Blackouts are a-coming

I have been warning of upcoming power-shortages in the UK for some years now; in fact suppliers of large generator should be sending me Xmas cards. I have even blogged about this subject on quite a few occasions. Today I read that

"Britain could face regular blackouts within seven years if the Government does not intervene in the energy market to ensure that more power stations are built, the head of National Grid says today.

In an interview with The Times, Steve Holliday, chief executive of the company that operates the power and gas transmission network, said that Britain was facing an acute shortage of generating capacity because a string of ageing nuclear and coal-fired plants were due to be retired from service.

The warning came after Ofgem, the energy industry regulator, said on Friday that it was to consider fresh incentives to encourage the development of renewable energy schemes in Britain.

Mr Holliday said that National Grid’s own analysis indicated that, under a business-as-usual scenario, Britain would fail to attract enough investment in new plants and would lack sufficient generating capacity to meet peak demand around 2015. "

I confidently predict blackouts well before 2015, my best guess would be the winter of 2010/11.