Renew On Line (UK) 49
Extracts from NATTA's journal
Renew, issue 148 March-April 2004
Renew On Line (UK) 49 |
Extracts from NATTA's journal |
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1. Innovation Review- Beyond windWindpower is likely to be the dominant renewable technology until 2020, according the Renewables Innovation Review carried out by the DTI and the Carbon Trust in consultation with the renewables community (see Renew 148). Wind, on-and off-shore, can deliver ‘almost all of the required growth to meet the 2010 renewable energy target’ and wind is likely to be the dominant technology as far as 2020. 2. Marine Energy ChallengeA major new development in marine renewable energy in the UK was announced at the BWEA/RegenSW Wave and Marine Energy conference in Bristol in Feb. The Marine Energy Challenge from the Carbon Trust is a major new £2.5m programme planned for completion in 2005 to assess the potential for marine energy devices to achieve a competitive cost of electricity generation against other renewables and fossil fuelled power generation. The programme involves eight developers. Four are from outside Britain, including two from the U.S., one from Denmark and one from the Netherlands. It is hoped that the international focus will attract foreign investment to the UK. 3. 35,000 jobs by 2020 ?A new study of renewable employment opportunities commissioned by the Governments Renewables Advisory Board (RAB) found that that around 8000 jobs are already sustained by renewables in the UK and claimed that by 2020, between 17,000 - 35,000 jobs could be sustained by renewables in the UK. In his foreword to the report, Energy Minister Stephen Timms said: “The development of renewable energy is an important part of our efforts to tackle climate change. But it also offers a huge opportunity to enhance our manufacturing capacity and provide new employment, particularly in the remoter areas.” 4. Security of Supply Energy SecurityProf. Sir Hermann Bondi and Prof. Ian Fells raised the issue of energy security once again recently in a letter to the Times in which they argued that “A decade or two ago there was in this country a comfortable excess of generating capacity over peak demand, but this margin has been allowed to be eroded almost to vanishing point”. 5. Government pushes ahead with renewables and carbon tradingRenewables PR pushA £200,000 DTI funded campaign called ‘It’s Only Natural’ will seek to inform planners, investors and the wider community of the potential and benefits of renewable energy. The campaign will target planners and investors through workshops, a conference, media initiatives and a website. The campaign will focus on the SW of England at first. Planners in that region will get additional support and information on renewable energy. It will also target the financial community by highlighting the investment potential of the renewable sector. 6. Wind costs and benefitsIn answer to a Parliamentary Question on Jan 5th, asking what was the average cost of wind-driven turbines in UK wind farms, and what the estimated amount of investment in wind farms was, Lord Sainsbury of Turville commented: ‘It is difficult to make generalisations about the costs of wind turbines, as this technology is advancing rapidly, with different makes and models being bought to suit the particular site. 7. No to the Severn BarrageIn January there was a debate on tidal power in the House of Lords. Lord Hooson kicked off calling for a full study of the feasibility and cost of harnessing the tides in the Severn estuary, since he was not sure we could rely on wind power to meet the UK’s 10% by 2010 renewable energy targets. He was backed by several other members of the House, although some, like Baroness Miller were more interested in the less invasive options of tidal current turbines and tidal lagoons. But rounding off the debate Earl Attlee argued that ‘If the Government are so set against exercising the nuclear option, they must look at alternatives. Very little else offers the energy density or the reliability of the Severn barrage,’ 8. Stalling on Micro-CHP and VATBack in January, Jane Griffiths MP for Reading East (Lab) managed to get the House of Commons to debate micro-CHP. She argued forcefully that domestic Micro-CHP could ‘contribute to four policy goals of the energy White Paper. First, it reduces CO2 by at least 1.5 tonnes per household per annum. Secondly, when aimed at the mass market, it provides a highly diversified generating source, reducing winter peak demand on the grid and enhancing security of supply, which is obviously welcome when there is concern about the future electricity supply. Thirdly, it provides adequate and affordable home heating, even in homes that are hard to heat, and reduces energy bills by some £150 a year, which makes it the heating system with the lowest lifetime cost. Fourthly, it helps to improve our competitiveness, as the UK is at the forefront of the technology.’ 