What about when the gas doesn’t flow?

HERE we go again. Apparently, the wind turbines don’t work when the wind doesn’t blow. Well, I never would have guessed it.

Do these people never ask what happens to gas power stations when the gas doesn’t flow? Well, think about it. North Sea gas production is falling fast and in ten years time gas imports will be pretty much our only option. And even now, if there is a shortage of gas in Europe, our gas prices go up to meet international market rates.

We saw that last year when gas from Russia was no longer piped to Europe. The outcome - unaffordable gas for us, subsidised by a government loan that we’ll be paying off in taxes for decades. Oh yes, and massive profits for the fossil fuel companies.

Just imagine if we hadn’t had renewable energy in 2023 – we would have been looking for double the amount of gas for electricity production and that couldn’t have been delivered from the North Sea or via pipe from Norway. It would have been a disaster.

So, let’s get sensible and demand more wind turbines to be built over land in England. And let’s make sure our offshore wind auctions are properly planned for.

With energy storage and more renewables, we can further reduce our reliance on gas. With energy pricing policies updated to reflect the lower cost of renewables, we can encourage more superefficient heat pumps that will mean even less gas.

Finally, every new home should be built to be energy efficient, with solar panels, heat pumps and good quality insulation because energy we don’t use is the best sort of energy of all. LAURA MCQUILLAN