Energy 3: Power from Thornbury

By hosting Oldbury Power Station for the last 40 years, Thornbury made an excellent contribution to sharing the burden for all the energy that it consumed. Now that Oldbury has ceased generation, what contribution can and should Thornbury make to carrying the burden of its future energy needs?

The Sunday Times recently reported the details of a now not to be published KPMG report on electricity generation - 'Rethinking the Unaffordable'.

The precise mix is subject to a hot debate. Whatever the outcome, the certainties are:

• The UK has made a firm undertaking to meet CO₂ emissions reduction targets of 34 percent by 2020 (against a 1990 baseline), ensuring security of supply and aiming to eliminate fuel poverty.
• Substantial contributions will be required from each of gas, renewables and nuclear.

Within a few miles of Thornbury it is possible to host wind turbines, a Severn Barrage, redevelopment of nuclear at Oldbury and possibly even shale gas production. So which of these are viable, would bring benefits to the area and how much of a burden would we and the next generations have to shoulder?

I will consider each of these in turn but first let's ask who suffers if global emissions of CO₂ are not curbed.