As a chartered engineer of 40 years world wide power experience, I read Mr Peter Aldous's letter (23rd January) with interest. The UK electricity system is today most urgently in need of continuously running  base load generation to replace such power stations shortly to retire.  Low load factor intermittent output wind farms are not able to perform this duty. They respond only to wind speed and not,  as most needed, to instantaneous system electricity demand. They generate electricity more expensively than any other method. listed by the Royal Academy of Engineering. The only economic benefit is to the developers and this mainly from the current government renewable energy subsidies for which we all will ultimately pay either as consumers or taxpayers or both. 

As UK hydro power is effectively fully developed, the only other non-greenhouse gas producing power stations able to perform this duty are modern, highly economic  versions of the Sizewell B power station which has served us so well for fifteen years and is still only halfway through its economic life.

The existing 400kV Supergrid, which encircles East Anglia, only needs line reinforcement to pick up short spur lines from one or two additional new coastal nuclear power stations, at minimal expense. The compact profiles of modern 1600 MW nuclear stations will obtrude minimally on the scenery and there will be no need for the expensive high voltage DC submarine cables referred to by Mr Aldous. The new nuclear stations designed to run at or near full load for around two years between refuellings will generate by far the cheapest electricity in UK, as France has long been demonstrating  with over 80 per cent of its total electricity generated from nuclear power of this type and most of the rest hydro.