The oil baron behind controversial plans to set fire to subsea coal seams off Fife has warned that the lights could go out in Britain unless independent sources of energy are found as a matter of urgency.
In an exclusive interview with The Courier ahead of a public meeting in Methil tonight, industry veteran Algy Cluff said his ambitions for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) had to be seen in the context of Britain’s growing energy crisis.
There was a need, he said, to find realistic alternatives to the country’s growing dependence on gas imported from the likes of Russia and Algeria.
He said the possible drilling in the Firth of Forth was therefore an “issue of national importance”.
It emerged in the summer that the Firth of Forth could be used as a test site for the UCG technique, which involves drilling a 12-inch vertical borehole into a coal seam below the sea bed.
The seam is then flushed with oxygen and ignited with a burner with the resulting gas piped to onshore power stations.
Mr Cluff said UCG could address the UK’s energy needs, avoid the use of fracking and enable the gas generated to be controlled by the supply of oxygen producing enough gas to fuel Britain cheaply and efficiently for hundreds of years.
However, concerns have been raised by several Fife politicians that pollution of mine water could result.
Mr Cluff claims opponents have “misunderstood” the technology.
He said: “The British Isles is blessed with billions of tons of coal lying offshore beneath the North Sea, and it’s not as if we don’t know it’s there.
“Now we have the technology that can safely and quickly convert gas from our own coalfields and pipe it ashore.”
He said it was ironic that INEOS last week unveiled a £300 million blueprint to transform Grangemouth into the UK hub of the United States shale gas revolution. And yet so far, he said, nothing had been done to explore similar energy potential a few miles away in the Forth.
Levenmouth councillor Tom Adams and Kirkcaldy MSP David Torrance said people should remain “open-minded” about Mr Cluff’s plans until all the facts are known.
Anyone with concerns about the UCG process can attend the meeting at the Fife Renewables Centre, Methil Docks, at 7.30pm tonight.