Renewable and Solar Power in the UK - Essay Example

?Solar energy in the UK This is a review of some current literature on solar energy and the current situation in the UK. It establishes the scope forusing solar power based technologies in the UK, the advantages and issue arising from adopting them, and gives a brief overview of some latest developments. Solar energy is a renewable source of power that derives from the light and heat energy generated by our Sun. It is an alternative for the more widespread fossil fuel based energy sources such as oil, gas and coal. Common solar power based technologies in use in the UK are solar photovoltaics in the form of panels or roof tiles for producing electricity and solar water heating installations or 'thermal collectors' for producing heat. The scope for using solar power based technologies in the UK The UK possesses 0.3% of global oil reserves. A peak for oil production in the UK occurred in 1999, and by 2010, this tailed off by 54% (Busby, 2010). There are indications however, that there could be an estimated 25 billion barrels of oil remaining in British waters (BBC News, 2010). Tapping into these reserves however, would require a capital expenditure of around ?60 billion so it would be very costly. As of 2010, oil production in the UK was 63 million tonnes, estimated reserves stood at 751 million tonnes, which was a decrease of 18 million tonnes from the previous year (DECC, 2011). Gas production in the same year was 55 bcm and reserves stood at 253 bcm, which was 3 bcm less than the previous year (ibid). The situation for natural gas in the UK is therefore similar. There was a sharp decline in UK gas reserves from 0.74 trillion cubic meters in 2000 to 0.66 trillion cubic meters in 2001 and by the year 2010, the gas reserves were as low as 0.25 trillion cubic meters. Also, as the production of gas in the UK is 57.1 billion cubic meters whereas the requirement is for 93.8 billion cubic meters, 39% of the UK's gas supply requirements is met by import (ibid). Oil reserves are also diminishing globally. The official OPEC's claim of an estimated 1.150 billion barrels is exaggerated and the actual reserves are believed to be between 850 billion and 1.35 billion barrels (Telegraph, 2010). Moreover, it is believed that the demand could outstrip the supply by 2014. In fact, natural reserves are decreasing for both oil and gas while at the same time, there is a rising global demand for coal and oil. For the UK, Busby (2010) suggests greater use should be made of bio-diesel, landfill gas, and geophysical energy sources such as wind energy and hydropower. However, there is a problem in that deriving energy from the wind, rain and Sun is not as reliable as using pumped storage systems. Regardless, wind and solar powered technologies are promising. Wind energy for example, could meet up to 20% of the national energy requirements (Busby, 2010). As of July 2011, the UK government has now decided to promote the use of low-carbon forms of energy as part of its reformation strategy through providing incentives such as Fee-in-Tariffs for solar PV, Renewable Heating for wind and nuclear power and through establishing an emission performance standard (Envirolink, 2011). In its Energy White Paper 2011, the government set out its objectives (SSE, 2011). These included providing additional revenues to existing low carbon production efforts, making future investments in low carbon generation, and shutting down older less efficient plants. In its publication titled 'Carbon Footprint of Electricity Generation', the government recognised that increasing energy needs and controlling environmental impact are the two biggest challenges for the UK energy sector (POST, 2011). Solar power can meet the need for reducing the UK's carbon footprint because the environmental impact of its use is much less than of coal and other fossil fuels. In fact, all fossil fuelled technologies, such as oil, gas and coal, have the largest carbon footprints whereas non-fossil fuel based technologies such as solar, wind, tidal, hydro, biomass and nuclear are either 'low carbon' or 'carbon neutral' as no CO2 emissions are involved during their operation (POST, 2006). For example, conventional coal combustion systems result in high carbon emissions exceeding 1000 gCO2ea/kWh. It is possible to reduce emissions to lower than 800 gCO2ea/kWh, for example, by using more efficient gasification plants or through Carbon Capture and Storage , but these technologies are not yet widespread. Besides, the levels are still very high. For electricity generation, oil only accounts for 1% in the UK. Its carbon footprint is around 650 gCO2ea/kWh and the carbon footprint of gas powered electricity generation is around 500 gCO2ea/kWh. These figures compare with 58gCO2eq/kWh for photovoltaic powered systems in the UK although this is expected to be reduced further with the development of thin-film technologies and new semi-conducting materials. Incidentally, PV systems in southern Europe have a lower emission of 35gCO2eq/kWh due to greater sunlight and therefore longer operating hours and higher energy output. According to The Network for Alternative