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LONDON, England, May 03, 2006 (Refocus Weekly)
Intermittent energy supplied by renewable sources
is not more costly or more limiting, according to a “definitive”
report by the UK Energy Research Centre.
“The output of fossil fuel plant will need to be adjusted more
often to cope with fluctuations in wind output, but any losses this
causes are small compared to overall savings in emissions,”
concludes ‘The Costs & Impacts of Intermittency: An Assessment of
the Evidence on the costs & impacts of Intermittent Generation on
the British Electricity Network’ funded by UKERC and the Carbon
Trust. “100% back up for individual renewable sources is
unnecessary; extra capacity will be needed to keep supplies secure,
but will be modest and a small part of the total cost of renewables.
It is possible to work out what is needed and plan accordingly.”
The study is the most comprehensive assessment on intermittency ever
undertaken, claims UKERC, and others reports which suggest green
power is costly or limited by intermittency are out of step with
majority of expert analysis. Intermittency need not present a
significant obstacle to the development of renewable sources.
None of more than 200 studies reviewed by UKERC suggest that the
introduction of significant levels of intermittent renewable energy
would lead to reduced reliability. Costs of intermittency at current
levels is much smaller, but will rise if use of renewables expands,
and wide geographical dispersion and a diversity of renewable
sources will keep costs down, the report concludes.
If wind were to supply 20% of Britain’s electricity, intermittency
costs would be 0.5 to 0.8 p per kWh of wind output, which would be
added to wind generating costs of 3-5p/kWh compared with the costs
of gas-fired power stations at 3p/kWh. The impact on electricity
consumers would be 0.1p/kWh, with domestic electricity tariffs at 10
to 16p/kWh, meaning that intermittency would account for 1% of
electricity costs.
“Our target is to have 10% of the UK's electricity produced from
renewable sources by 2010 and a significant proportion of that will
come from wind power,” says energy minister Malcolm Wicks.
“Suggestions that it is excessively expensive or that traditional
power stations are needed to back-up the energy produced by all our
wind farms, are just two of the myths that have been peddled by
their opponents. The UK Energy Research Centre's study demonstrates
that these claims have been exaggerated.”
“The output of wind, wave and other renewables fluctuates and cannot
be fully controlled,” says report author Robert Gross of UKERC. “The
extent to which this is likely to create problems, costs or even
lead to black outs is the subject of a long running debate.”
“Reports that suggest it is highly costly or restricts the role of
renewables are out of step with the majority of expert analysis,
reflect regional problems that the UK can avoid, or both,” he adds.
“However, costs will rise to a degree, and we can quantify the
factors responsible.”
The report reviews and assesses the evidence on costs and supply
system impacts of intermittent generation from wind, wave, tidal and
solar power, with a focus on the UK and on changes and developments
expected within the next two decades.
“We recommend that additional steps are put in place to continuously
monitor the effect of intermittent generation on system margin and
existing measures of reliability,” the report concludes. “The
effectiveness of market mechanisms in delivering adequate system
margin also need to be kept under review. Policies need to encourage
widespread geographical distribution of intermittent generators if
the costs of intermittency are to be minimised. A judgement is
needed on the relative costs of intermittency and transmission
upgrading.”
UKERC is a government organization with a mandate to co-ordinate
energy research in Britain. It was established in 2004 following a
recommendation from the 2002 review of energy initiated by Sir David
King, the government’s chief scientific advisor, and is a central
part of a £28 million program funded by three research councils:
Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council, Natural
Environment Research Council and Economic & Social Research Council.
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