UK Needs Fossil Fuels for Decades to Prevent Blackouts Warns National Gas CEO

Recently constructed show homes on a new housing estate in Knutsford, United Kingdom, on Feb. 3, 2022. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Britain will need fossil fuels for decades to prevent blackouts, the man in charge of the UK’s gas network has warned.

This is despite the government’s net zero agenda that seeks to minimise the reliance on gas and decarbonise all sectors of the UK economy by 2050.

The CEO of National Gas, Jon Butterworth, said that the UK will need gas as far out as 2040, if it was to avoid blackouts.

Renewable power production methods are weather-dependent, which increases the risk of blackouts in absence of fossil fuel energy sources.

“In 2022, the wind didn’t blow enough or at all for 262 days. And in those 262 days, we would have had rolling blackouts, or a full blackout across the UK if it wasn’t for gas,” said Mr. Butterworth.

The government’s ambition is for up to a quarter of all UK electricity to come from nuclear power by 2050. Whitehall sees the revival of nuclear power as a means to deliver cleaner, cheaper energy and greater energy security.

Mr. Butterworth, however, said that Britain will be moving more gas, “but we’ll be moving gas to power stations to make electricity rather than to homes.”

Phaseout

Government policies brought forward in the Net Zero Strategy include phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035, new buildings with fossil fuel boilers by 2025, and oil and gas boilers in existing buildings by 2035.

Replacing traditional boilers, that use natural gas, propane, or heating oil, with heat pumps has been hailed by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) as a highly efficient and low-carbon alternative.

To boost the interest in heat pumps, the government has increased grant funding for households to switch from gas boilers.

On Monday, the DESNZ announced that under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), homes can get £7,500 to install a heat pump.

It also invested £10 million to support innovation in the heat pump sector to cut installation costs. The government extended the BUS to 2028, so that people have more time to apply and complete the switch.

A heat pump works by extracting heat from the outside air and transferring it inside. It uses electricity to do that.

The National Gas CEO said that heat pumps will merely use the power produced by gas-fired power stations.

“That is actually far less efficient than burning gas in your house. Domestic gas boilers are about 90 percent efficient but the best power station is about 50 percent efficient,” Mr. Butterworth said.

The Conservative government, as well as Labour opposition, are committed to achieving the net zero target by 2050.

While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has recently backtracked on some of the green commitments, Labour has vowed to stick to original deadlines for the ban on new petrol and diesel cars.

But on the phaseout of fossil fuel boilers, Labour said it will not challenge Mr. Sunak’s extension of deadlines.

Energy security concerns, caused by the war in Ukraine, have pushed Britain, among other countries, to increasingly turn to renewables. Renewable energy could help to cushion electricity price rises and reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Research has revealed that in the first quarter of 2023, 32.4 percent of the UK’s electricity was generated by on and offshore wind farms. Gas-fired powered stations delivered 31.7 percent.

There are around 11,500 wind turbines in the UK, with the start-up of more than 350 new offshore wind turbines in British waters.

“We have, as a country, invested in intermittent renewable energy, meaning wind. So when the wind doesn’t blow, the gas transmission system has to replace it, so I don’t see it,” said Mr. Butterworth.

He added that even if gas won’t be used so often, on the days it is used, “there will be exactly the same amount of gas going through the pipes.”