More renewables needed to power low-carbon Britain, says Committee on Climate Change

The UK needs a portfolio of renewable energy and low-carbon alternative energy sources, according to a new energy review by the Committee on Climate Change, which launched at Imperial this week - News

by Simon Levey
Wednesday 11 May 2011

The UK Government needs to develop a portfolio of power-generating technologies, covering both renewable energy and other low-carbon alternatives, according to a new energy review by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) launched this week at Imperial College London.

The scientific experts on the committee, including Imperial's Professor Sir Brian Hoskins and Professor Jim Skea, said that renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and geothermal heat, should be able to contribute at least 30% of all power generated in the UK by the year 2030. This would make a major contribution to reducing the UK economy's carbon footprint over the next few decades.

The committee also suggested that a higher share of up to 45% would be feasible, if the cost of renewable technologies were to fall and if the Government pursued policies that would allow the low-carbon technologies to be implemented. Current plans, they say, could lead to unnecessary costs that would be passed on to the average household energy user.

Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, Director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial, said: "In order to limit the risks of climate change it is necessary to significantly reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide by 2050. We know this can be done but only by starting now on a major programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop new low-carbon technologies, which themselves could also bring significant economic opportunities."

The Committee was asked by the newly formed coalition Government in May 2010 to review the country's potential to develop renewable energy, and to advise on existing renewables targets. The review's authors have analysed how technically feasible and economically viable renewable and other low-carbon energy technologies are, and set out proposals to deploy renewable energy to 2030.

The CCC says the recommendations will help the country meet targets agreed by the European Union (EU) and the UK Government on greenhouse gas emissions and low-carbon energy generation. The EU requires  the UK to generate at least 15% of power from renewable sources by 2020 and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 34% from 1990 levels, and the UK has given itself a legal commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% before 2050.

Co-author Professor Jim Skea, Chair in Sustainable Energy in Imperial's Centre for Environmental Policy and Research Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, said: "If we are going to move towards a low carbon energy system, it is imperative that government provides certainty to investors and backs up targets with firm, bankable contracts. Only then will the required portfolio of low carbon technologies, including a major contribution from renewables,  come forward."

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The review highlights that the UK needs to generate power using low-carbon technologies, particularly nuclear, renewables and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), which the authors say have a potentially major role to play.

Based on currently available technology, the authors put forward one illustrative example for the UK's energy mix in which 40% of the country's electricity comes from renewable sources, 40% from nuclear, 15% from coal and gas with CCS and less than 10% from other gas generators.

They describe a range of promising renewable energy technologies that could in future become competitive and affordable, including generating electricity from on-shore and off-shore wind, tidal flows in the ocean, by harnessing power from the difference in temperature between two places (with technology called an air or ground source heat pump), or using bioenergy to generate heat.

Some renewable forms of renewable power generation (such as wind, solar) are inherently intermittent, relying on variable energy sources. The authors have described several options to address this problem. These include introducing policies to encourage flexibility into power dem an d, creating physical infrastructure to allow int erconnecting between different power sources, and setting up back-up generators for wh en supply is low.

The CCC argues that the UK Government should make clear commitments to support research and development of less mature renewable technologies such as off-shore wind and marine generation. They say this is essential if the UK is to lead the way in reducing global carbon emissions.

Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, Lord Adair Turner said: "Our analysis shows that renewable energy technologies are very promising, and have an important role to play in helping to meet the UK's carbon budgets and 2050 target, alongside other low-carbon technologies such as nuclear and CCS. The focus now should be creating a stable investment climate for renewables, making longer-term commitments to support less mature technologies, and putting in place incentives to deliver significantly increased investment in renewable power and heat generation required over the next decade."

A recording of the launch of the energy review can be viewed in the above video.