The UK's fragile
economic recovery was exposed yesterday by disappointing employment
figures and an unexpected rise in the number of people claiming
unemployment benefits.
The claimant count,
which measures the number of people claiming jobseekers' allowance,
increased by 2,300 in August, the first rise since December last year,
according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
The jump confounded City forecasts, which had pointed to further
declines and will alarm policy makers, coming as it does in the wake
of this week's IMF warning that Europe risks becoming an employment
"wasteland" in which joblessness threatens entire societies.
Overall, unemployment
in the UK fell by 8,000 in the three months to July on the preferred
International Labour Organisation (ILO) calculation. Joblessness in the
UK now stands at 2.47 million, or 7.8 per cent.
But even the ILO data
will do little to take the pressure off Chancellor George Osborne ahead
of next month's Comprehensive Spending Review. Heavy spending cuts are
certain to be announced, leading to the loss of thousands probably
tens of thousands of public-sector jobs.
"The labour market
data are both disappointing and worrying overall, fuelling fears that
the improvement in the labour market is coming to an end as companies'
fears mount over the strength and sustainability of the upturn. This is
even before public-sector job cutting really gets underway," said
Howard Archer, a chief economist at IHS Global Insight.
"Major job losses are
on the way in the public sector as the Government slashes spending, and
we doubt that the private sector will be able fully to compensate for
this. Indeed, we suspect that firms will become increasingly cautious
in their employment plans, reflecting their concerns that the
intensified fiscal squeeze will hold back growth."
Officials will take
solace from higher employment levels, with 286,000 people finding work
in the quarter to July, the biggest increase since records began in
1971. But the jump was a result of an increase in temporary vacancies
and part-time roles. More than 100,000 new jobs went to former
students.
Yesterday's UK figures
are also likely to ratchet up the tension between the unions and the
Government. At their annual conference in Manchester this week, union
leaders promised to fight future public-sector jobs cuts with
co-ordinated industrial action. Brendan Barber, the TUC general
secretary, said: "The worry must be that we are at a turning point as
spending cuts hit business and consumer confidence. What is clear is
that the economy is still extremely fragile. With more than one in six
young people without work, the best the Government can expect is a
largely jobless recovery."
The figures yesterday
followed a contrite response to the financial crisis from the Governor
of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, who told the TUC conference the
"cost of this crisis will be with us for a generation".
Mr King will have been
acutely aware of the fact that, earlier this week, the IMF said that
creeping unemployment across the world could be costlier than
restarting national stimulus packages, and that rich nations should
again consider reflating their economies to avoid a jobs meltdown.
At an IMF conference
in Oslo on Monday, the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero, who is grappling with 20 per cent unemployment in his
country, said high unemployment may trigger a "crisis of confidence" in
Europe, adding that sustained periods of severe joblessness were as
likely to worry markets as much as high public-sector deficits.
The European
Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Laszlo Andor, added
that 2010 had so far been an "annus horribilis" for unemployment,
warning that, "if we fail to act, 2011 may still turn out to be the
annus horribilis for social cohesion". Pessimists fear that the UK
could not escape untouched by such a crisis.
Yet the country is in
a stronger position than many others in Europe. Countries like Greece,
Spain and Portugal have seen joblessness rocket to more than 10 per
cent as their governments have been bounced into a series of tough
austerity measures, cutting public-sector debt in an effort to persuade
the markets that they will not default on their sovereign bonds.
Greek unemployment
fell to 11.6 per cent in June from 12 per cent in May, statistics
released last week revealed, but the level has jumped from 8.6 per cent
in June last year. The increase is a result of cuts designed to trim
Greece's burgeoning budget deficit, which stands at 13.6 per cent of
GDP.
Meanwhile, the blight
of joblessness stretches right across Europe, from Portugal, where
unemployment stands at 10.8 per cent, to Lithuania (17.3 per cent) and
Latvia (20.1 per cent). Such statistics can hardly fail to have an
impact on the British economy, and a number of economists expect the
UK's advantage to be eroded as the Chancellor's cuts are implemented.
"A number of eurozone
countries have already started implementing cuts as part of their
austerity measures," said Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics. "This
process has not yet really started in the UK."
According to Mr King:
"The current plan is to reduce the deficit steadily over five years a
more gradual fiscal tightening than in some other countries."
