Energy Map of the UK 2030 - Report Example

Title: ‘Energy Map of the UK 2030’

Abstract

This report briefly evaluates the following UK energy electrical energy generation resources: Fossil Fuel, Hydro, Nuclear, Wind and Solar PV in the context of their technology how electrical l energy is produced, and their likely contribution of each fuel source to the 2030 energy map of the UK

Introduction

The UK has embraced several technologies in the generation of electrical energy from the use of fossil fuels to other renewable sources of power. During the 1960s and the 1970s, UK’s electrical energy capacity was hugely by use of coal with a number of generation stations being developed with capacities between just below 1, 000 MW to stations producing about 4, 000 MW. After to 1970s, there has been little growth of coal stations installed capacities as focus shifted to other emerging technologies. This paper aims at studying these previous energy technologies, current technologies as well as how the future will look like. As will be seen in the discussion below, the UK has been keen on embracing renewable energy technologies as it seeks to meet the EU targets on renewable energy sources. The biggest motivation has been the global concern about the emission of carbon and carbon compounds into the atmosphere which has resulted to significant global warming. As highlighted in the discussion below, the UK has made significant steps toward the realization of its plan to have renewable technologies as the major energy sources for electric power.

Energy Sources

Fossil Fuel

Fossil fuels are basically the remains of organism that lived on earth 100 million to 400 million years ago that have undergone transformation under immense heat and pressure to form oil, gas and coal. To produce electricity, these fuels are burn and the steam produced after evaporation of water is used to drive steam turbine generators. Although the UK still has about 20 GW of coal capacity, now new coal plant has been build since 1986 (Carbon brief, 2015). Following the closure of major coal stations up to last year, coal generated power fell to only 6% of total energy generated in spring last year while gas generated 45%. Given its efficiency and the comparatively low carbon emission, gas continues to replace traditional coal power generation. By 2030, UK plans to have done away with coal as source of electricity

Fig: Electric generation from coal and gas in the UK, 2013-2016 (source: The guardian, 2016).

Hydro power

This one of the common renewable sources of energy since it does not use up any natural resources nor does it emit any pollutants. This power is obtained from flowing water in rivers or winter and spring runoff from raised areas/mountains. The kinetic energy of the water is used to turn a turbine that is coupled to a generator to produce power. Hydro power stations have only contributed a small percentage of the UK power demands with many stations limited to Scotland and Wales since these regions experience considerably higher rainfalls, have mountains and are sparsely populated (Carbon brief, 2016). Hydro power station required huge areas of land and are associated with great environmental disturbances. With a capacity of 1.3GW in 2007, this capacity has not significantly increased. It is expected, however, that together with wave, solar, geothermal and wave, the renewable sources will contribute about 19% of UK’s power by 2030.

Nuclear power

Nuclear energy is that which is contained within the nucleus of atoms. At the nucleus of each atom, there are neutrons and protons that are held together by the nuclear energy. This energy is harnessed through splitting the atom’s nucleus and combination of smaller nuclear through processes called nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. The released energy is used to superheat water to produce steam which is used to drive turbine generators. In the effort to have a balanced mix of generation technologies, the UK has projected that about 14GW of new nuclear generating stations will have been built by 2035. The challenge of nuclear development is the huge upfront costs and the fact that these stations take long to complete. The last nuclear plant to be constructed was completed in 1995 (The department of Energy & Climate Change, 2016)

Wind power

Wind energy technologies utilize the kinetic energy of the wind to generate power. Wind energy comes from the sun’s uneven heat on the atmosphere, the irregular surface of the earth and the revolution of the earth around the sun. Many of these technologies are used are employed as standalone applications. For big installations, several turbines are erected in a wind farm where they are driven by wind to produce huge amount of electrical energy. The UK is keen to further develop onshore and offshore wind technologies by ensuring that developers can access timely and low cost access to the network. By 2015 UK had installed capacity of 3.7 GW of offshore wind power with projections indicating that offshore wind energy capacity could be equivalent to 35% of total installed power capacity of the UK by 2030. This is in an effort to totally eradicate the use of fossil fuels (Dong energy, 2015). Combined onshore and offshore sources could represent over 55% of UK electric power.

Solar PV

This energy sources converts energy from the sunlight into electric power either through the direct use of photovoltaics or indirectly by the use of concentrated solar power where lenses and/or mirrors are and tracking technologies are used to concentrate a huge area of sunlight into a smaller beam. The photvoltaics panels carry out the conversion of the sun’s rays into electric power through the excitation of electrons within silicon cells using the sunlight’s energy. The excited electrons are harnessed as electricity. The UK is keen to harness the potential of solar power as it seeks to see reduced power costs and enhancement of renewable sources. The National grid estimates that by 2020, the UK will have an installed solar capacity of 18GW, against an earlier prediction of 20GW, if policy support was diverted to it. By 2030, predictions by the consumer power scenarios indicate that the capacity could have reached 29GW (Stoker, 2015).

Summary and Conclusion

The UK has been keen on the revolution of its electricity general sources by reducing the initial reliance of fossil fuels in form of coal and gas. Over the past few years, gas sources have predominantly replaced coal generation as the UK strives to reduce carbon emission. More recently, the UK has passed laws and put in place policies to ensure the development of renewable energy sources and a total eradication of fossil fuels by 2030. Of the various renewable energies, the use of onshore and offshore wind resources has taken centre stage with projections indicating that up to 55% of UK’s generation sources will be onshore and offshore wind. Other sources like nuclear, hydro and solar are also expected to play a significant role. Given the ease of installations and the new technologies being developed, solar energy is expected to grow very fast as compared to nuclear energy that required huge cost and employs more complex technologies. Below is a summary of the trends:

Fig: comparison of energy mix 2010 & 2030 (source: FOE, 2012)