EWEA warns that spare electricity generating capacity is at a historic low across Europe (This applies to the UK, including Scotland) and the only way to fix the problem is to invest in new power plant before blackouts become endemic rather exceptional.

According to EWEA, over the last eight years, only new gas capacity has exceeded new wind power capacity in the EU.

EWEA is sticking to the target it set in 2003 of 180,000MW by 2020 and 300,000MW by 2030, 40% of which is expected to be offshore wind. It should be borne in mind that the European Parliament has, for many years, been calling for a mandatory 25% target for renewable energy by 2020, though the current firm commitment is 20% (equivalent to 30% of the community’s entire electricity requirements).

AS IF the foregoing isn’t enough to chew over, there is also the not-in-my-back-yard brigade to contend with – individuals, various NGOs and other organisations, poorly conceived national and local-government policy and planning decisions, and so forth. With 6,000MW of projects stuck in planning, the UK is a prime example of where there needs to be a big-time sort-out.

The world is facing an energy and climate crisis, of that there seems little doubt, though there is a body of opinion which claims these linked themes are hype and that there is no solid basis to either.

EWEA warns that spare electricity generating capacity is at a historic low across Europe (This applies to the UK, including Scotland) and the only way to fix the problem is to invest in new power plant before blackouts become endemic rather exceptional.

According to EWEA, over the last eight years, only new gas capacity has exceeded new wind power capacity in the EU.

EWEA is sticking to the target it set in 2003 of 180,000MW by 2020 and 300,000MW by 2030, 40% of which is expected to be offshore wind. It should be borne in mind that the European Parliament has, for many years, been calling for a mandatory 25% target for renewable energy by 2020, though the current firm commitment is 20% (equivalent to 30% of the community’s entire electricity requirements).

AS IF the foregoing isn’t enough to chew over, there is also the not-in-my-back-yard brigade to contend with – individuals, various NGOs and other organisations, poorly conceived national and local-government policy and planning decisions, and so forth. With 6,000MW of projects stuck in planning, the UK is a prime example of where there needs to be a big-time sort-out.

As I scribble this month’s column, West Texas Intermediate is trading a few cents short of $115 a barrel, Brent is only a couple of bucks below and the oil price has become a hot topic. Big Oil is in the headlines for something else, too: the largest oil discovery made in decades and, before that, at least two finds that may turn out to be super-giant fields.