UK Energy plan for 2020
The United Kingdom government have announced their plans for ensuring that we have reliable and cheap electricity supplies from 2020.
The key words are renewable energy, electricity and wind. Energy from renewables is to provide between 30 to 40% of consumed electricity in the UK (the current figure is 3%). However it is essential to remember that the availability of renewable energy cannot be relied upon - the wind might not blow strongly and tidal and wave energy is not available 24 x 7.
Because renewable energy resources are not always available, the UK must have the capacity to provide 100% of the demand from electricity from fossil fuel power stations and nuclear power stations. When the renewable energy resources are providing electricity to the national grid then the output from the traditional power stations can be reduced.
Renewable resources
Wind farms are an important part of energy plan, it is being seen as the main renewable resource! An extra 4000 wind turbines are planned by 2020. The split between onshore and offshore wind turbines is not clear, hopefully the vast majority will be offshore!
Wave and tidal power have been identified as important parts of the plan. Exactly what is planned is not yet clear.
Smart meters and proper insulation together with solar panels are part of the plan.
Other measures are to encourage millions of us to take up cycling! An interesting move is to create a charging network within the UK to refuel hybrid electric cars - a necessary requirement if we want people to buy these cars! All mainline rail routes are to be converted to use electric trains.
Most of the plans are fairly obvious and are not political. But one measure that is very contraversial are the plans to raise taxes by putting additional charges on our fuel bills with social tariffs which will hit middle class families more. Claims that these taxes will cost families an extra £92 per year have been rejected by critics who claim the cost would be up to £230 per annum in the years up to 2020!
As important as providing energy is the need to cut carbon emissions significantly. To that end fossil fuels should only be used to generate electricity where carbon capture facilities are in place.
The other way of looking at a 40% target for electricity from renewable sources is that 60% of the electricity will not be from renewable sources!
Nuclear power is an essential part of the plans in order to ensure 100% energy availability, and fossil fuel power stations will also be needed although these must have carbon capture processes in place.
The energy in the waves can be captured to do 'useful' work (work that we consider to be useful!). Wave energy is free but it needs to operate some device that generates electricity. There are two basic types of systems designed to harvest wind energy, they are shoreline devices and offshore devices, the names speak for themselves!