Economists believe, however, that the British cuts will inevitably lead
to higher unemployment. Hetal Mehta, a UK economist at Daiwa
Securities, said: "We are forecasting that [British] unemployment will
continue to rise and that it will almost certainly be higher than the
current level by the end of next year. The private sector will pick up
some of the slack, but the overall effect on unemployment figures will
be limited."
Andrew Goodwin, senior
economic adviser to accountancy group Ernst & Young's ITEM Club,
agreed, describing the outlook for the labour market as, "pretty
bleak".
Government departments
are scrambling to avoid the worst of the job cuts, with ministers
already ordering leading public-sector workers to draw up plans for
managing with fewer staff. Meanwhile, the outlook for employment across
Europe remains bleak. Capital Economics expects the jobless total to
rise both in this country and in the eurozone over the next three
years.
Worryingly, however,
the pace of job losses is expected to be faster in Britain. The group
reckons that unemployment in Europe will peak at 10.5 per cent, only a
small increase on the current levels, while the level at home will rise
to 10 per cent. The firm expects 16 million people to be without a job
in the eurozone alone by 2013. Meanwhile, the total for all 27 EU
nations has already passed 23 million, according to the OECD up
nearly 36 per cent since 2007. The challenge of reversing this trend
could stretch Europe to its limits.
Britain cut off from the world: Tens of thousands stranded as ash from Icelandic volcano paralyses UK airports. Reuters: 15.04. 2010.
All London airports to close at 12pm
Passengers flying from Heathrow and Stansted after 12pm advised not to turn up
Airports closed: Aberdeen, Belfast City, Belfast International, Edinburgh, Inverness, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle
Ash could take days to disperse
Tens
of thousands of holidaymakers and travellers are facing travel chaos
today as ash from an Icelandic volcano paralysed British airports.
Hundreds
of flights have been cancelled around the UK and Europe and a number of
British airports have closed. All London airports are due to close from
12pm.
Airports that are still open have suffered major disruption.
The
disruption is likely to be particularly bad as thousands of travellers
are due to fly back to Britain this weekend at the end of the Easter
break.
Ash cloud: The volcano has pumped the plume of thick smoke over Britain, throwing all airports into chaos
Travel chaos: A passenger posted a picture of Dublin Airport this
morning on Twitter after volcanic ash disrupted hundreds of flights
The situation was prompted after by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull
volcano in Iceland yesterday for the second time in a month,
spewing massive clouds of ash thousands of feet into the sky.
Scientists
said the eruption, under a glacier, was 10 to 20 times more powerful
than the previous one. The volcano erupted on March 20 after almost 200 years of silence.
How your airport is affected
Aberdeen: Closed.
Belfast City: Closed.
Belfast International: Closed.
Birmingham: 70 flights cancelled.
Bournemouth: One flight cancelled.
Bristol: 20 flights cancelled.
Cardiff: 21 flights cancelled.
East Midlands: Six bmibaby flights cancelled.
Edinburgh: Closed.
Exeter: Eight morning flights cancelled.
Gatwick: 108 flights cancelled.
Glasgow: Closed.
Heathrow: 150 cancellations, including all domestic flights and arrivals from the U.S. that have not yet taken off.
Inverness: Closed.
Liverpool: Closed.
London City: No domestic British Airways or CityJet/Air France flights operating. Other flights operating with disruptions.
Luton: All arrivals delayed or cancelled, no departures scheduled.
Manchester: Closed until 1pm.
Newcastle: Closed.
Southampton: All domestic arrivals cancelled, other flights affected.
Stansted: 80 flights cancelled, "situation expected to worsen through the day".
The
ash in the atmosphere closed Scottish airspace this morning and forced
Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle airports to close.
Liverpool, Manchester, Stansted, Birmingham, East Midlands, Bristol, Luton, Gatwick and Heathrow are all affected.
Matt Dobson, a forecaster for
MeteoGroup, said ash would come down in Scotland, Denmark and Norway
and could continue to affect airspace until Friday.
It cannot be seen from the ground as it blowing across Britain around three miles in the sky.
Ash can disrupt the engines of an aircraft and reduce visibility as well as affecting landing and navigation gear.
This
morning a Heathrow Airport spokesman said 150 flights, both arrivals
and departures, had been cancelled - at the busiest time of the day -
and more flights were expected to be affected as the cloud of ash moved
south.
The spokesman said all of
the airport's domestic flights had been cancelled, as well as flights
to and from Scandinavia and all U.S. arrivals that had not yet
departed.
