UKERC analysis – relative energy costs

Data from Robert Gross at Imperial College London – graph from The Guardian

The following caught my eye in a series run last week by The Guardian, a interesting adjuct to the previous article.

Key to plots:

GAS – Rising wholesale gas prices have driven the UK’s rising energy bills in recent years. Forecasts show a wide range of cost scenarios, reflecting uncertainty over a fuel which is increasingly imported

OFFSHORE WIND – The cost of offshore wind rose dramatically in the last decade, due in part to steel prices and supply chain shortages. Authoritative forecasts suggest costs will come down 25% by 2025

ONSHORE WIND – Onshore turbines are likely to stabilise in cost, according to a range of forecasts, which have a relatively narrow spread of outcomes. Expected to become cheaper than gas this decade

FULL DETAILS OF ARTICLES AND STATS FROM UKERC

TSB announce new renewables innovation centre in Glasgow

The Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has today announced that the UK-wide consortium bid from Carbon Trust, National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) and Ocean Energy Innovation has been selected to play a pivotal role in setting up the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult. The new Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult will have it’s headquarters in Glasgow – with the operational centre in Northumberland close to the National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec). The location in Glasgow will be alongside a number of organisations with complementary interests in the International Technology and Renewable Energy Zone (ITREZ). ITREZ already incorporates Strathclyde University’s £89 million Technology Innovation Centre and has secured industry partners including Scottish and Southern Energy, ScottishPower and the Weir Group.

The new Catapult will focus on technologies applicable to offshore wind, tidal and wave power. It will also build strong links with centres of excellence, such as the European Marine Energy Centre and Wave Hub.

The Catapult, expected to open for business in the summer of 2012, will bring together knowledge, expertise and state of the art facilities to help UK businesses innovate and find new ways to capture and use the power from offshore renewable energy sourcesand may also advise the UK government on its renewable energy policies.

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT HERE

ETP call for proposals for Doctoral Studentship programme

The Energy technology Partnership (ETP) have announced they are able to offer up to 20 studentships in 2012, specifically related to the areas of:

• Wind energy;
• Marine energy;
• Bio-energy;
• Solar energy;
• Energy conversion and storage;
• Energy materials;
• Grid and networks;
• Energy utilisation in buildings;
• Carbon Capture and Storage.

Download GUIDANCE NOTES to learn more about the programme, deadline for submission and application requirements.

More details at ETP WEBSITE.

First Welsh tidal array a step closer

The Crown Estate has granted an Agreement for lease for the Skerries Tidal Stream Array, which is proposed for the waters off the coast of Anglesey.

Marine Current Turbines and its project partner RWE npower renewables are developing the site, with the anticipated tidal energy scheme consisting of up to nine turbines in an area between the Skerries group of rocks and islands and Carmel Head, about 1 km off the Anglesey coast. The 10 MW scheme, which has benefited from funding from the Welsh European Funding Office, should be capable of generating enough power to supply electricity to up to 10,000 homes, approximately 20% of Anglesey’s electricity demand.

The Crown Estate lease, a necessary pre-condition for any offshore seabed installation in UK waters, will be issued once the required environmental consents for the project have been granted by the Welsh Government.

The Skerries Tidal Stream Array will use MCT’s proven tidal energy technology known as SeaGen and will be able to contribute towards Anglesey’s vision to establish itself as a recognised centre of excellence for demonstrating, producing and servicing low carbon energy as part of the Energy Island Programme.

Subject to securing planning and financing for the project, MCT and RWE npower renewables are targeting 2014/2015 for the start of commissioning.

FULL ANNOUNCEMENT HERE

ETI request for proposals for WEC system demonstrator

Wave Energy Converter (WEC) System Demonstrator call

Deadline for notification of intention to submit a proposal: 2 December 2011. Closing date: 25 January 2012

The ETI have announced their desire to set up a demonstrator system as a precursor to commercialisation of wave energy generation.

The purpose of this WEC System Demonstrator Project is to accelerate the development and commercialisation of WEC systems through an initial Project Phase of detailed design and economic analysis, focusing specifically on the means of implementing step-change innovative technical solutions. It is intended that this will be followed by a second Phase of the Project, with the ETI investing in the development and subsequent demonstration of some or all of the identified elements. It is expected that demonstration will include system component and system level activities and will be conducted in a representative setting.

