Renewable - But Is It Achieveable?
Thursday, May 05, 2005
The UK government’s target is that 10% of electricity consumed should be generated by renewable sources by 2010, increasing to 20% by 2020. The Scottish Executive also recently formally committed itself to an even greater target of 40% renewable energy use by 2020. Both targets demonstrate an admirable commitment to the cause, but do we really have the ‘energy’ to make the targets a reality?
To achieve the 2010 UK target alone would involve installing some 10,000 megawatts of generating capacity driven by renewable sources – of which around half might be in Scotland. At the moment, approximately 1,200 megawatts of generating capacity exists. Clearly, therefore, a lot of construction work would be required over the next six years to increase that to 10,000.
Although work is being done on various methods of generating electricity for renewable sources - particularly wave power, as well as a small amount of generating capacity driven by waste gases, bio fuels etc. - we are currently highly dependent on wind generated capacity. Unfortunately, there are two difficulties: firstly, wind only produces electricity when it blows, and secondly, wind tends not to blow where demand for electricity is greatest.
Because the wind does not blow all the time, the amount of electricity produced by 1 megawatt of generating capacity driven by wind power is substantially less, and less reliable, than the amount of electricity generated from 1 megawatt of generating capacity driven by coal, gas or nuclear fuel.
What’s more, as a result of outlying parts of the country being the windiest, even when the wind blows, electricity is being generated in the wrong place. It therefore has to be transmitted to where it is required. This is expensive and involves substantial investment in transmission systems which, like wind farms themselves, have aesthetic considerations.
A further challenge is that the restructuring of the electricity market in England, which has apparently brought substantial reductions in prices for larger consumers if not for the domestic consumer, is to be introduced in Scotland. Many feel that that new system puts renewable generators at a disadvantage because it appears to favour those who can provide electricity as and when required, whereas by definition wind generators can only produce electricity when the wind blows.
These are very real challenges to meeting the government’s demanding targets. The importance of overcoming these challenges is increased by the fact that the UK is likely to become a net importer of gas within the course of the next few years, perhaps sooner, and is already importing a substantial amount of the coal used in coal fired power stations. As the government appears to have set its face against continuing nuclear energy, or at least is not willing in public to support it, the UK can find itself in the future on relying on imported gas and coal, or renewable energy for its principal sources of electricity.
The danger as I see it is that setting optimistic and quite probably unachievable targets risks tarnishing the ultimate commitment to achieve the desired result. For 10 or more years, government has espoused the cause of public transport as they now espouse renewable energy. They argued that more people must use public transport and positively discouraged the use of cars. However, improved public transport systems have not been put in place and car traffic continues to grow at a significant rate. As a result, the atmosphere in favour of public transport is threatening to evaporate.
The argument in favour of renewable energy risks becoming equally discredited because the targets which are being set by government require significant challenges to be overcome and the wherewithal to overcome these challenges has not been provided.
On a more practical basis, the failure to produce an achievable energy policy could result in life not only being more expensive but also rather colder.
The information contained in this article is given for general information only and does not constitute legal advice on any specific matter.