At Gatwick, 108 flights have been
cancelled, while at least 17 flights are grounded at Stansted.
Birmingham airport has seen 70 flights cancelled, while Bristol has
halted around 20 flights.
Passengers are being advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.
The volcanic ash scare also caused
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable to cancel planned
General Election campaign visits to Dunfermline and Edinburgh today,
the party said.
Thousands of passengers in Northern
Ireland were also caught up in the air chaos, with the closure of
Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport.
Crowds who filled departures lounges
for early morning flights to destinations throughout the UK were told
services had been cancelled indefinitely.
Flight Sergeant Andy Carnell, a spokesman for RAF Search and Rescue, said that their aircraft would continue to fly.
He said: "We will continue to
provide full search and rescue cover, however we will consider all
requests we get on a case by case basis
A spokesman for BAA Airports said this morning: 'Following advice from the Met Office, the
National Air Traffic Service (NATS) has introduced restrictions to UK
airspace this morning as a result of volcanic ash drifting across the
UK from Iceland.
'Passengers intending to fly today are asked to contact their
airline for further information and should expect disruption in the
coming hours.'
A spokeswoman for the Aberdeen airport said last night: 'The closure will come into
effect locally at midnight and may also spread to other parts of
Scotland.
DEADLY ERUPTIONS THAT CAN BRING A PLANE DOWN
The
volcano in Iceland yesterday spewed ash over 10,000ft into the sky,
causing a deadly hazard to pilots. The eruption was believed to be 10
to 20 times more powerful than a similar one that shook Iceland last
month.
The plume of ash is currently moving towards the UK and
covers a wide area over the North Atlantic. It can affect aircraft
flying between 5,000ft and 35,000ft. It is moving south west at a rate
of 20 knots and will reach the skies over the UK later today.
The cloud will eventually push into Europe, and is likely to cause even more widespread cancellations and delays at airports.
Volcanic
ash is abrasive and dangerous for aircraft. It reduces visibility,
causes damage to fuel and water systems and can clog engines causing
them to fail. It can also affect landing gear.
One of the
biggest difficulties facing flight crews is the problem of
distinguishing ash clouds from ordinary clouds, both visually and on
radar. In June 1982, a British Airways Boeing 747 jumbo jet flight from
Heathrow to Auckland flew into a cloud of volcanic ash from Mount
Galunggung in Java, Indonesia. It didn't show up on the plane's weather
radar because it was 'dry ash'.
The ash caused all four engines
to stop and the plane rapidly fell from 36,000ft to 12,000ft. Luckily
the drop caused the ash to solidify and break off which cleared the
engines and allowed the crew to restart them.
Another 20 aircraft
were damaged by the ash cloud from the June 1991 eruption of Mount
Pinatubo in the Philippines. The cloud travelled more than 5,000 miles
to the east coast of Africa.
A Met Office spokesman told Mail
Online: 'There is uncertainty about the amount of ash released in the
eruption, but it is thought that it will only affect aviation. There is
no suggestion there will be any ash falling from the sky.'
The Met Office runs the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre that monitors and forecasts the movement of volcanic ash over the UK.
'It has been ordered by the air traffic control service Nats - as a
result of volcanic ash which is drifting towards the country from
Iceland.'
Airlines also issued warnings of potential disruption.
A spokeswoman for easyJet said: 'Following the eruption of a volcano
in Iceland earlier today, the Met Office have advised airlines that the
ash plume may reach UK air space overnight.
'As a result this may cause significant disruption to flights departing the UK tomorrow.
'easyJet passengers are advised to check the website before they leave for the airport for any disruption information.'
The chaos comes after the volcano, which is under a glacier, erupted
for the second time in less than a month - causing hundreds of people
to flee the rising floodwaters.
Emergency workers rescued scores of tourists from around the
Eyjafjallajokull glacier as it spewed smoke and steam. Around 800
residents had to be evacuated from their homes.
Rivers rose by up to ten feet (three metres) as the ferocious
temperatures melted the glacier, turning it to water, which gushed down
the mountainside.
Iceland's main coastal ring road was closed near the volcano, and
workers smashed three holes in the highway in a bid to to give the
rushing water a clear route to the coast and prevent bridges from being
swept away.
Scientists
said the eruption under the ice cap was ten to 20 times more powerful
than the one last month, and carried a much greater risk of widespread
flooding.
