On Thu, 13 May 2010 18:49:52 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Right now we need some serious gigawatts - so not building a few nukes
would be foolish.


The energy gap that urgently needs filling arises between 2014 and
2018. New nuclear will not contribute a single kWh to filling that
gap because the earliest practicable date for commissioning a nuclear
station is 2019.


But, in the medium term, I think the tidal stuff and
some offshore wind farms[1] offer a good solution.


Agreed. But with any intermittent supply, such as wind or tidal,
there has to be additional pumped storage so that the power can be
re-generated when it is actually needed, rather than when the wind
blows or the tide flows.