How much will renewable energy cost?
Wind power is one of the most expensive ways of generating electricity. The government’s Renewable Energy Strategy document produced in July 2009 records that the expected costs of renewables over the next 20 years will total £57 – 70bn and that eventual benefit in terms of reduced CO² emissions will be £4 – 5bn over that 20 year period. OFGEM say that the power and gas utilities sector will need to spend £200 billion in the coming decade to meet government environmental targets and replace assets coming to the end of their useful life.
Energy suppliers have to show that they are buying a percentage of their energy from renewable sources by presenting Renewable Obligations Certificates (ROCS) or pay an equivalent amount into a buyout fund to cover the shortfall. According to OFGEM the industry presented more than 16m ROCS in the year to March 2008 worth £872m.
Read the article... The Telegraph, Monday 10.08.09
So who pays these costs?
The consumers of electricity pay these costs, be that individual households or industry. That means in the year to 2008, £872m has had to be found from the electricity bills of households and businesses in the UK. Citgroup Global Markets confirmed on 3.2.2010 that in their view to provide for the investment levels needed for renewables over the next 10 years electricity prices will have to rise by 100%. In contrast developers are paid huge subsidies for wind farm sites, again funded by electricity consumers.
In our case Severn Trent have acknowledged at the public meeting held in Salt that they would not be seeking to build these turbines without these subsidies; subsidies that run to six figures per turbine per year. Professor Michael Jefferson (former lead author for the inter governmental panel on climate change) states “The subsidies make is viable for developers to put turbines on sites they would not touch if the money was not available”.
Do wind turbines work?
The first detailed study of onshore wind farms has found that on average wind farms produce about 25 – 30% of their theoretical maximum output, and the best only 50%. The worst are Blyth Harbour in Northumberland which operates at just 7.9%, and Chelker Reservoir in North Yorkshire which operates at only 7.8% of capacity. Read the article... The Times “Feeble Wind Farms Fail to Hit Full Power” 21.3.10.
The former head author for the inter governmental power on climate change states “Too many developments are underperforming. It is because developers grossly exaggerate the potential”.
What does this inefficiency mean in practice?
To state the obvious, wind turbines need the wind to blow to produce energy. Of what use is an energy source that works on average 30% of the time? Flick the switch and you want the lights to come on.
For ten days in the winter of 2006, including the Christmas holiday, the wind power generated was less than 10% of maximum output and the National Grid statistics confirm the poor wind output in relation to peak demand this last winter.
The difficult truth is that we can have long periods, particularly during periods of high pressure (which inconveniently can coincide with the winter months) where the wind simply does not blow. Read the article... Telegraph, 11.1.2010 “Wind farms produced practically no electricity during Britain’s cold snap where it was reported only 0.2% of a possible 5% of the UK’s energy was generated by wind turbines over the last few days”.
How do we keep the lights on?
The difficulty is that to keep our power supplies running we need to plug the gap when the wind farms fail to produce. Coal or gas fire power stations are still essential to maintain the supply of electricity when the wind is not blowing, and running them on standby (ramping up the supply when necessary) is itself inefficient. Indeed the practical difficulties of trying to replace existing power sources with renewables (including wind) can be demonstrated by the actual generation mix shown for this winter (oct 09 to feb10).
E.ON (the electricity supplier) have previously stated: “Coal and gas fire power stations are required to smooth out the fluctuations in wind power output and need to be ramped up and down constantly as wind power output fluctuates. This shortens their service life and causes them to consume more fuel, in much the same way as a car in city traffic. The higher specific fuel consumption produces higher emission levels, thereby negating some of the environmental benefit of wind power…………..Since wind energy on its own is not capable of delivering a reliable supply of electricity it can never be a substitute for large, centralised power stations. Current wind energy subsidies are so high that wind turbines are now also being built in unsuitable locations”.
And we know there are other costs not just measured in money
Dustin Benton, senior policy officer at the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England said that although the organisation is in favour of renewable energy development such as wind power, “It is vital that such schemes get maximum wind gain for our landscape buck. ….. We should be putting wind farms in windy places but these are often the most beautiful landscapes and while we need to maximise the energy generated from wind farms we need to be realistic that there are limits”.
.
Stone & Trent Valley opposed to Severn Trent Water
