IT seems we will all have to bite the bullet and pay for green power.

Within a few years our bills will have risen by another �80 to �100 – that’s without the ever-increasing price hikes we are all suffering because someone somewhere is making a huge profit out of power in a recession – just to pay for the investment in wind and solar power, nuclear energy, biofuel plants, bio-gas and geothermal systems, and so on.

There’s even more bad news, too.

Energy prices will never fall – only keep on increasing. Wind may be free, but it’s unpredictable and the turbines expensive. Nuclear fuel is cheap to produce but power stations cost billions. It’s the same with all these technologies – pricey investment to safeguard our power supplies.

Experts though say while we will be paying more, the rise will actually be less than it would be if we continue to rely on fossil fuels.

There are advantages though – big benefits for the environment through cleaner and sustainable energy production. Less C02, and natural sources – the sun and wind – which just keep on giving.

It’s a shame no one seems to be pursuing wave energy with much vigour. The tide goes in and out every day without fail, every day of the year, all around the thousands of miles of our coast – all that power just waiting to be harnessed by some enterprising company.

On the Felixstowe peninsula landscape is being changed gradually to cater for the new energy infrastructure. Wind turbines have already been put up at Kembroke Kennels, Roselea Nursery, a farm at Falkenham, and agreed for Levington and Gulpher Road with others on the horizon.

The view from Felixstowe seafront is now wind turbines – one person wrote last week that they could count 243 from the window of their flat in Sea Road.

Now there is a new threat to our landscape – a solar panel farm. A site alongside the A14, next to the reservoirs, between Kirton and Levington, has been selected – 47,500 solar panels on 62 acres. It will produce enough electricity a year for around 3,000 homes.

Suffolk Coastal’s planners are considering the idea but are likely to recommend its approval.

Landscapes have changed considerably over the centuries – what we perceive as quintessential English countryside has evolved as farming practices have developed, forests have been felled, hedges rubbed out, and so on.

It’s just another sacrifice we will have to accept to ensure we can keep the lights on.