Better energy cable capacity for the Isle of Wight will be high on the agenda when the Isle of Wight Council meets the government’s energy chief, who has agreed to visit the Isle of Wight.
Councillors fear the Island is being hampered in its efforts to grow its renewable energy sources as two-thirds of the cable capacity to the mainland is taken up by Kingston Power Station.
Following the Islands Forum meeting earlier this month, council leader Councillor Lora Peacey-Wilcox said she was pleased the chief executive of Ofgem — the government’s office of gas and electricity markets — Jonathan Brearley, has agreed to meet with the authority.
Speaking at the full council meeting last week, Cllr Peacey-Wilcox said she had told Mr Brearley the Isle of Wight was having to halt growth of renewable energy production due to energy cable capacity issues. She said:
“It has been an ongoing issue for 40 years I think, so to tackle this man … I was chuffed that someone was going to take notice.”
The announcement of the meeting has led to renewed hopes the Island could become fully self-sufficient from renewable energy sources.
At the council’s corporate scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Michael Lilley said the Island could clearly produce renewable energy but the problem was Kingston Power Station which was taking up two-thirds of the Island’s connectivity and only operated a few hours a year. He said the Island could become self-sufficient in renewable energy, including solar, tidal and wind power.
Cabinet member for climate change and environment, Councillor Jonathan Bacon, agreed the council has a vision for the Island of being a centre of excellence for renewable energy and hoped it would be brought to fruition through the council’s mission zero goal and sustaining the Biosphere. He hoped expertise would be developed alongside the energy sources.
Cllr Bacon claimed the power station slowed down development of other sources of renewable energy. He said:
“When people find out the situation with the power station, they are shocked”.
Cllr Bacon said dealing with it was a priority as it could unlock so much potential to export renewable energy from the Island.
The council has a vision..thats all it is, a vision! this renewables nonsense has plunged Germany into an energy crisis but our horribly enlightened councillors hold a ‘vision’… please leave the dogma for home and behave like a normal council, green energy does not work, it needs fossil fuel backup which defeats the purpose, but luckily for us our super boffin brained recently elected councillors can save the planet..but cannot get the floating bridge to work??..shameful green dreamers deceiving people up to the point of pensioners freezing, how very progressive.
I mean, if you just want to keep burning away the planet, be my guest grandad.
Multiple sources suggest Germany’s energy crisis is caused by the Ukraine war and their reliance on Russian gas. Where did you get idea renewable energy has caused this?
The Ukraine war, are you serious? its the german green agenda, they openly admit it…(multiple bbc sources lol)..they are looking at turning on the nuclear power stations again, because when they decided to go green it just meant switching off untrendy power stations and buying gas from Russia, the Ukraine war is a patsy, the green agenda is failing fast as winter approaches, so its russias fault??, the narrative is not going to wash, just like the tales of Nato ‘peace’..
Stop the war not support one side, how mental are the square eyed sheep? Ukraine and Russia had a peace deal worked out then our Boris Johnson flew in and told Titski to reject the peace deal in favor of war..go look it up..its all about nato and the EU..
“Cllr Bacon said dealing with it was a priority as it could unlock so much potential to export renewable energy from the Island’.
Then in a further comment from Michael Lilley it was said the Island could clearly produce renewable energy, going on to say the Island could become self-sufficient in renewable energy, including solar, tidal and wind power.
So what is it to be? Producing renewables to sell to the mainland or renewables to make the island self sufficient?
I wouldn’t put too great odds on how it will turn out…..
As for Bacon’s mission zero goal and sustaining the Biosphere comments, they beggar belief with the build, build, build policy on green spaces.
May I suggest that the council also stop “The Wight Against Windfarms” nimbys in Wellow are told to shup up too, and change there self entitled title to “The Wellow Against Windfarms” or “The Wellow Against Turbines” would be more apt. I think a lot of us here would like them if it helps with our energy needs. I spoke to a professional electrical engineer and he said that most people would like them, it is only the rich people and those with holiday homes who don’t want them as “it would spoil the view”, Rubbish.
Agreed, seems like they would prefer the planet to be on fire rather than have a couple of wind-turbines that can actually be removed and not leave a scar on the planet.
The planet is not on fire, and it will be here long after humans become extinct, so nothing to worry about, meanwhile lets have energy sources that actually work.
I live on the Island and I am not rich but no way do I want ruddy waste of space windmills destroying the beauty of the Island, so don’t say that most people would like them.
What an idiot to say the IoW could be self-sufficient on the back of the renewable energy myth.
Here you go then – if you think that renewables work when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow – disconnect your house from the national grid, rely just on your solar panels, wind and tide – then tell us in a few months time how that worked out for you.
This renewables nonsense is a cult.
Maybe looking at a report on how many times a year and for how long Kingston Power Station is in use. I believe it only turns on at time of high usage when there is an usually high demand for electricity. This could only be for a matter of minutes.
yes when Coronation st and Eastenders come on..
there is only one real solution here….small modular reactors – nuclear
A single Rolls-Royce SMR power station will occupy the footprint of two football pitches and power approximately one million homes. It can support both on-grid electricity and a range of off-grid clean energy solutions, enabling the decarbonisation of industrial processes and the production of clean fuels, such as sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and green hydrogen, to support the energy transition in the wider heat and transportation sectors.
https://www.rolls-royce.com/innovation/small-modular-reactors.aspx#section-why-rolls-royce-smr
maybe so, but I bet it would cost more than the floating bridge has !!!
One of a few oil fired power stations commissioned by Maggie Thatcher so that the coal miners couldn’t hold the country to ransom again. Only gets switched on , used to be from Bristol, in emergency’s or to keep it ticking over.
But it did employ a lot of Island people building it.
It’s a bit like running a wire down your garden to your shed and your naighbour complaining that they need to use it to connect their PV.
The cable to the mainland was put in for the power station so why should private companies be allowed to use it for their financial gain. Its nothing to do with saving the planet its just poeple profiteering.
They will soon complain if an undersea cable is dredged up and the power station is gone.