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PWC: Blackouts Likely Due to "Insufficient Investment"

By Eric McErlain
From the Bloomberg wire:
Power blackouts similar to those in the U.S. East Coast, Italy and the U.K. two years ago are likely to be repeated around the world because of insufficient investment and aging power plants, PriceWaterhouseCoopers said.

About $12.7 trillion of investment, greater than the U.S. annual economic output, is needed through 2030 to meet an expected doubling in electricity consumption, a report by consultants at PriceWaterhouseCoopers said. That total is higher than the estimated $10 trillion spending on electricity called for by the International Energy Agency during the same period.

``Blackouts are expected to become more frequent,'' according to the report, based on a survey of 119 investors and executives at utilities in 36 countries. ``Two-thirds of utility respondents believe the likelihood of blackouts will increase or remain the same. Only a quarter think it will reduce.''

Further . . .
More than half of the respondents to the report's survey said they expect new nuclear power stations, eve with popular and political opposition, because countries need to replace aging coal-fed plants and older nuclear reactors, the report said . . .

In the U.K., renewable sources are expected to generate about 10 percent of the country's electricity by 2010, and 20 percent in 2020, up from about 5 percent now. Nuclear plants such as Sizewell supply about one-fifth of the Britain's electricity, and almost all power in France.

Nuclear power stations will also be backed by governments after countries around the world, including those in the European Union, committed to cut carbon emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants under the Kyoto Protocol, the report said. Nuclear stations don't emit carbon dioxide.

To download the report from PWC, click here.

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