Who'd be in your Fantasy Football Energy Team?

Simon Bullock

14 November 2012

Ed Davey's Energy Bill this autumn will have a big role in deciding how the UK gets its electricity in the next two decades. Almost any outcome is possible.

But everyone's agreed the UK needs a mix of energy technologies. If you were a football manager, you wouldn't pick 11 goalkeepers. You gotta have balance.

If Ed Davey were a football manager, what system would he play?

A rigid, brutalist old-school four-four-two of coal-gas-nuclear - like Don Revie's supposedly "dirty" Leeds of the 1970s?

Or a flexible, fluid, diverse renewables mix - like the modern tika-taka wonder of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona of 2010?

In practice, two things are having a big bearing on the side Mr Davey picks.

First, his whole first choice midfield won't play unless given a ridiculously expensive new contract. New nuclear.

Second, there's an interfering mega-rich owner who holds the purse strings and wants to pick the team and fill it with his mates. George Osborne and gas.

As a result Mr Davey's 11 for the coming years sadly looks mostly old-style, with a grudging acceptance of the need for a tiny bit of the future:

Coal

Gas        Gas        Gas        Gas

Nuclear**           Nuclear**           Nuclear**

Onshore wind                   Biomass               Offshore wind 

Subs: Gas        Gas        Gas        Gas        Gas
** won't play unless given eye-wateringly expensive new contract 

It might be simpler to stick with this sort of old system but it looks increasingly outdated and doomed to failure.

Instead, there's a fantastic array of new talent: for offshore wind, solar, marine and geothermal electricity read Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshire, Danny Welbeck and Raheem Stirling. 

New young players and Barcelona's style is the future. It might be hard to copy, but sides that don't try will be left behind. As Alex Ferguson knows, you've got to bring in fresh blood every now and then or you'll fall into terminal decline.

And we all know that Alan Hansen was plain wrong when he said you don't win anything with kids.

My dream team for the year 2030 would be: 

Of course with demand-reduction and energy efficiency, we wouldn't need so many players. 5-a-side anyone?

But what are your suggestions for Ed Davey's fantasy team? Maybe Eden Hazard (pictured) is solar power - thought expensive at first, but increasingly excellent value for money? Please post your ideas. Thanks.

Simon Bullock, Campaigner

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