Can We Reach 100 Percent Renewable Energy?

Renewable Energy World Editors
February 25, 2014

Several countries have announced ambitious goals to be powered completely by renewable energy, while other nations set smaller, incremental goals. These high aspirations have sparked quite a debate amongst industry experts, and we here at Renewable Energy World are curious to hear what you, our readers, have to say.

So we aksed you to add your own voices to this imporant discussion:

What are the major barriers that countries face in order to reach 100 percent renewable energy — is this goal always achievable or desirable?

We recieved an overwhelming number of responses (thank you!), which will be updated here daily. If you didn't get a chance to share your opinion, let your voice be heard in the comments below and submit your answer to our poll!

Tom Langdon-Davies
Regen SW

There are two broad categories of barriers to 100 percent renewable energy, which are technical and non-technical.

In general the non-technical barriers are the more challenging for governments, but let’s first look at the major technical roadblocks:

Supply/demand matching. This either requires a major non-intermittent element such as hydro or geothermal, or large overcapacity to meet peak demand, either on dark midwinter evenings or hot windless summer afternoons.
Grid strengthening. A grid designed for renewables will have costly strengthening requirements. For example, in the U.K. most domestic renewable installations are limited to 4 kW unless expensive strengthening is implemented. Similarly, bringing offshore electricity from western Scotland to population centres is costly and takes time.
Smart metering. In order to control peak demand, more extensive and sophisticated metering, voluntary outage, and tariff systems are required. These are time consuming to install for large numbers of consumers.

Non-technical barriers include:

Planning and regulation. Bureaucratic time lags will impact on deadlines particularly where decision systems need adapting.
Skills. Training for the design, construction and maintenance of many developing technologies takes time
Interaction with other industries. Tourism, agriculture, other land use e.g. when creating hydro reservoirs
Consumer and community resistance. Particularly in countries with a culture of community protest against change, e.g. onshore wind farms in the U.K.
Intergovernmental co-ordination. The Scottish and U.K. governments have competencies over different aspects of implementation

Tom Langdon-Davies is an associate of Regen SW, a leading centre of sustainable energy expertise and pioneering project delivery in southwest England and nationally. He is an expert on the governance and leadership of private and public bodies, and is available to advise boards in renewable energy and other related industries.

Doug Rode
Hydrogen Safety, LLC

For any country to embark on a strategic course that will impact many future generations is never easy to execute. For those us who can remember President Kennedy’s pronouncement to put a man on the moon energized a nation of engineers to collaboratively solve the myriad of technical issues. It is noteworthy that the U.S. had the political will coupled with the human and financial resources to successfully accomplish that goal. However, the major challenge of converting to 100 percent renewable energy for most countries is quite daunting if not impossible.

No one country can solve these technical problems in isolation. Countries must rely upon the world’s engineering community to focus on making renewable energy technologies not only more risk tolerant and efficient but also affordable. The commitment of necessary resources may not be forthcoming because the economic incentives are insufficient and non-sustainable. This could change if some unforeseen calamity struck the world’s fossil and nuclear fuel supplies but the probability of such an event is better left to naysayers.

The aforementioned countries and others also have a host of indigenous variables, which generally encompass such factors as availability and stability of renewable energy sources (wind, sun, water), population concentrations, geography, weather fluctuations, and political stability. These factors cannot be easily changed and therefore can limit the growth of renewable energy within a given country.

Everyone wants to connect to the internet, watch cable TV and enjoy the 21^st century home comforts. It is very questionable that without a practical mix of renewable energy and fossil fuel driven power, will the electricity and heat be available for all people within a given country. The leaders’ motivations may be pure but the financial and technology realities unfortunately can’t support such lofty and admirable goals of energy independence solely through renewable energy.

Doug is the managing director of Hydrogen Safety, LLC, an engineering consultant whose focus is upon providing its global based clients with strategies to better manage their technology risk exposures. This is especially relevant with deployment of renewable energy technologies. Services include risk assessments, accident investigations, and emergency planning.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/02/readers-respond-day-1-can-we-reach-100-percent-renewable-energy?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-February26-2014