The ETI has identified the opportunity for reducing the levelised cost of energy of wave energy generation through the development of innovative WEC system solutions. The cost and performance of the entire system – including the WEC device, fixations, sub-sea infrastructure and on-shore electrical grid connection – and any element of the system that affects the LCoE of the system should be considered. It is expected that step-change innovations to the system that address these areas will be necessary to achieve the successful delivery of ETI Marine Energy Roadmap performance and cost targets.

Project outline pdf

More details on the ETI website

Clegg and Huhne set out government commitment to renewables

The UK government has set it’s cards on the table by announcing proposals to support renewable electricity and bring forward a surge of investment in the UK energy infrastructure.

The consultation proposes new support levels for large scale renewable electricity from 2013-17 (2014-17 for offshore wind) under the Renewables Obligation (RO). As a result of these proposals, they expect to see 70-75 TWh of renewable electricity in the UK by 2017. This is 70% of the way towards the 108TWh of electricity needed to meet the UK’s 2020 renewable energy target.

The proposals are expected to cost between £0.4 and £1.3bn less than retaining current bandings and drive a higher level of deployment than leaving bandings as they are. The announcement claims “The proposals also provide industry with the certainty needed to make investment decisions and will overall mean a lower impact on consumer bills, without reducing our level of ambition.”

Full press release and banding table on DECC website.

UK fuel use figures – spread of consumption across all users

Graph produced using total value section of DECC report ‘dukes1.1.1′ – click to view full size

The full report on UK energy usage (along with many variations and re-workings of the data) are freely available from the DECC, but taking the raw figures for fuels used for inland consumption, split by fuel type from 1970 gives an interesting visual indication of our fuel usage by percentage. The graph above is only split by type of fuel with the addition of a summary line indicating the total percentage of fossil fuels used in the UK throughout the period (includes gas, coal, petroleum). This is the figure I found particularly interesting, only fluctuating from 96.5% dependency on fossil fuels in 1970 towards the 2010 figure of 89.8%. The influence of the miners strike around 1984 can also clearly be seen.

It seems to show the UK has a long way to go to realise our targets of renewable energy usage. The table of figures used to produce the graph is below (click to view full size);

The Full 2011 report with analysis is available from the DECC website

AEA report on micro-renewables in UK

AEA have released their latest reports tracking the progress of micro-generation across the UK. This year there is a separate report for Scotland even though the main report includes data from Scotland. However, this does highlight some very marked differences in micro generation north and south of the border.

The AEA Microgeneration Index provides analysis of the UK microgeneration sector’s and establishes how well Government incentives are working.

It covers the technologies included in the UK Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme, introduced in April 2010. The FIT scheme, together with the forthcoming Renewable Heat Incentive, has a major role to play in helping the UK make a successful transition to a low carbon economy.

The low carbon technologies supported by the FIT scheme include:

Solar photovoltaics (PV).
Wind.
Hydro.
Anaerobic digestion (AD).
Domestic-scale micro combined heat and power (CHP) (up to and including 2 kWe – pilot for first 30,000 schemes).

AEA UK Microgeneration Index – Issue 4 (pdf)
AEA Microgeneration Scot 11 (pdf)

Link to AEA report webpage for further information

ERG at 2011 EWTEC

ERG team members Iona and Mike are at EWTEC in Southampton all this week….here’s the stand just after set-up.

More information on EWTEC 2011

EnergyNorth awards 2011

Award ceremony – Thursday 29th September 2011

The annual EnergyNorth Awards are approaching fast. The awards celebrate the contribution businesses and individuals have made to developing the energy industry in the Highlands & Islands region whether it be a project, service, technology or investment in skills across the oil and gas, fossil based energy, renewables or the nuclear sectors.

Any business or individual can enter the awards so please consider what you have been doing recently and apply to enter the awards. If there is a person, project, technology or business which you think should be recognised please nominate them. All nominations will be considered by a industry panel.

Award Categories for 2011

• Best Oil & Gas Industry Service Supplier
• Best Subsea Industry Service Supplier
• Best Renewable Energy – Onshore
• Best Renewable Energy – Offshore
• Best Service Supply
• Best Export Award
• Best Pioneer Award
• Energy North Ambassador Award

For nominations or information on attending see the awards website.