Technology and Technology Assessment (NATTA), there is potential for the use of photovoltaic cells to capture solar energy in the UK among other renewable energy sources. It is also noted that the UK is not utilising its potential and currently, it is only meeting 2% of its total energy needs through renewable sources. Nuclear energy is one of several alternative options in the UK but the problem with this form of energy is the high costs of investment required (Howes et al., 2011). Also, the plants have a limited operational period, and there are further problems with waste management and security. Another options is biomass for which several sources for supply have been identified. However, this too has issues such as rising prices and relating to location and terrain. An independent study conducted in 2008, identified various ways in which to secure the UK's energy future (Jennings et al., 2009: 1-8). It was pointed out that expenditure on nuclear power and gas-fired power plants will remain considerable while it will be reduced on coal. At the same time, expenditure on renewable energy generation is expected to be the highest at around 112.5 billion pounds with onshore production in 2025 at 9 GW and offshore at 33 GW. The use of solar power combined with other non-tidal and non-hydro sources will account for 5 GW, which compares with 8.6 GW for tidal and 1.5 GW for hydro. Achieving this target however will require a total capital investment of around 234 billion pounds, which raises concerns of debt interest and loan repayment and in ensuring an adequate return on investment. Another estimate claims the potential for PV specifically to be greater than 1 TWh, which is marginal though in comparison to wind power, marine power and bioenergy (Moselle et al., 2010: 255). The aforementioned issues with biomass however, could mean that the longer term potential for solar power is far better. A greater reliance on solar powered technologies can alleviate these concerns while at the same time meeting the needs for a cleaner source and long-term solution for the UK's energy provision. On its own, solar power would not be sufficient, as the government acknowledges (Moselle, 2010: 5), but it could certainly make a more significant contribution to make a difference in the UK. To help promote the use of solar power, the government has already envisioned, for example, the use of smart meters that would be capable of selling spare electricity generated from PV panels to the National Grid (DTI, 2006). This 'microgeneration' would be part of a new 'distributed electricity generation'. Such a system has already been demonstrated, as in Woking, which during the period 1991-2004 had installed 10% of the UK's PV capacity, and in Kirklees in West Yorkshire, which had installed 5% of the installed capacity of solar PV panels in the UK in its homes, schools and other civic buildings. The government is keen to promote the use of solar powered technologies further as part of its microgeneration strategy. A study by Staffell et al. (2010) showed that despite the issues of installation costs and performance issues, microgeneration technologies have substantial improvements as compared to conventional generation with respect to the consumption of fossil fuels, CO2 emissions and the cost of energy. It is estimated that it could meet around 30 to 40% of the UK's demand for electricity by 2050 (Watson et al., 2008). The adoption of solar powered technologies in the UK In the UK, the amount of electricity generated from solar photovoltaics has been steadily increasing every year during the past decade from 2000 to 2010 with a sharper increase in the last year. The actual figures are contained in table below and the data is also illustrated on a histogram. As of the third quarter of the year 2011, the share of renewables in electricity generation in the UK was 9%, which was 8.1% at the same time in the previous year (DECC, 2011b). Also, solar photovoltaics represented the largest increase in renewable electricity capacity, which was due to the UK's Feed-in-tariff scheme as of 2011 Q3. Generation of electricity from solar photovoltaics in the UK Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 GWh 1 2 3 3 4 8 11 14 17 20 33 Source: Moselle (2010) (for 2000-2008) and DECC (2011b) (for 2009-2010) Electricity generation from solar photovoltaics in the UK from 2000 to 2010 Source: Generated from the above data In a study by Caird et al. (2008), consumers in the UK were surveyed to find out their reasons for adopting or not adopting measures based on renewable energy systems for improving their household energy performance and their experience. The data was gathered from 400 respondents to an online questionnaire made available during 2006 and 111 telephone based interviews. Solar thermal water heating and solar photovoltaics were not the only renewable energies considered as micro-wind turbines and wood-burning stoves were also included. The measures for energy efficiency were loft insulation, condensing boilers, heating controls and energy-efficient lighting. The main finding as to why people adopt renewable energy systems was that they do so to save on