Wind Power Myths
Dismissed by New Report
Report also highlights government failure to support offshore wind power.
"Offshore wind: At a Crossroads" shows that without additional government support, the roll out of the UK's major offshore wind programme risks being stalled, at a cost of some 75 per cent of possible offshore wind capacity over the next ten years. (1)
Tom Tibbits, Green Party Energy Spokesperson commented: "The latest reportdemonstrates the technical viability of offshore wind, maximising our use of mature UK offshore engineering skills from the declining oil sector, but leaves questions to be answered about the financing of offshore grid connections. The Government must clearly demonstrate how this additional financial burden will not hinder the development of UK energy security and resistance to gas price shocks through wind power development.
"The Greens want to see an extension of the Renewables Obligation to 25% by 2020, making renewables more attractive as investments, and clear support must be given to funding mechanisms for the grid connections. Most other power generators never had to pay for the grid connection as it already existed before privatisation, and National Grid Transco would do well to proactively provide transmission services to offshore windfarms.
"Whilst the nuclear industry is used to receiving enormous government loans and subsidies, the fledgling wind industry does not receive handouts. The onshore wind industry has shown itself to be profitable and is expanding rapidly, but to secure more power with less visual intrusion, offshore wind must be made a reality. Windpower will abate carbon emissions more cheaply than nuclear plants, and have sharply reduced decommissioning costs in comparison to atomic energy."
(1) "Offshore wind: At a Crossroads" is available at: www.bwea.com
A place in the sun
Two Californian utility companies are planning to build a pair of solar power plants that are the most ambitious power plants yet, and could rival their fossil fuel equivalents. Sirling Energy Systems is planning two separate energy farms, one with 300 megawatt capacity, the other 500 megawatts. The plants will use banks of mirrored dishes, each focusing the sun’s raises onto a Stirling engine.
The Stirling engine, also called an external heat engine, is far more efficient in extracting energy from the sun than traditional photovoltaic cells. The engine will boast an efficiency of 30 per cent as opposed to traditional cells’ 10 per cent.
The design of the Stirling engine dates back as far as 1816, and is credited to a Scottish clergyman, Robert Stirling. It was originally intended to be a safer alternative to the steam engine, whose boilers often exploded. Unfortunately, unlike steam and the internal combustion engine, the Stirling engine does not deliver the instant power required for transport. It was used in early refrigeration systems as a precursor to the electric motor. In the 1980s the Swedish built ten Stirling powered submarines.
It is run on hydrogen which, when heated by the dishes, expands to drive pistons. The hydrogen gas is contained within a cylinder. As the gas is heated it expands, and is pushed into the right cylinder, bringing the left cylinder upwards. The hot gas is cooled rapidly in the right cylinder and is compressed by the right piston. This forces the gas back into the heated left cylinder where the process is repeated. This up-down motion of the pistons turns a crank shaft which provides power.
The plants will dwarf the United States’ present total solar energy output of 397 megawatts, and will approach the power capacity of a gas or coal powered plant, which can generate between 500 megawatts and 1 gigawatt each. The largest existing solar farm generates only 80 megawatts.
Spokesman from Stirling Energy Systems comments:
“Without question this will be the largest solar project in the world. There is the possibility that solar energy could go commercial in a big way.”
Construction of the 500 megawatt facility will begin in 2008, eventually using 20,000 dishes, covering 18 square km of desert, with completion aimed at 2012.
Funding Boost for Renewable Energy
The government has unveiled a £30m funding package aimed at promoting renewable electricity sources and reducing carbon emissions. The fund, called Low Carbon Buildings, is intended to increase uptake of technologies such as solar cells, biomass, and small-scale wind turbines.
Industry has given a mixed reaction, with disappointment that the sums are less than in previous years.
Britain lags many other European nations in the use of renewable power.
Announcing the new fund, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said that micro-generation projects are an excellent way for individuals, communities and businesses to make a contribution to tackling climate change.
"As these become more widespread they can help to teach children and future generations about the benefits of renewable energy and the need to use our resources more responsibly," he said.
The Low Carbon Buildings fund replaces two previous government schemes, the Clear Skies and Major PV Demonstration programmes, which have disbursed about £43m over the last four years.
Philip Wolfe, chief executive of the trade group the Renewable Power Association, said he was concerned that the new scheme appears to represent a fall in funding.
"We are pleased to see the government giving some priority to micro-renewables," he told the BBC News website, "but in terms of the size of funding, it looks like a backwards step.
"It won't accelerate the growth in this sector, and our objective and theirs is that the sector should be growing."
"The total amount of money available for these technologies is still very small in comparison to their potential", agreed Chris Tomlinson, Head of Onshore at the British Wind Energy Association.
"The best way for the public and industry to respond is to demonstrate its appetite for renewable power by ensuring this scheme is a sell-out and to build a powerful case for even more Government action on small scale renewables."
The industry was however pleased that the government has decided to bridge what would have been a gap of at least seven months in funding between the end of the previous two schemes and the start of the new one, by bringing forwards the first grant disbursement under Low Carbon Buildings to February.
No silver bullet
The 2003 Energy White Paper set a goal of stimulating Britain's nascent micro-renewables industry, which has seen a rapid rise in the installation of photovoltaic solar cells, solar thermal hot water systems, and heat pumps.
he drive has since acquired more urgency, with high oil and gas prices and the growing reliance on imported gas.
Mr Wicks said some heavy energy users, such as chemical companies, might have to cut back if the winter is colder than average, putting supplies under pressure.
The government is now keen to involve more industrial sectors in micro-renewables, persuading companies in electricity generation, construction and buildings management to invest in the technologies.
Shell, EDF Energy, SSE and Scottish Power are among the companies which have been called upon to support micro-generation.
Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy, said: "There is no silver bullet for dealing with the challenge posed by climate change. Energy efficiency will be vital.
I am convinced there is a great deal more to be done to encourage changes in behaviour which can really make a difference to energy consumption."
But for the house-holder, it is difficult to divorce behaviour change from economics; and the open question is whether the Low Carbon Buildings fund is large enough that the demand for micro-renewables will continue to grow.
Source - BBC 2/11/05
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