Report was not flawed

I THINK Doug Shield has been taken in by fake news (Letters, January 26).

He seems to have read somewhere that a report by the Royal Society shows the Climate Change Committee’s plan for Net Zero was based on a flawed analysis. Not so!

It appears that his source didn’t bother to read the report because it doesn’t contradict the Climate Change Committee. The two reports are complementary as they are answering different questions.

The Royal Society report assumes an alternative route to Net Zero based on solar panels and wind turbines backed by green hydrogen for energy storage. It concludes that we have the potential to generate more than enough clean energy to meet our growing electricity needs from just these two sources and to produce the necessary hydrogen to cover low wind periods.

While the Royal Society’s report is interesting, I think that the Climate Change Committee’s approach, using a much wider range of solutions, is more practical.

I’m glad to see some recent progress in line with the CCC’s pathway.

For example, the electricity cable that now connects the UK to Denmark allows us to harness clean energy resources over a wider area. I have been watching how it’s being used and we’re already importing clean energy from Denmark and Norway. This reduces our requirement for expensive gas generation.

It’s such a shame that last year’s auction for offshore wind was bodged.

Spreading wind turbines to new areas will generate electricity across more weather regimes taking us further towards a clean energy future.

I’m pleased that Mr Shield’s letter pointed me to the Royal Society’s report because I now realise we have enough sun and wind to give us more options to reduce our reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets.

Robin Campbell