9. Mini-Hydo project blockedThe £6m 3.55 MW mini hydro project planned by Highland Light and Power for Shieldaig/Slattadale (see Renew 148) has been rejected by Scottish Executive. Highland Light and Powers project director Jock Robertson said he was ‘very disappointed that the Scottish Executive has seen fit to overrule the expressed desire of the local community and the Highland Council’ He added ‘It is particularly saddening that the decision seems to have been taken without any kind of precedent, and that the Executive has decided that the opinions of the environmental lobby and non-elected quangos were of greater importance than the needs and desires of the local community and democratically elected council’. 10. Europe Roundup‘EU must try harder’...The European Union will miss its emission targets under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, unless EU Member States implement additional measures and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions according to a recent European Commission report, which states that the decreasing emission trend since 1990 has been reversed in 2000 and 2001....MORE Germany sets new TargetIt certainly is worrying. Projections of greenhouse gas emissions for the EU in 2010 show considerably higher emissions than the projections of the previous year. Germany - more for PV & biofuels ...MORENew regulations for photovoltaic solar came into force in Germany in January which guarantee every operator of a PV installation a fixed basic reimbursement of 45.7 Euro Cent for each kilowatt hour fed into the public grid. ‘Germany gets it right’‘The German’s approach to small and community projects is a clear winner. Acknowledging that they are more expensive than large-scale projects, but that they have clear benefits to the community and in energy management, German subsidies increase for small projects and for emerging technologies. ...MORE ....EC panics over energy securityEurope could need 750 new power stations in the next 15 years- an extra 300GW- if it is to meet mounting electricity demand and avoid the kind of blackouts that hit Italy this year....MORE Lithuanian WindLithuania, which along with the other 10 new accession states, is now part of the EU, has a reasonable wind energy potential, as we noted in Renew 146, estimated to be of the order of 500MW, according to a study competed by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development...MORE. Norways offshore windThe Norwegian government has received around 2,600 applications to build offshore wind projects, in what promises to be one of the best off-shore areas in the world....MORE France LagsAndre Antolini, the chairman of the French renewable energy association, has claimed that the French government has no real commitment to renewable energy. 11. World RoundupWave energy hits USA100%Renewable Japan ?Exxons ImpactShell Reserves CutClimate Change movesKyoto Ratification12. Nuclear NewsWho will get ITER ?A French site, backed by the EU, was initially favoured for the International Thermonuclear fusion energy reactor, ITER- Cadarache near Marseille. Spain had dropped out of the contest to strengthen the European position against the other site contenders- Canada and Japan. But then came the wrangles. ...MORE N-Wastes haunt ItalyItaly bought Magnox reactor technology from the UK in the 1960’s- our only reactor export success- but closed the reactors down in the 1980’s, after the Chernobyl disaster. However, the wastes that they produced haven’t gone away. ...MORE ...and the UK A six year old study of childrens teeth has come back to haunt BNFL. The results of tests on more than 3,000 extracted teeth by health authorities had showed that the level of plutonium increased the closer one lived to the Sellafield plant, but it had been concluded that the levels were too low to be a health risk. 13 In the rest of Renew 149In the feature in Renew 149 Peter Connor looks at the novel approach to innovation being developed by the Carbon Trust . The Technology section looks at the costs of renewables and at heat producing renewables. There is also coverage of the use of biofuels for vehicles. The Reviews section looks in detail at the Lords debate on tidal power and at the National Consumer Councils report on Sustainable Consumption. The Groups section covers projects in Bristol, Oxford, the East, NE and NW and Scotland. There’s an editorial on the pros and cons of Long-termism and a Forum contribution from SERA on PV solar. |
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