Comments on: Energy for the future

By: Sydney Charles

Sydney Charles — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:11:39 +0000

Reply to Joe Beale
I’m not sure why he suggests ‘investing heavily in nuclear fusion as a permanebt solution’ It all made sense up till then. Is he saying new nuclear fuel would be safe and is necessary for capacity?

By: Chris Jones

Chris Jones — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:28:18 +0000

While BERR acknowledge the UK’s switch to importing energy in the form of oil and gas, at least from a Climate Change perspective, one must ask whether BERR has confronted the prospect of Peak Oil, the peaking of global oil production. Peak Oil for the UK is already a reality (1999) and many experts including the French energy company Total expect a global peak within the next 5-6 years. This does not belittle the importance of steps to mitigate Climate Change, it simply makes the issue that much more urgent. Concerned about this urgency, I am not sure that BERR yet appreciate the difference between reserves of oil and production of oil.

By: Mike Roberts

Mike Roberts — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:41:46 +0000

I have significant concerns over the number of major facilities being planned for energy from waste and energy from biomass. We must maximise the energy outputs and minimise the carbon outputs from all of our resource streams. The Government must ensure that it discourages inefficient technologies and actively supports and promotes those that maximise the opportunity and that can deal with the resource close to site to avoid mass transportation issues. Fast pyrolysis (a technology in which the UK is leading the world) appears to offer best performance potential-a scaleable technology that allows material to be processed close to source and gives greater opportunities to use the heat outputs as plants can be sited adjacent to heavy heat loads.
We need to get away from talk of heat networks for new residential developments. If built to the right standards, new homes need little in the way of heat and a heat network will only make any financial (or carbon) sense in very high density develelopments.
The Government should seek to advance any emerging UK technologies that can potentially convert low grade heat to electricity and any UK fuel cell technology.

By: Mike Parr

Mike Parr — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:09:55 +0000

I’m glad the above article mentions “grid architectures”. I notice last year that Poyry produced a report that was rather condemnatory of how the UK proposes to connect round 3 off-shore win (basically point to point connections). So far HMG has been amazingly silent on the issue of a North Sea Grid - which would vastly improve off-shore utilisation factors. This is most unfortunate given that it looks likely the Germans, Dutch, Belgians and Danes will interconnect their off-shore farms. Given the short distance from, for example, the Dogger bank to the German block of developments (120kms?) there is no reason why there could not be significant interconnection.

By: ebel kemeling

ebel kemeling — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:43:49 +0000

CCS is one of the necessary evils to get us from A to B. The UK will have to become a front runner in CCS by making it a requirement for new build coal plants. There has been some discussion in the past about how difficult this is, but technically it is very easy. Some change of legislation is needed, but that is all.

By: Mike Pitts

Mike Pitts — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:46:49 +0000

 The key opportunities for business in moving to a new energy infrastructure come from localised energy generation from combined heat and power stations in towns to microgeneration in homes and communities. A better case needs to be made for technologies such as anaerobic digestion and demonstrator projects could show the public that local plants can be a loved part of the landscape such as the incinerator in Vienna at Spittelau.

By: Edward

Edward — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:24:12 +0000

The sooner renewable generation increases, the better.
Feed-in tariffs are great news as well as the support for small-scale generation.

By: Jean Aldous

Jean Aldous — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:01:56 +0000

Small scale renewable electricity generators are becoming competitive. According to the International Energy Agency, the era of cheap oil is over and we also need a major de-carbonisation of the world’s energy system to avoid abrupt and irreversible climate change. As the price of fossil fuel rises and Governments ensure that they cover their full environmental costs, efficient and renewable energy technologies will be introduced both in the UK and throughout the world. Small scale renewables can generate electricity on site where the heat is utilised, giving efficiency in the region of 80 to 85%, compared to the grid efficiency of only 35%. More development is needed to bring to market micro wind energy collectors designed to operate in turbulent urban air conditions. Solar photovoltaic systems could be installed in new and refurbished buildings, along with heat pumps. Developers of micro-hydro systems point out that their systems are anti-inflationary in that the value of their energy output rises in line with the price rises of other conventional energy. Paul O’Brien (above) explains that the UK leads the world with marine energy, which with modest investment, could bring enormous economic benefits through indigenous manufacturing. There will also be potential for exporting all renewable energy technologies to developing countries, particularly where there is little electricity infrastructure. Joe Beale and Andrew Gillies (above) suggest that more people would generate their own electricity if there were a better return for the surplus energy they export to the grid and this could be achieved under Government proposals to introduce Feed in Tariffs for small electricity generators. Alternatively, innovative technologies for storing intermittent renewable energy could be utilised, such as hydrogen fuel cell systems. Once large scale production is achieved, renewable energy generators, in conjunction with smart meters, will provide an efficient and cost effective means of generating both electricity and heat for buildings and industry, as well as contributing fuel for electric vehicles.

By: Andrew Gillies

Andrew Gillies — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:46:39 +0000

Insentivise the consumer to generate locally at all levels. If you can make money from it and its low carbon, everybody will oblige!

By: Paul O'Brien

Paul O'Brien — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:07:10 +0000

To maximise the opportunity for UK business we should be concentrating our efforts in energy systems that are not already dominated by imported technologies. Due to the hiatus in new nuclear build in the UK over the last 20 years we have lost the ability to supply the bulk of the components required for new plant. The plans to develop over 40GW of wind power to deliver the 2020 renewable energy target is heavily reliant on wind turbine manufacturers who plan to deliver the turbines from manufacturing facilities in Europe, mostly in Germany and Denmark.
We need to make sure that the scale of the offshore wind market in the UK brings with it the substantial economic benefit and jobs that come through the indigenous manufacturing and supply chain activity that can be enabled by this £100bn market opportunity.
In an open market situation we cannot guarantee that this will be the case.
Where are the indigenous renewable energy technologies that could be the basis of a global industry for the future?
Marine Energy is an area in which the UK currently leads the world and yet we are failing to capitalize on this lead through a lack of the Government investment needed to commercialise these technologies at the pace required to deliver a step change. The Government have already made strategic investments such as the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney and the test facilities at NaREC in the North East that has helped put the UK in the lead in the first place but now greater vision is required to deliver an industry that can not only make a substantial contribution to the 2020 target but create thousands of jobs in the process.
What is required now is to assist this emerging industry to overcome the challenge of bringing new technologies to the market, to de-risk this technology through Government intervention and to make the investment in infrastructure to bring electricity from marine energy resource areas to the demand centres. This will require £200-300m in investment over the next two years from the Government but the rewards are enormous. When compared to the capital cost of decommissioning one nuclear power station this is a small price to pay to put the UK at the forefront of a future global marine energy industry.