It's worth remembering that half of Britain's power plants will need to be replaced by 2020 and the grid needs upgrading to provide access for new supplies. The options for avoiding shortages are basically coal, gas, nuclear, hydro and wind. Each has its pros and cons but each has a role to play. Coal is available, but pollutes and won't help Britain to meet its emissions targets. Gas is cheap and quick to build, but carries with it a reliance on imports and the vagaries of the oil price. Hydro is relatively reliable but there are few available new sites. Nuclear offers continuous supply but is costly to build with a lengthy development phase. Wind is abundant and indigenous, but can be intermittent.

Unfortunately, there's no easy fix, and the answer lies in a balanced energy mix, with the right incentives in place. We operate all these energy sources, and among them wind is significant. It's not a holy grail for us, but is reliable, clean and cheap to run. It's true wind farms are capital intensive in development but thereafter are the cheapest low-carbon energy source, and the cost to consumers is relatively low. For the times when the wind doesn't blow, a system of capacity payments should be available for gas plants as backup supply.

The UK is fortunate to possess some of the best wind, wave and tidal resources in the world off its coasts. Offshore wind is more productive than onshore, and while the costs are currently greater, technology and designs are advancing with bigger turbines whose costs are coming down.

An article by Ignacio Galan chairman of Iberdrola (and as owner of SSE, a big player in the UK)

Wind power

Capitalism: A Ghost Story | Arundhati Roy

Is it a house or a home? A temple to the new India, or a warehouse for its ghosts? Ever since Antilla arrived on Altamont Road in Mumbai, exuding mystery and quiet menace, things have not been the same. "Here we are," the friend who took me there said, "Pay your respects to our new Ruler."

Antilla belongs to India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani. I had read about this most expensive dwelling ever built, the twenty-seven floors, three helipads, nine lifts, hanging gardens, ballrooms, weather rooms, gymnasiums, six floors of parking, and the six hundred servants. Nothing had prepared me for the vertical lawn--a soaring, 27-storey-high wall of grass attached to a vast metal grid. The grass was dry in patches; bits had fallen off in neat rectangles. Clearly, Trickledown hadn't worked.

But Gush-Up certainly has. That's why in a nation of 1.2 billion, India's 100 richest people own assets equivalent to one-fourth of the GDP.

they sure caught on fast...

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

This one goes out to Garth at around 3:30. Happy belated, Bro.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin