Engineering news
Time is rapidly running out to make the crucial planning decisions and secure investment to keep the UK on track to deliver a reliable, affordable and decarbonised energy system to meet future climate change targets, according to a new report by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The study, entitled 'A Critical Time for UK Energy Policy,' was prepared for the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology, looks at the future evolution of the UK’s energy system in the short to medium term. It explains that there are serious risks in the delivery of the optimal energy system for the UK and that substantial investment is needed, largely by the private sector. It also details the actions needed now to create a secure and affordable low carbon energy system for 2030 and beyond.
The report outlines that certain actions are required by government as a matter of urgency, such as enabling local or regional whole-system, large scale pilot projects to establish real-world examples of how the future system will work. These must move beyond current single technology demonstrators and include all aspects of the energy systems along with consumer behaviour and financial mechanisms.
The report also draws attention to the necessity to drive forward new capacity in the three main low carbon electricity generating technologies: nuclear, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and offshore wind, develop policies to accelerate demand reduction, especially in domestic heating, and introduce smarter demand management, as well as to clarify and stabilise market mechanisms and incentives in order to give industry the confidence to invest.
While technologies could become unexpectedly significant – such as solar PV, which has recently become much cheaper, large scale deployment of novel technologies would take decades and the system cannot be planned on promises and aspirations alone. The academy calls instead for a combination of known technologies to be scaled up to unprecedented levels and integrated in smarter ways. The addition of shale gas or tight oil is unlikely to have a major impact on the evolution of the UK's energy system as we already have secure and diverse supplies of hydrocarbons from multiple sources.
Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) chief executive Dr David Clarke, who led the group that produced the report, said the report’s findings closely align to the ETI’s view that the UK can implement an affordable transition to a low carbon energy system by 2050 but decisions taken in the next decade will be critical.
Clarke said: “Updating the UK energy system to meet the ‘trilemma’ of decarbonisation, security and affordability is a massive undertaking. Meeting national targets affordably requires substantial decarbonisation of the electricity system by 2030 through a mix of nuclear power, CCS and renewables with gas generation for balancing.
“Beyond 2030 we must then largely decarbonise heat and transport, potentially through electrification but also using other options such as hydrogen and biofuels. We also need to adapt our transmission and distribution networks to become ‘smarter’.
"Failure to plan the development of the whole energy system carefully will result, at best, in huge increases in the cost of delivery or, at worst, a failure to deliver."
Clarke said substantial investment is needed and current investment capacity is fragile. For example, in the past month projects like Carlton’s new Trafford CCGT plant have announced further financing delays and the hoped-for investment by Drax in the White Rose CCS demonstrator has been withdrawn.
The UK has also dropped four places to 11th in EY’s renewable energy country attractiveness index.