I'm pretty sure that the UK energy policy is based on faith, hope and charity and very little real action. However, in some senses you can argue that a government with a total lack of engineering knowledge should just keep their nose out. Certainly Thatcher's dreams of a nuclear future were confounded by the reality of commissioning and decommissioning costs and it was largely good luck that natural gas came along at the right time. The gas plants though were not only better than coal and nuclear - simpler, more efficient, cheaper - they were pulled from industry rather than pushed by government. That's an important thing to note as it sort of vindicates the "free-market knows best" idea which has been knocked quite a bit. However the real problem with the free market is that it's too free for the criminals and they then gradually take control and ensure that it becomes less free for everyone else. That's where the regulation is needed. If the regulators are criminals too then there's no hope.
I'm convinced that the UK just doesn't have the money for the nuclear expansion they propose - they are massively in debt. Whatever the government says now they'll have to face that reality sooner or later. Sooner I hope.
So what is the real energy direction going to be? Well I'm increasingly finding that it's a lot easier recycling someone else's words when they agree with you. I thought I was such a contrarian that couldn't happen but apparently I'm not so alone. So I dug this out of the comments section of the oil drum. Again I assume it's public domain. I could have reworded it but that would have been pointless and dishonest. It's by the OMGbyWTF anonymous bot:
"The recession is keeping the lights on at the moment. There are a couple of unusual things happening in the UK electricity market at the moment.
The low price of natural gas and large number of CCGT's seem to to be undercutting the price of coal generated electricity, also there are net electricity exports to France as they seem to have a lot of nukes out of service for various reasons.
The UK has wasted its North Sea reserves making cheap electricity with no long term investment in alternatives or storage. LNG import capacity has been built fairly quickly and it I don't see the 'gas glut' lasting for very long. I think the UK needs to get its act sorted on several key areas.
Build more natural gas storage facilities.
Improve thermal efficiency in buildings: insulation and move towards heat pumps starting with those on electric and oil fired heating. External insulation and solar water heating should also be considered.
Adopt the Danish model of multifuel CHP systems burning coal, rubbish, biomass and gas whilst providing district heating. Distributed generation running of gassified waste / coal / natural gas / biogas should provide good security and flexibility. Dump the CO2 and waste heat into greenhouses.
Accelerate construction of replacement nuclear reactors and grid upgrades to add more interconnectors with Europe and accomodate more wind power.
Expand and electrify existing railway services.
Look at potential for coal bed methane / gasification of the coal reserves under the North Sea, from a CO2 perspective this may not seem a good idea by this time there should be plenty of empty oil / gas fields to pump the CO2 into.
Build the Severn Barrage, and uprate and expand if possible existing pumped storage sites.
Roll out electric vehicles as they become available."
The only things I don't agree about are a) the nuclear expansion - on mainly cost grounds, and b) worrying about warming from CO2, which in my view is a very overblown hypothesis, though I accept it's politically correct. Using the CO2 for greenhouses or scavenging is however eminently sensible. However all this is cost but no sign of where the money might come from. Stopping the pointless wars would help. Perhaps a Tobin tax? Or just getting entrepreneurs to fund it rather than government. I'm not too happy about that because energy companies are natural monopolies - they really need strict overseers.
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