Long-term electricity forecast: Wind and sunshine
WIND power would supply more than half the island’s electricity needs if deputies back a radical 25-year plan published by the Environment & Infrastructure Committee.
About 10% of electricity would be generated by solar power. The remaining third would come from a new direct cable link with France.
E&I expects its plan to cost about £1.73bn between now and 2050 but claimed it would save hundreds of millions of pounds compared to maintaining current methods of generation.
‘Our demand for electricity is growing, but we need to meet that growing demand in an affordable, secure and sustainable way,’ said E&I president Lindsay de Sausmarez,
‘This is a more affordable option than continuing with how we currently generate electricity and will also provide us with a more secure supply, which over time will give us greater access to locally-generated renewable energy.’
E&I has spent years studying six potential options for future electricity needs, each of which has a price tag above £1.6bn.
The proposed plan – known as Option D – includes a wind farm, but this could be a decade away, and could be part of a larger project.
‘It may well be that we would look at publicly owning a 65MW part of a larger wind farm because that might make more commercial sense,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
Option D also calls for a 10-fold increase in solar power over the next three years and doubling it again by 2028.
E&I hopes the States will vote on the proposals in July.
