The think tank Carbon Connect has produced an independent cross-party report highlighting the need for a sensible ‘middle ground’ in the debate over UK renewables and calling for more cross-party consensus. The report argues that the government could be doing more to narrow the scope of the debate concerning renewable technology beyond 2020 as well as working with industry and academia to establish ‘low regrets’ levels of technology deployment. Perhaps more importantly, the government needs to ensure that policies are in place to incentivise investment, particularly in the supply chain.
Such an approach would provide long term clarity which could secure supply chain investment and giving the UK a head-start in the global race to develop renewable energy infrastructure. Such investment could be missed, delayed or rendered more expensive if there is insufficient confidence over long term demand for key technologies, such as offshore wind. The government should therefore work to incentivise these investments in order to secure cost reductions and help mitigate against high costs if the development of new technologies such as carbon capture or energy storage fails or is delayed.
The report has also found a range of ‘hidden’ benefits from investing in renewables between now and 2020 with particular implications for electricity bills. These include the avoidance of energy bill increases from fossil fuels, increasing the predictability of electricity bills and boosting the economy. The extra money invested in renewables and other forms of low carbon generation could be more than offset by energy efficiency savings. Investment in biomass could also reduce the cost of cutting carbon by £44 billion per year in 2050.
The report argues that the debate on security of supply should focus on the whole electricity system and that individual technologies should be considered with regard to how they add or reduce system risks. Renewables, the report finds, reduces some risks, such as fuel supply, while adding others, such as system balancing, although these risks can be mitigated through the use of a number of existing and developing technologies.
Finally, on sustainability, the report also demolishes a number of myths concerning the amount of carbon emitted by the manufacture of renewable technologies or by backing up technologies such as wind, solar, wave or tidal. Even when these factors are considered renewables are still amongst the most low carbon options.
Former Energy Minister Charles Hendry MP, who chaired the report, said that the UK renewables sector was “not in a good place” and that “a phenomenal amount of investment” was needed to rectify this, adding that “so often, the debate on renewables is characterised by a lack of facts.” Energy Secretary Ed Davey also commented that “We need to see a more mature debate on renewables and energy generally.”
The study was chaired by Charles Hendry and Shadow Energy Minister Baroness Worthington and the report was compiled between May and September 2013. It is part of a year-long, independent and cross-party inquiry into the UK power sector entitled the Future Electricity Series.
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