'This is a very much more violent eruption, because
it's interacting with ice and water,' said Andy Russell, an expert in
glacial flooding at the UK's University of Newcastle.
'It becomes much more explosive, instead of a nice lava flow oozing out of the ground.'
Civil
protection official Agust Gunnar Gylfason said emergency workers
rescued some 70 tourists and visitors trapped near the volcano since
this morning. He said the party was now safe in a tourist facility and
officials were trying to transport them out of the area.
No lives or properties were in immediate danger, Gylfason said and
scientists added that there was no sign of increased activity at the
much larger Katla volcano nearby.
Iceland's Meteorological Office said a plume of steam rose at least
five miles (eight kilometers) into the air. Scientists aboard a
coastguard plane that flew over the volcano said the new fissure
appeared to be up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometres) long.
There were no
immediate signs of large clouds of volcanic ash, which could disrupt
air travel between Europe and North America. Some domestic flights were
canceled, but Iceland's international airport remained open.
The
volcano, about 75 miles (120 kilometres) east of Reykjavik, first
erupted on March 20 after almost 200 years of silence, and petered out
earlier this week.
Quiet:
An air traffic controller posts a screenshot of his equipment, showing
the flights over the UK at 7am this morning. He said it shows 'the lack
of air traffic over the UK due to volcanic ash'
DEMAND FOR EUROSTAR TICKETS SOARS
Eurostar reported a huge increase in sales calls this morning as passengers struggled to rearrange their travel plans.
Many fares had already sold out by 9.30am this morning, while prices shot up the fewer tickets became available.
While
passengers can normally find return tickets to Paris or Brussels
costing just £69, a single to travel from those cities today would cost
at least £220 and up to £307.
A single from Lille to London would cost around £185 to travel today.
A
spokeswoman for Eurostar said they had received hundreds of calls from
passengers, particularly in Scotland, who were fighting to rearrange
their travel plans.
Many more had logged on to their website.
She
said: 'At this time of year, our services are busy with people getting
away for spring breaks. So by mid-afternoon, we expect many of our
trains to be full.'
But she said Eurostar prices rise the closer to departure that you book, and depends on availability.
'We don't just put prices up because something like this has happened.
Prices are high because it is close to the weekend.'
But Gunnar Gudmundsson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic
Meteorological Office, said there were a series of tremors overnight,
and rivers in the area began rising Wednesday morning - strong evidence
of a new eruption under the glacier.
Last month's eruption struck near the glacier in an area that had no ice.
Gudmundsson
said the new eruption appeared to be about eight or nine kilometers
(five to six miles) west of the original fissure.
'Most probably this eruption is taking place at the summit ... under the ice,' he said.
Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at
the University of Iceland, said magma was melting a hole in the
650-foot (200 metre) thick ice covering the volcano's crater, sending
floodwater coursing down the glacier into lowland areas.
Residents were evacuated to a Red Cross centre in the nearby community of Hvolsvollur, the Civil Protection Department said.
Iceland,
a nation of 320,000 people, sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the
Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge. Volcanic eruptions are often triggered by
seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep
underground pushes its way to the surface.
The last time there was an eruption near the 100-square-mile (160 square-kilometre) Eyjafjallajokull glacier was in 1821.
A bigger worry is Katla, which in the past has erupted in tandem with Eyjafjallajokull.
Katla
is located under the vast Myrdalsjokull ice cap. An eruption could
cause widespread flooding and disrupt air traffic between Europe and
North America.
The last major eruption took place in 1918, and volcanologists say a new blast is overdue.
'So
far there have been no signs of the reawakening of the Katla volcano,
but a lot of things can still happen, so we are monitoring it quite
closely,' Einarsson said.
Britain falls to 25th best place to live in the world... behind Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Hungry By Peter Allen 06.01.2010
Britain has dropped to 25th place on a list of the best places in the world to live behind countries like the Czech Republic, Andorra and Lithuania.
While France tops the poll for the fifth year in row, the UK is associated with a dismal climate, soaring crime rate and cost of living, congested roads and equally overcrowded cities.
Even former Communist countries where unemployment is still rife are considered better places to live. The Czech Republic and Lithuania were not even accepted into the European Union until 2004.
