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Slash renewables target to protect nuclear, says EDF

The development of new nuclear plant could be prevented if the
government allows too much windpower to be built, energy giants EDF and
Eon have claimed.

EDF - the world's largest nuclear operator with 58 plants - is calling
on the government to lower its proposed renewable electricity target
from 35% of supply in 2020 to just 20%.

The company says building the wind capacity needed to hit a 35% target
is "not realistic or indeed desirable" due to the problem of
intermittency.

EDF's views were revealed last week when the Department of Energy and
Climate Change (DECC) published a summary of responses to its
consultation on its renewables strategy.

EDF's response says that at times of high wind, output from wind and
nuclear could exceed demand. "As a result... plant will need to be
curtailed i.e. instructed not to generate." In reality, only nuclear
will be curtailed, it says, as wind generation is subsidised so
operators will pay to continue generating. The UK will also need
windfarms to operate to meet its EU renewable energy target.

If nuclear plants have to be regularly turned off, this "damages the
economics of these projects, meaning that less will be built." The UK
can still meet its EU target with a lower level of renewable electricity
by doing more on renewable heat, it says.

EDF's views are partially supported by Eon. Its consultation response
says that any curtailment of nuclear "raises the question of whether it
will be possible to recover the fixed costs of... plant over its
operational life". Curtailment could become an issue once wind provides
20-25% of UK electricity, it says.

Gaynor Hartnell, director of policy at the Renewable Energy Association,
said: "We don't have a problem with companies taking issue with the
proposed split between renewable electricity and heat - it is
renewables' overall contribution to energy that matters. [Renewable]
heat could certainly contribute more, but that's not to say that it
needs to. Our electricity network can cope with at least ten times' the
amount of wind we currently have."