APPENDIX F Agenda Item No. 9 RENEWABLE ENERGY OVERVIEW 1 Purpose 1.1 This report is to inform the Committee on the national situation with regard to renewable energy, as it applies to the district. It sets the scene for reports to future meetings of this Committee looking at renewable energy, including wind energy and sustainable construction. 2 Recommendations 2.1 That the Committee notes the information provided within the report and takes this into account when considering future related reports. 2.2 That the Committee identifies any specific issues emerging that they would want to see covered in the forthcoming related reports. 3 Executive Summary 3.1 This report is the first of three that will come together to cover a broad range of issues relating to how we respond to renewable energy and sustainable construction in new and existing developments. 3.2 This report is to inform the Committee on the current direction of National policy with regard to renewable heat and power. It sets out the forthcoming legislation and government targets that we are expected to achieve. 3.3 Taking forward this more general “scene setting”, a report will come to the next meeting of this Committee, to explain how we would approach any wind- farm applications that are submitted in the context of our current planning policies. A third report will come to a future meeting, covering sustainable construction issues. 3.4 National Context 3.5 The Nation’s electricity demand stands currently at 330TWh (a Terawatt/hour is a billion Kilowatt/hours so for context, if a typical house uses 4,000kWh/year (the UK average), this equates to electricity to power 82.5 million homes). Clearly with around 26m homes in the UK, households only form a proportion of the electricity demand. This total demand is likely to rise to 500TWh by 2050 as more electricity is required to power cars and heat and cool houses and premises. 3.6 The Government has set itself a challenge to reduce (from 1990 figures) its CO2 levels by 34% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. Around 1/4 (21 Gigawatts) of the UK’s current electricity generating capacity (around 80GW) is to be retired between now and 2025. As such, a massive shift must take place in this electricity generation mix. It should be remembered that a GW (or W, kW, MW, TW) is a measure of power – how fast a piece of equipment will consume electricity; A GWh is a measure of electricity used. GW is akin to the CC of a car engine whereas GWh could be likened to the litres of diesel that the car uses as it drives 3.7 Table below sets out the current electricity generation mix. F1 Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2011. Fuel Percentage Gas 47% Coal 28% Nuclear 16% Renewables 7% Imports 1% Other 1% Government Overall (Non Planning) Policy 3.8 Coal fired electricity generation must reduce from 28% of electrical generation capacity today to just 3% by 2030. This due in part to the politics of coal in the UK, the formative nature of research in to carbon capture and storage (CCS). Whilst CCS technology (capturing CO2 and storing it in rock formations under the North Sea) is seeing large scale government investment in the UK, this technology is likely to be sold to nations that carry significant levels of coal and can be expected to utilise this (Russia, India, China, USA). 3.9 Nuclear power is likely to provide the same 16% of generation in 2030 as it does today; However, of the 17 nuclear power stations open today, only Sizewell will remain in 2030. So new capacity is currently likely to fill the generation gap. The Government’s National Policy Statement (see 4.21) on nuclear power generation lists eight sites across the country as potentially suitable for new nuclear power stations by 2025. 3.10 Supply fuels have changed; gas turbine power stations represent 47% of the country’s electricity generation – Because North Sea oil (and subsequently gas) peaked in 1999 and is now in terminal decline, we have moved from importing 1% of gas in 2001 to 50% today and the figure is likely to rise to 75% by 2020. This presents future global security of supply issues. 