Cars near high-rise flats in Vilnius, Lithuania: The Baltic state came in three places above Britain in the list
A block of flat in the Czech city of Most: The eastern European country came just above Britain in the poll
Since then thousands of people from both countries have flooded into the UK, but most are drawn by the chance to make money in a liberal, entrepreneurial economy, rather than because of Britain's quality of life. Many eastern Europeans make as much money as they can in the UK before returning home at the earliest opportunity.
The Quality of Life Index, published by International Living magazine for the 30th year in a row, puts Britain down five places from 20th in 2009.
In all, 200 countries are surveyed across nine categories, including cost of living, culture and leisure, environment, safety, culture and weather. Australia is placed second after France, with Switzerland in third.
Residents across the Channel enjoy everything from Riviera beaches and Alpine ski resorts to arguably the best health service in the world, but it is the country's 'bon vivant' lifestyle which sets it apart.
Ice skaters trek around the frozen Lake Nasijarvi in Tampere, southern Finland: The Scandanavian country came 18th in the list of best places in the world
While British people are nowadays renowed for their TV dinners and binge drinking, the French savour the finer things in life day-in, day-out. This includes freshly baked bread twice a day, two hour lunch breaks in which to enjoy cheap cordon bleu restaurants, and some of the best wine in the world.
Working hours are far shorter than those experienced by stressed-out British people, who have far less holiday entitlement too. The French, in contrast, take most of August off, view Sunday leisure as sacrosanct, and have far more public holidays, as well as less crime and dirt.
'In France, life is savoured,' said Jackie Flynn, publisher of International Living magazine.
TOP 25 PLACES TO LIVE
1. FRANCE 2. AUSTRALIA 3. SWITZERLAND 4. GERMANY 5. NEW ZEALAND 6. LUXEMBOURG 7. U.S. 8. BELGIUM 9. CANADA 10. ITALY 11. NETHERLANDS 12. NORWAY 13. AUSTRIA 14. LIECHTENSTEIN 15. MALTA 16. DENMARK 17. SPAIN 18. FINLAND 19. URUGUAY 20. HUNGARY 21. PORTUGAL 22. LITHUANIA 23. ANDORRA 24. CZECH REPUBLIC 25. UK
'I don't think anyone will argue that France is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, where there is so much pride in all the small details. 'The French love little window boxes filled with flowers, tidy gardens, pretty sidewalk cafes, and clean streets. Cities are well tended and with little crime.'
Variety is also seen as a major factor in France's attractiveness, with the survey noting: 'Romantic Paris offers the best of everything, but services don't fall away in Alsace's wine villages, in wild and lovely Corsica, in lavender-scented Provence. Or in the Languedoc of the troubadors, bathed in Mediterranean sunlight.'
The U.S.A dropped from third to seventh place this because of last year's economic collapse. 'Sustaining the American Dream has escalated out of the reach of many,' said a magazine spokesman.
While countries like France, Italy and Australia are considered to have the best climates, Britain does not top a single category. Germany, which comes fourth in the overall survey, is widely praised for its efficiency and leisure facilities.
The survey notes: 'In Germany, everything works and works well. Its houses are built to last, and their legendary autobahns are still mostly without speed limits.
'If you enjoy sports, even small towns have numerous facilities. Some odd ones toothe Harz Mountains now has a specialist hiking trail for nudists. From spas to parks to North Sea beaches, Germany is arguably the world's most naturist-friendly country.'
Sun, wind and wave-powered: Europe unites to build renewable energy 'supergrid'
North Sea countries plan vast clean energy project 30bn scheme could offer weather-proof supply
A flock of sheep grazes among sun-tracing photovoltaic panels installed at Solarpark in Rodenas, North Friesland. Photograph: Bert Bostelmann/Getty Images
It would connect turbines off the wind-lashed north coast of Scotland with Germany's vast arrays of solar panels, and join the power of waves crashing on to the Belgian and Danish coasts with the hydro-electric dams nestled in Norway's fjords: Europe's first electricity grid dedicated to renewable power will become a political reality this month, as nine countries formally draw up plans to link their clean energy projects around the North Sea.
The network, made up of thousands of kilometres of highly efficient undersea cables that could cost up to 30bn (£26.5bn), would solve one of the biggest criticisms faced by renewable power that unpredictable weather means it is unreliable.
Green technology correspondent Alok Jha on the supergrid plans Link to this audio
With a renewables supergrid, electricity can be supplied across the continent from wherever the wind is blowing, the sun is shining or the waves are crashing.
