It also needs a major new interconnector to export that power from Shetland to mainland UK.
The labour market was being made more flexible, and Hungary wanted to become "as competitive as China".What's more, Hungary's previously "unmanageable" relations with Slovakia had improved; the two countries would soon sign an agreement to build a gas interconnector to improve energy security.
An alternative "interconnector", bypassing Gazprom's metering station, has been proposed, and priced at just €20m.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is ever more available for import, and today's interconnector pipelines already allow LNG unloaded in Britain to be sent more or less anywhere in continental Europe.
In 1998 a pipe linking Norfolk with the Belgian coast, known as the Bacton-Zeebrugge interconnector, made it possible to send spot-market gas to northern Europe when it was cheaper than oil-indexed gas.Just as energy demand in Europe was collapsing in the wake of the financial crisis, a glut of Qatari LNG appeared on the spot market.
Work could start on an interconnector from Poland to Lithuania in 2018; until then Latvia's abundant storage provides some insurance against strong-arming.
What is more, we plan to finish the interconnector, i.e. the energy link between Poland and Lithuania built with the use of European funds, in 2020, but we are starting work now.
It has 10% of the interconnector pipeline between Belgium and Britain and wants a similar share of a British-Dutch link.
That would cut demand, and encourage generators to revive mothballed plants and increase imports of subsidised nuclear electricity via the interconnector with France.Anybody want a used nuclear industry?Since neither the safety nor the supply arguments for spending more taxpayers' money on the company hold water, the government should let it go under.
For example, the interconnector pipeline between Zeebrugge, a gas-transportation hub in Belgium, and Britain sometimes runs well below capacity, partly because excess gas is put into storage in the Netherlands and Germany instead of being released on to the market.
Bulgaria's interconnector with Romania will be working next year and a new pipeline to Greece is planned.
