Industry experts have suggested that renewable energy could have played a big part in avoiding some of the major gas supply problems and soaring prices this winter.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng reassured in parliament that the UK is "highly resilient" and that there would be no question of the lights going out amid gas supply problems in the country.
Roger Fouquet, of the London School of Economics suggests that through renewables the energy market could be steadier, with fossil fuel prone to price fluctuations. "Price volatility is an inevitable part of the fossil fuel energy system," he commented. "Renewables do not suffer from these market-related problems."
The amount of power from fossil fuels has been reduced in recent years from 60% to now under 40%. Experts argue that even before the prices of gas began to rise so dramatically it was still cheaper to generate electricity by building a new windfarm rather than running an existing gas power plant.
Chief executive of RenewableUK, Dan McGrail said:
"The first priority for government and the sector is, of course, protecting consumers in response to this price surge. The only way to do that in the long term is to have an energy system powered by cheap renewables, with flexible storage, hydrogen and other low-carbon technologies to meet demand at lowest cost."