Connected to Norway's many hydro-electric power stations, it could act as a giant 30GW battery for Europe's clean energy, storing electricity when demand is low and be a major step towards a continent-wide supergrid that could link into the vast potential of solar power farms in North Africa.
By autumn, the nine governments involved Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland and the UK hope to have a plan to begin building a high-voltage direct current network within the next decade. It will be an important step in achieving the European Union's pledge that, by 2020, 20% of its energy will come from renewable sources.
"We recognise that the North Sea has huge resources, we are exploiting those in the UK quite intensively at the moment," said the UK's energy and climate change minister, Lord Hunt. "But there are projects where it might make sense to join up with other countries, so this comes at a very good time for us."
More than 100GW of offshore wind projects are under development in Europe, around 10% of the EU's electricity demand, and equivalent to about 100 large coal-fired plants. The surge in wind power means the continent's grid needs to be adapted, according to Justin Wilkes of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA). An EWEA study last year outlined where these cables might be built and this is likely to be a starting point for the discussions by the nine countries.
Renewable energy is much more decentralised and is often built in inhospitable places, far from cities. A supergrid in the North Sea would enable a secure and reliable energy supply from renewables by balancing power across the continent.
Norway's hydro plants equivalent to about 30 large coal-fired power stations could use excess power to pump water uphill, ready to let it rush down again, generating electricity, when demand is high. "The benefits of an offshore supergrid are not simply to allow offshore wind farms to connect; if you have additional capacity, which you will do within these lines, it will allow power trading between countries and that improves EU competitiveness," said Wilkes.
The European Commission has also been studying proposals for a renewable-electricity grid in the North Sea. A working group in the EC's energy department, led by Georg Wilhelm Adamowitsch, will produce a plan by the end of 2010. He has warned that without additional transmission infrastructure, the EU will not be able to meet its ambitious targets.
Hunt said the EC working group's findings would be fed into the nine-country grid plan.
The cost of a North Sea grid has not yet been calculated, but a study by Greenpeace in 2008 put the price of building a similar grid by 2025 at 15bn-20bn. This would provide more than 6,000km of cable around the region. The EWEA's 2009 study suggested the costs of connecting the proposed 100GW wind farms and building interconnectors, into which further wind and wave power farms could be plugged in future, would probably push the bill closer to 30bn. The technical, planning, legal and environmental issues will be discussed at the meeting of the nine this month.
"The first thing we're aiming for is a common vision," said Hunt. "We will hopefully sign a memorandum of understanding in the autumn with ministers setting out what we're trying to do and how we plan to do it."
All those involved also have an eye on the future, said Wilkes. "The North Sea grid would be the backbone of the future European electricity supergrid," he said. This supergrid, which has support from scientists at the commission's Institute for Energy (IE), and political backing from both the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Gordon Brown, would link huge solar farms in southern Europe producing electricity either through photovoltaic cells, or by concentrating the sun's heat to boil water and drive turbines with marine, geothermal and wind projects elsewhere on the continent. Scientists at the IE have estimated it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and the deserts of the Middle East to meet all Europe's energy needs.
In this grid, electricity would be transmitted along high voltage direct current cables. These are more expensive than traditional alternating-current cables, but they lose less energy over long distances.
Hunt agreed that the European supergrid was a long-term dream, but one worth making a reality. The UK, like other countries, faced "huge challenges with our renewables targets," he said. "The 2020 target is just the beginning and then we've got to aim for 2050 with a decarbonised electricity supply so we need all the renewables we can get."
A North Sea grid could link into grids proposed for a much larger German-led plan for renewables called the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII). This aims to provide 15% of Europe's electricity by 2050 or earlier via power lines stretching across desert and the Mediterranean.
The plan was launched last November with partners including Munich Re, the world's biggest reinsurer, and some of Germany's biggest engineering and power companies, including Siemens, E.ON, ABB and Deutsche Bank. DII is a $400bn (£240bn) plan to use concentrated solar power (CSP) in southern Europe and northern Africa. This technology uses mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays on a fluid container, the super-heated liquid then drives turbines to generate electricity. The technology itself is nothing new CSP plants have been running in the United States for decades and Spain is building many but the scale of the DII project would be its biggest deployment ever.
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A flock of sheep grazes among sun-tracing photovoltaic panels installed at Solarpark in Rodenas, North Friesland. Photograph: Bert Bostelmann/Getty Images
