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GUERNSEY Electricity has hailed the States decision to introduce an Energy Policy as an important milestone for the island.

Managing director Ian Watson said that the decision had been the right one, and set a direction for reducing carbon emissions in the future. While there would inevitably be a cost involved, the price of doing nothing to tackle climate change would be much greater.

‘It is a global issue, and unfortunately we cannot just sit back and say we are too small to make a difference so it should be someone else’s problem. We have to be part of the worldwide effort, and I think most islanders recognise that,’ he said.

‘An energy policy is something that we have been asking for for some years. In terms of taking action, we are still in the starting blocks but the difference now is we have a firm foundation that we can build on.’

‘The policy sets out the key objectives, such as reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency, which Guernsey Electricity fully support. The States now have a number of good workstreams which we would hope will lead to some real progress in the relatively near future.’

Although there would be a role for other fuels for the foreseeable future, Mr Watson said low and zero carbon electricity would inevitably become the primary energy source.

‘As a community, we must not lose sight of the importance of issues such as security of supply and diversity. Those are our top priorities, however so too is sustainability,’ he said.

‘Electricity is the one source of energy that has the potential to be generated entirely carbon free. Whether that is from renewables or other low emission sources, we have to embrace these.’

Local carbon emissions due to electricity generation have fallen significantly since 2001 when the cable link to France was installed. Since then, around 70% of all the island’s power has been imported from France.

However 2006 saw a sharp rise due to an increase in on-island production. This coincided with a sudden fall in the oil price, and because Guernsey Electricity is required to source its power on a least cost basis it had to favour local generation over low and zero-carbon imports from France.

Under the Energy Policy, this least cost requirement will now be reviewed. Mr Watson said that while favouring imports from lower carbon sources would not increase the company’s profitability, there were sound environmental reasons to do so.

‘This is important if we want to meet the targets for reducing carbon emissions set out in the report. At the moment, the balance between import and generation is based purely economic grounds, irrespective of the environmental cost. We would like to see that change going forward, with an annual limit being set for on-island oil-based generation,’ he said.

Although the Energy Policy could see an increase in imports, at least in the short term, Mr Watson said this would not make the island overly dependent on French operator EdF.

‘Our current supply contract is with EdF, but if we choose to we can go to other suppliers. We will not be overly dependent on a single supplier.