The energy sector has been responding to the government’s Clean Growth Strategy.
Energy Institute chief executive Louise Kingham said: “Putting CCS back at the table and action to tackle emissions from heat, alongside renewables, nuclear and electric vehicles make this a credible plan… Hitting 57% emission reduction by 2030 in a cost-effective way, and realising the big industrial wins that come with that, calls for a no-surprises investment climate. This includes policies aimed at getting the best deal for billpayers, which must take a balanced, long-term view of consumer interest.”
John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: “The strategy is on the right track but we need a more ambitious destination. Our small country could be a big power on low carbon solutions if we keep up the momentum, especially on energy efficiency and electric vehicles. The government’s punt on offshore wind has already paid off in spectacular style, and proves that clean technology, ambitious developers and government support are a winning combination.”
Louis Shaffer, distributed energy segment leader at power management firm Eaton, said: “The UK has dramatically reduced greenhouse gas emissions over the past two decades, in large part due to smart investment in renewable energy for electricity supply. However, a significant amount of the nation’s overall energy consumption still goes to generating heat, which in turn leads to significant carbon emissions… The Clean Growth Strategy’s focus on tackling the decarbonisation of heat will streamline the UK’s transition towards a clean and green environment. Its success will depend in no small part on the nation’s ability to embrace new technologies like energy storage which enable clean heat production.”
Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy UK said: “It is positive to see the ambitious targets to improve the energy efficiency in our homes and businesses. How this will be funded is critical and we will work with Government to shape a national energy efficiency programme that will help reduce energy bills and ensure we meet the targets set out today.”
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Subscriber only content: The New Power Interview: Keith Maclean, Chairman, UK Energy Research Centre – Keith MacLean tells Janet Wood the biggest challenges in decarbonisation, including heat, have to be addressed and industry governance must change.
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Putting CCS back onto the agenda is one of the main things that makes this Clean Energy Plan totally incredible and impracticable. When the two CCS projects were ongoing I multiplied out some figures from the DECC website (they since disowned them) which showed that to capture 80% of the CO2 from just our 8GW (then) of coal-fired power stations would cost £27bn p.a. regardless of capital costs and regardless of the inefficiencies that such equipment impose on the power station. For a one-off capital cost of £27bn we could build ~50GW electricity storage, 5-12 hours’ average duration, zero emissions; and for a little more we could greatly increase duration while only adding minimally to emissions. Moreover, we can operate these profitably without requiring a penny in subsidy or in increased total system costs, provided we compete on a level playing field.
The clean energy plan also expects a huge amount of nuclear. Regardless of the merits of the technology, Hiinkley Point C has been going on since the late 1980s, due to cook our 1997 Christmas turkeys …. Now, offshore wind CfD prices are just above half of nuclear. Do we really think that we’ll build that much, that soon?