Renewing the debate

The reality, of course, is that renewables are a diverse set of energy sources. Not all of them carry the off-putting landscape costs of large wind farms. Further, the planning system should prevent renewable energy firms building eyesores in what's left of the British wilderness.

Putting its weight behind the benefits of renewable power, the government has set a target of 10% of the UK's electricity being generated from renewables by 2010¹. This will contribute to the "aspirational" goal of a 20% cut in CO₂ in the same timeframe.

The UK renewables target is lower than the one set for the EU as a whole: an "indicative objective" of 12% has been set in Brussels². What's more, the EU target is a percentage of all primary energy – not just electricity generation.

The DTI suggested earlier this year that the "available resource" from renewables could meet up to 50% of current UK electricity demand1. The cost? Less than 3 pence/kWh by 2025, it said – so long as there is an appropriate development programme.

Energy Minister John Battle claims the non-fossil fuel obligation (nffo) has "played a major part in stimulating the industry and bringing down the price of renewables". NFFO has provided more than £600 million of support since it was set up, and spending is set to increase from 2000 – up to £150 million/year.

However, nffo has attracted criticism from some quarters for failing to make much impact on installed capacity. Christopher Crookall-Fallon of Energy for Sustainable Development points out that, of the 1250 MW of firm contract offers made in the first three nffo rounds, only 443 MW had been installed by 1997. This places the UK near the bottom of the European renewable energy league. The main stumbling block, he says, was the denial of planning permission.

Part of the problem stems from nffo's emphasis on cost per unit of electricity⁴. This has forced developers to target the most advantageous sites, which are often the most contentious.

For example, the best sites for wind turbines are naturally those with consistently high wind speeds. These are often in undeveloped upland areas, in many cases areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Crookall-Fallon believes that more government action is required if the benefits of renewable energy are to be achieved – especially against the current background of historically low world oil prices.

Renewed interest on the continent

At EU level, the current renewables tally stands at 6%, most of which comes from large-scale hydro and traditional use of wood as a fuel for heating. These have limited potential for growth, so most attention is placed on newer technologies¹.

Modern forms of biomass, and energy from waste, are seen to offer the biggest growth potential across the EU as a whole. The European Commission is running a "Campaign for take-off", intended to kick-start the market for biomass, photovoltaics and wind energy. It will focus support on 100 communities across Europe, aiming to supply 100% of their energy needs from renewables.

The campaign also intends to install:

• one million pv systems – half of them in building roofs or facades;

• wind farms with a total capacity of 10 GW;

• 10 GW of combined heat and power plants fuelled by biomass.

Meeting these objectives will cost an estimated 20 500 million ecu (£13 500 million). Predictably, perhaps, the EC's hope is that the bulk of this investment will come from the private sector.

Legislation in the big three European wind power countries – Germany, Denmark and Spain – has encouraged private firms to invest. Generators using wind in these countries get a guaranteed minimum price for their electricity. These countries jointly account for 75% of total EU wind generation capacity, and have picked up the economic spoils from 90% of the worldwide market for wind turbines².

The success of legislative incentives in promoting renewables take-up in Germany, Denmark and Spain may mark the path of future government initiatives here – especially because of the desire in Brussels to "harmonize" treatment of renewable energy in different EU markets.

"Renewables are, on present projections, amongst the lowest cost alternatives to gas fired generation³." This is the government's non-environmental argument for pursuing renewables technology. Integration in buildings' energy systems will, presumably, bring costs down still further – by reducing transmission costs.

Moreover, pv and wind turbines may not be the most economical way to make use of renewable energy. Construction Resources and respondents to the government's recent consultation on renewable energy4 believe that using the sun to heat water is a better bet that using it to generate electricity.

The consultation highlighted the "missed opportunity" to avoid CO₂ emissions by using solar heating. Much of the demand for low grade heat in housing could be met this way, more economically than by using pv.

The following pages bring together innovative renewables projects from around the UK – what they set out to achieve, and what thinking lies behind them.