Rebuilding power sector 'vital' to future security - 25/05/2012
The ability of many people to get cheap energy deals in the future may depend on the country being able to replace its ageing power generation sources with cleaner, more modern technology.
This is according to energy minister Charles Hendry, who told an audience in Aberdeen a large amount of investment is needed to achieve this.
He explained a third of the country's coal plants are set to close in the next five years, while almost all existing nuclear facilities will be decommissioned by 2023.
"So our priority is to rebuild our power sector; to guarantee our energy security; to do it in a way that is genuinely low-carbon and to do it at the lowest possible cost to consumers," Mr Hendry said.
However, to do this, the UK needs to invest twice as much into energy every year of this decade as it did in the last decade, he continued, or around £200 billion over the next ten years.
This week, reforms to the electricity market were announced by the government that will seek to encourage some of this financing, with the coalition aiming to attract £110 billion as a result of the proposals.
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