In the meantime, gas will be needed and the government could consider extending the life of the UK’s gas fields since using local gas is more environmentally friendly than shipping it from Qatar, the US and other far-flung places.
According to Professor John Underhill, university director for energy transition at Aberdeen University, about 75 per cent of the energy needs for the UK still comes from natural gas and oil.
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said: "The way to deliver energy security and bring down bills for good is to deliver our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower - with homegrown clean power that we in Britain control.".
It was on this day that the UK came closest in many years to a blackout when gas prices surged to more than £1000 per megawatt hour and two power station companies were paid more than £12m for three hours of electricity because other sources were not available.
But 28.5 per cent of its electricity generation came from natural gas, particularly during dark or still winter days when sun and wind are in short supply.
