Renew Extra Weekly

National Grid , the UK electricity network operator, has produced a new report on its visions for net zero UK carbon futures. Unsurprisingly, renewables play the major role on the supply side in National Grid ESO’s four Future Energy Scenarios, with PV solar reaching around 70 GW by 2050 in the electricity-led C onsumer Transformation (CT) scenario, and wind reaching 150 GW by 2050 in the fast change Leading the Way (LW) scenario. By contrast, natural gas use falls away significantly in all but Steady Progress (SP) , the slowest decarbonisation scenario, and shale gas makes little contribution in all but SP ‘due mainly to reduced support from government and consumers’. Green gas is however developed at various levels in the other scenarios, both biogas, from plant biomass/waste sources, and syngas, like hydrogen, made via either from fossil gas with CCS or via electrolysis using renewable power. In all, National Grid says that at least 190 TWh of hydrogen will be needed by...

Who backs renewables in the UK?   Well just about everyone now- 83% of the public, according to the most recent national poll .   And the government is committed to expanding renewable as part of its response to Climate Change. However what matters practically is the level of industrial and technical support for actual hardware projects. So what does that backing look like? And will it sustain expansion? Renewable energy schemes at various scales has been backed in the UK by a range of large power companies, including German-owned E.ON and French-owned EDF, as well as by smaller players. As a result, the UK now gets over a third of its power from renewables. Most of the companies involved with providing this are members of one or other of the major trade associations, RUK (Renewable UK) and REA (Renewable Energy Association), who promote the development and spread of the technologies. RUK (which grew out of the British Wind Energy Association) focuses on mainly wind an...