Electricity from coal and gas has been falling, while the proportion from renewables, mainly wind, is slowly rising. The direction of change is to be applauded, but we are not yet acting fast enough to stave off the worst effects of climate change. Valentin von Massow, ADAS chairman, reviews developments affecting the renewable energy market.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change’s DUKES statistics reported 5.5 per cent of our electricity derived from renewable sources in 2008. At the end of July, we will know whether we are on target to produce 10 per cent of our electricity from renewables by the end of 2010 – the stage post laid down in 2009.
Fighting climate change is not the only reason for adopting renewables. Rising electricity costs –Ofgem conservatively estimates the cost could increase by a quarter within the next decade – means the attraction of generating our own electricity for homes or businesses becomes very compelling indeed.
2010 has already been a big year for legal developments in the energy and renewables sector. In April, the so-called Carbon Reduction Commitment Scheme was introduced to make large and energy intensive organisations adhere to programmes to reduce their energy requirements. In the same month, the Feed-in Tariffs were introduced to incentivise renewable micro-generation by end users. Put simply, the framework is now in place to pay end users and small power generators for energy they put on the National Grid.
Next year the Renewable Heat Incentive will go live to stimulate the adoption of sustainable heat production and co-generation. Further down the road, by 2016, residential developers will have to be building carbon-zero housing under the Code for Sustainable Homes.
These are all developments within the UK’s legally binding international declaration to produce 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 and reduce overall energy consumption by 80 per cent by 2050.
To make these targets, the proportion derived from renewables is going to have to be accelerated. There will be more power derived from off- and on-shore wind, anaerobic digestion and other renewables like wave and tidal power, with the nuclear portion still depending how the policy of the coalition will be implemented. The blossoming of sustainable and more decentralised generation will, in all likelihood, become a central pillar of our energy mix, as will the smartening-up of our transmission and distribution grids to cope with the change in generation mix and contribute to energy savings in themselves.
This is very welcome news to many of ADAS and Envar’s clients, for the opportunities are now there for the taking.
Whether it is utilities planning new capital builds, local councils, supermarkets or food manufacturers and farmers investing in anaerobic digestion or making the most of their roofs with solar arrays, whether it is farmers growing bio-energy crops or wind farm developers looking for suitable new sites, whether it is any business or organisation aiming to reduce their energy consumption and overall environmental footprint, the rewards are long-term and attractive – if the right technical and business choice is made initially.
The UK planning process, however, for renewable energy infrastructure is convoluted and can be prohibitively expensive. That infrastructure must still be deployed sensitively, for there are local environmental concerns to consider too: conflict over land use, landscape impact assessments, odour control and threats to local biodiversity.
Above all, there is the business case to consider. What is the right renewable energy option for a given scenario? Which technology is adequate and sufficiently proven? What is going to be the funding requirement and rate of return? Is the organisation energy efficient enough to optimise its renewable sources in the first place?
These practical, commercial, legislative and environmental obstacles are well-known to ADAS and Envar and we have a long successful track record to help clients overcome them as efficiently as possible.