|
LONDON, England, April 19, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
The UK should obtain more electricity from
renewables and natural gas over the next decade, rather than from
nuclear, concludes a government committee.
By 2016, between 15 and 20 GW of generating capacity will be
decommissioned in the UK, says the Environmental Audit Committee of
the House of Commons. That is nearly one quarter of the country’s
total generating capacity and will require a “very substantial
investment” to meet demand with “further substantial investment on a
comparable scale” in the following decade.
“There are a number of different lower-carbon technologies which
could contribute on a large scale, including renewables,
microgeneration, offshore wind, nuclear and carbon capture and
storage but there is substantial evidence to show that progress in
deploying key technologies, in particular carbon capture and
storage, off-shore wind, and microgeneration, is inadequate,” it
notes. “The real issue which the government is failing to address is
whether the policy and regulatory framework in place is sufficient
to stimulate the growth of lower-carbon generation on the scale
required.”
“All lower-carbon generating technologies are more expensive than
coal and gas, and will require a long-term funding framework in
order to reduce investment risk and ensure that the necessary
investment takes place,” it notes. The government must provide a
framework to promote investment and the options include modification
of the Renewables Obligation to provide a range of incentives for
different technologies.
In 1999, the UK government set a target of 5% from renewables by
2003 and 10% by 2010, although the latter has been largely
superseded by the targets contained in the RO, it explains. The RO
targets rise steadily each year from 3% in 2003 to 10.4% by 2011,
and a further increase to 15.4% by 2016 was approved to address a
lack of investor confidence threatening the value of Renewable
Obligation Certificates.
The Energy White Paper endorsed the 10% target for 2010, and
included an aspiration to double it by 2020, although it did not set
this level as a firm target. The EU Renewables Directive sets an
overall indicative target of 22.1% by 2010.
The Environmental Audit Committee says renewables generated only
3.1% of electricity in 2004, up from 2.2% in 2003, and the UK “is
likely to fall well short of the 2010 target,” it warns. Of total
green power output in 2004, 84% was generated from landfill gas and
other biofuels, with hydro at 10% and wind at 4.4%.
“It is striking how wind power - often seen as the main medium term
source of renewable energy - contributed only 1,935 GWh, less than
0.5% of the total electricity generated in the UK,” and comparisons
with other EU countries “clearly demonstrate the UK's relatively
poor performance in promoting renewable energy in spite of its rich
natural resource,” it notes. When large hydro is excluded, the UK
ranks second from bottom (ahead of only Greece) among EU-15
countries.
“The scale of the development required for wind to contribute up to
20% of UK electricity by 2020 is immense,” it notes. Assuming 5 MW
turbines and a 30% load factor, it would require 6,000 turbines and
the “physical challenge of installing so many units is huge,” while
the extent of opposition to onshore windfarms “may limit the scale
of generation achievable unless the government takes more radical
steps to tackle the planning process.”
“Renewables and distributed generation could also contribute hugely
in both a national and global context, but many of the technologies
involved warrant special support to bring them to market and achieve
the cost-reductions which will make them competitive,” the report
explains. “We remain convinced that the vision contained in the
White Paper, with its focus on energy efficiency and renewables as
cornerstones of a future sustainable energy policy, remains correct.
What is now needed is a far greater degree of commitment from the
government in implementing it.”
Click here for more info
Visit http://www.sparksdata.co.uk/refocus/
for your international energy focus!!
Refocus © Copyright 2005, Elsevier
Ltd, All rights reserved.
|