energy, on money and on the environment. The proportion of the sample that had adopted solar thermal water heating systems was 10% (which compares with 0.3% of the UK as a whole), which was the most commonly adopted of the four technologies, and the proportion that had adopted solar photovoltaics was 3%. It was also found that the biggest issue that hinders the adoption of renewable energy technologies in general and solar powered technologies in particular, is their cost besides general knowledge about them and installation issues (Caird et al., 2008). Other issues include lack of awareness and some remaining legislative barriers. For solar thermal water heating specifically, the main hurdle was finding a suitable installer. For solar photovoltaics, the main barrier to installing PV was its capital cost, while other reasons were long payback period, insufficient output, difficulties with National Grid connections, in finding an installer, and not having a suitable location. Consequently, satisfaction for solar PV was low, probably because of insufficient electricity being generated and poor feed-in-tariffs. A major issue with renewable power sources in general therefore is that of performance due to intermittency and hence their reliability. Despite a great potential to reduce CO2 emissions in the electric power generation sector, this issue prevents their wider scale integration into the UK's National Grid (Hart et al., 2012). The energy penetration factor of intermittent technologies is used as the basis for modelling techniques to characterise their systems. Also, in contrast to the arrangements in China where there is UHV transmission, the Smart Grids network in the UK is geared towards developing these networks and on the demand side (Sun et al., 2010). Despite such issues as mentioned above, the PV market in the UK has been growing steadily at a rate of 25% annually and according to a study conducted for UK Trade & Investment, its market could become one of the largest in Europe by the year 2020 (UKTI, 2008). The UK is also one of the leading countries in terms of making solar power related inventions. Its relative position among the top 10 European inventor countries can be seen in the graphs below, shown by the red bars. The position of the UK among the top 10 inventor countries for European patents filed between 1980 and 2007 Source: Dechezlepretre & Martin (2010) An active solar technology such as the photovoltaic panel is acknowledged as one of the best ways to harness the energy coming from Sun (Parida et al., 2011). The amount of power intercepted by the Earth is 1.8 x 1011 MW. This is several times greater than the present energy consumption rate. It is therefore not only the cleanest of the renewable sources as established above, but it is also in abundant and inexhaustible supply. Active solar technologies such as photovoltaic panels and thermal collectors have been shown to be of even greater benefit than three other heating energy topologies in terms of providing “sustainable, decarbonised, low energy systems and approaches that are socially acceptable and economically beneficial” (Monahan & Powell, 2011). The three other topologies were ground sourced heat pumps, passive solar and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and conventional high efficiency gas boilers. The comparison was based on calculations of carbon emissions in newly constructed low-energy homes during an occupation period of 20 years in respect of three criteria, namely (1) energy use, (2) consequential CO2 emissions, and (3) annual running costs. Homes fitted with active solar technologies proved to be the most beneficial with respect to all three of these criteria, whereas in comparison, ground source heat pumps had the highest levels of emission and running costs. Some latest developments in solar powered technologies in the UK There is also potential for using 'concentrated solar power' (CSP) in the UK. Coelho et al. (2010) suggest implementing an approach whereby factual bridges are built from existing fossil based technologies leading to renewable technologies. A network model is illustrated below that shows CSP at the centre of an arrangement that combines the use of biomass, electricity and steam, water and fossil fuels. Concentrated solar power Source: Coelho et al. (2010) As there is relatively little sunlight in the UK, one option is to invest in developing CSP in areas that receive plenty of sunshine and to then transmit that energy into the UK (Williges et al., 2010). It would be a very expensive option however. Another options for the UK would be to harness high altitude solar power. Aglietti et al. (2009) showed that above altitudes of 6 km, the amount of energy that can be collected can be about four to six times more than from using fixed panels at ground level. They used an aerostatic platform and calculated irradiance levels in the medium to high troposphere. Satellites can also be used to harness solar energy. 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Making concentrated solar power competitive with coal: The costs of a European feed-in-tariff. Energy Policy, Vol. 38, Issue 6, pp. 3089-3097. Read More