London, July 01: Britain is facing the grim prospects of long hours of power cuts and a 3-day week by 2020 owing to fuel shortage, an report by energy experts warned today. By 2020 about 80 per cent of the gas to fuel Britain's power stations and domestic central heating will be piped "from politically unstable countries thousands of kilometres away. Mechanical failure, sabotage and terrorist attacks would lead to power cuts within days," said the report by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
"We will literally be at the end of the line which will start in Algeria, Iran and Russia, and pass through many gas-needy countries," David Anderson, chairman of ICE's energy board and author of the report said.
"It does not need much imagination to realise how vulnerable we will be. Even if there is merely a shortage rather than an interruption in the supply we will be the first to suffer."
Simon Skilling, head of UK strategy for Powergen, the electricity generator, said he has not seen the report but agreed with its conclusions.
"It is feasible that by 2020 the lights could go out," he said.
Anderson said: "the government simply is not taking on board the generation mix that will be needed beyond 2020 if security of supply and meeting our environmental commitments are both to be achieved. A return to the blackouts that marked the three-day week and the country grinding to a halt are very real possibilities in less than 20 years time."
Bureau Report