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Coal powered more than half of the UK's peak electricity demand this winter and ...

Coal powered more than half of the UK's peak electricity demand this winter and will form an important part of the Energy Review's analysis, Malcolm Wicks told the industry in mid-February. Speaking at the Coal UK conference in London, the Energy Minister said: ‘This winter has demonstrated the value of coal as part of our diverse generating mix. Against expectations, and as the price of gas spiralled, coal has been meeting 50% of average weekday demand, stepping in to keep electricity flowing to our homes, factories and offices. Normally, coal would average only 40% of supply at this time of year. This flexibility, built on the diversity of our energy sources, is an important strength of our energy market.’ ‘But cleaner generation is essential if coal is to survive the shift to sustainable forms of energy. I am encouraged that more two-thirds of the UK's coal-fired power stations have signed up to meet tough new limits on sulphur and nitrogen emissions. Nevertheless, current projections in the Energy Review show that by 2020 coal may only account for 16% of our electricity. The biggest barrier to coal's future is carbon dioxide (CO2) and its contribution to climate change. It is this which is driving the development of carbon abatement technologies the world over. Carbon capture and storage, for example, has the potential to eliminate up to 95% of CO2 emissions, cleaning up the environmental impact of traditional fossil fuels such as coal.’ ‘For the UK this need not necessarily be a future based solely on imports. We still have substantial coal reserves and there are arguments for maintaining production from them, both opencast and deep mine, provided that they can be made economically viable. The mining sector continues to make a significant contribution to the nation, in terms of employment, often in areas of relative deprivation, and it maintains important specialist mining and engineering skills, which are of international value.’
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