Whilst thumbing through some old papers recently, I came across the above mind map that I had drawn in the mid-1970s. At that time, I was a young engineer in what was then the UK’s publicly owned Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). The ‘map’ summarises the company’s energy policy of the time, which was referred to as “CoCoNuke”; emphasising its three central elements of coal, conservation and nuclear. I thought I'd share it here, with a few quick reflections on some of the shifts that have taken place in this area over the past 50 years or so.
COAL: Concern for the known environmental issues of the time placed an important constraint on the means adopted by CEGB staff to deliver its “keeping the lights on” mission. At the same time, the company's leading-edge position in the technology and economics of coal-fired power generation, coupled with extensive practical experience in the field and abundant indigenous supplies of fuel, naturally placed this at the core of its energy policy.
On a personal note, before moving to what was by then National Power’s headquarters at Swindon, in late-'92, I had the privilege of working in various engineering and managerial roles at a number of coal-fired power stations. These were Castle Donington, Willington (twice) and Drakelow in the Midlands; Blyth in the North East; and Drax in North Yorkshire. Great people. Great plants. And a very great pleasure.
Of these stations, all but Drax have since been decommissioned and demolished; with the latter continuing its significant contribution to the UK’s energy supply, having switched its primary fuel in recent years from coal to biomass.
As regards fossil fuels in general, it is interesting to see the relative positions of coal and gas in the CoCoNuke energy mix. A key element in this was the perceived need to preserve the nation’s gas (and oil) reserves as a strategic asset. By the early ‘90s, though, there was increasing pressure to rapidly replace many of the ageing coal-fired power stations; and to address the main environmental issue of the time. This was concern about acid rain, arising from the emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from coal-burning plants. As a result, relatively quick-to-build gas-fired CCGTs began to feature prominently in the developing plant portfolios of the new generating companies.
CONSERVATION: Given today’s emphasis on the need to reduce demand, as an important contributor to the country’s “net zero” ambitions, it is intriguing to see energy conservation feature as an element of the mid-‘70s policy - albeit with the expressed concern that success would be highly contingent on people’s individual responses to any such initiatives.
NUCLEAR: The UK Government has recently announced plans to ramp up the country's investment in nuclear power, in pursuit both of CO2 reduction and energy self-sufficiency. In light of this, it is interesting to see that this featured as the third main pillar of the energy strategy adopted by the CEGB almost half a century ago.
The ‘REST’: Finally, at the time of CoCoNuke, there was much talk about the need to develop and exploit alternative energy sources; with wind, wave and tidal power providing the main areas of interest. However, given the perceived uncertainties at the time concerning renewable technologies (technical, economic and environmental impact), these didn’t ‘make the cut’.
This was another area that started to change in the early post-Privatisation years, with the main generators of the time beginning to invest seriously in the development and deployment of wind power. This began the shift towards today's more diverse and fossil-fuel-limited energy mix, which now majors on renewables, conservation and, once again, nuclear power. We can also add to this the recent advances that have been made in storage technologies - for both energy and captured carbon.
Taken together, we could perhaps now restyle CoCoNuke as ReStCoNuke: Renewables, Storage, Conservation, and Nuclear. Or maybe not!
This was first published as a LinkedIn article on 11 April 2022
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