3.11 The largest projected increase in the mix will be wind turbine power. Current national plans expect 28 Gigawatts (GW) of wind by 2020 of which 8-13 GW is to be on shore. The UK is the windiest country in Europe. Wind speeds whilst reducing the further south one travels, are exceptionally good both on and off-shore. Reliance on off-shore only is not a realistic option in the short to medium term since to achieve 20GW (see 3.6), these must all be grid connected. This would require sub-sea cables connecting to around 60 on shore landing points, each with its own sub-station the size of two football pitches. Generation proximate to area of use is therefore preferable. Large global investment is taking place to provide energy storage (capacitor and battery technology) to not only address wind intermittence but also balance supply and demand and avoid the waste losses of energy caused by inaccurate predictions of demand caused by electricity needing to be used as it is generated. F2 3.12 Combined heat and power (CHP) This technology is proven and accounted (in 2009) for some 5.7GW (electricity production) of UK supply. To make it efficient, it must be designed to make use of heat proximate to its production and at times to ensure it runs constantly. 3.13 The UK is the largest predicted market for marine energy (wave energy which comes from wind powered waves travelling across the surface of the sea and tidal energy from predictable tidal streams caused by the gravity of the moon and other celestial bodies). However, whilst this is likely for the UK to amount to some 110MW of the global 150MW by 2015, this represents a fraction of the current 80GW UK requirement. 3.14 Solar Photovoltaics (PVs) are photo cells that are excited by sunlight and produce electricity which is converted from DC to AC via an inverter for commercial/domestic use or export to the grid. The business case for Solar Photovoltaic fields similar to that installed at Westcott Venture Park in summer of this year was significantly diminished with the recent Government’s review of Solar PV which came into effect on 1 August 2011. This effectively reduced the financial incentives for large scale installation from 30.7p/kWh generated to 8.5p, a 72% reduction. 3.15 The case for Geothermal energy to produce electricity is possible in areas of the UK where viable underground heat at achievable depths is possible (SW England). Geothermal energy comes from the thermal earth inner activity, mainly where there is volcanic activity. The deposits of heat may be exploited with almost constant power supply. Once steam reaches the earth’s surface through wells, it is used to produce electricity, (or in some cases used for non- electric purposes e.g. building heating) 3.16 Hydro electricity is largely optimised in the UK because of an end to dam building. In principle, any brook or stream could be ‘tapped’ provided there is a sufficient “Head” of water to turn a water wheel or Archimedean screw to serve as a turbine for electricity generation. 3.17 Energy from Waste is not part of the Feed in Tariff (FiT) (See 5.1) scheme although it can benefit from other subsidies. It will play a very small part on the energy mix as energy is a by-product (rather than a sought resource) from this technology. 3.18 Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is supported by government and demonstrated by the fact (if appropriately sized) it can receive financial incentives from both the FiT and the Renewable Heat incentive (RHI) (See 5.3). AD takes organic (food and garden waste) to produce a biogas (bio-methane) which can then be used in electricity generation. 3.19 In all of these energy mix scenarios, new infrastructure must be implemented. Underground cabling at 10 times the cost of pylons will be hard to justify so more pylons will likely be required across the country. 3.20 To demonstrate some of the difficulties the Government’s carbon targets represent, DECC have created a website which allows the user to mix the generation technologies to achieve the targets whilst exposing the unintended consequences of same. This publicly available tool can be found at www.2050-calculator-tool.decc.gov.uk F3 3.21 The relative combustion/generation efficiencies of the technologies discussed above are set out in order below: Source: Eurelectric 2003 (Generation efficiency relates to the percentage of actual electrical energy derived from the fuel source used. Combustion efficiency relates to same but refers to fuels that are combusted to produce heat for steam). Technology Generation Efficiency 3.17 Large Hydro 95% Electric 3.17 Small Hydro 90% Electric 3.14 Tidal (Marine) 90% power 3.11 Gas turbine 39% power stations 3.13 Combined Heat 36% (85% if heat and Power included) 3.09 Coal fired 34% electricity generation 3.10 Nuclear power 33% (current) -36% (next generation) 3.12 Wind turbine 27 to 35% power 3.18 Energy from Waste 22 to 28% Burning waste produces CO2 and as such is neither a renewable nor a low carbon option. 3.15 Solar PV 15% This percentage is increasing significantly, as technology improves. 3.16 Geothermal 15% electricity 3.219 Anaerobic Figures unavailable Digestion F4 4 Drivers For Change / Legislation Energy Security 4.1 The UK is increasingly reliant on fuel exports (see 3.11).