence on
these foreign energy supplies, as well as our problematic interaction with
state dominated energy markets in Europe and most of the rest of the
world.
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