Green power- not for us?

 The Social Market Foundation, a cross-party think-tank, says that 48% of UK survey respondents felt the ‘green transition’ was ‘happening to them, not with them’.  And 63% thought it wouldn’t work anyway. Certainly there has been some opposition to some green polices, and there have been claims that Starmer’s plan to remove ‘infrastructure blockers’, for example local objectors to green energy projects like wind and solar farms, and the extra grid links needed for them, could backfire.  Although Labours plans for ‘pushing past nimbyism’ and putting many new small nuclear plants around the country could also attract fierce local opposition. In this case, small isn’t green- indeed, as well as potentially costing more, SMRs may actually increase security, safety and waste management problem. Lots of issues there too then.

So, one way or another there may be battles ahead. For example, the government wants to bring large onshore wind projects back into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) regime in England - in line with other energy infrastructure. Its new plans mean that the government would have the final say on approving wind farm projects larger than 100 MW, rather than local councils. That’s controversial, although there will still be local consultation.  However, although wind farms are generally popular, with government surveys putting public support for onshore wind at 77%, offshore 83%, ‘consultation’ may not satisfy all local objectors – some are deeply concerned about local impacts.  

It’s the same for solar farms. Although public support is running at around 88%, not all projects are backed locally, with there being concerns about large projects on valuable arable land. The government has come up with new planning rules for solar, which, it is claimed, will make it ‘less likely that land will be used for solar farms when it is good for food production’.  And in any case, it has been pointed out that, to meet the UK’s net zero goals, solar PV would only take up 0.29% of available land and 0.51% of all available agricultural land. 

It is also true that large land-mounted PV arrays can benefit from economies of scale, but some worry that they will be favoured over domestic roof top systems which avoid new land use and also (some of) the need for long distance power transmission. So the debate goes on. Although somewhat provocatively it’s been noted that, under the revised national planning policy framework, the grade of agricultural land that may be used for solar development is not seen as ‘a predominating factor’ in determining applications. 

Clearly there are land-use issues that will have to be faced in the new Planning and Infrastructure Bill. That also applies to other green energy options, not to just solar and wind. So far the UK has not developed its marine energy resources much , although some say they are very large, perhaps enough to supply a third of UK power if fully developed.  So far wave energy has been somewhat less successful than tidal projects - it has proved hard to deal with major storms offshore and to get prices down. But although some UK wave projects are planned, the focus of late in the UK has mainly been on tidal energy. 

All energy technologies have some local impacts, including marine systems. although some have less than others. For example, in the case of tidal projects, it has usually been argued that, since they block whole estuaries, tidal barrages can have significant impacts, depending on their scale and location. However, interestingly, there has reportedly been significant local support (84% in favour) for the proposed  medium sized Mersey Tidal Barrage.  That is still quite a major project, as is the barrage proposed for the Wash. So too is the tidal lagoon planned for Somerset, although, as a lagoon, that would arguable have less eco-impacts and actually protect coastal areas from storm tides. Same for the tidal lagoon once proposed for Swansea Bay. 

Big construction projects like this do attract headlines, but multiple units of smaller free standing tidal current turbines in local arrays are likely to be cheaper than tidal range barrage or lagoon systems and also have much lower local eco-impacts.  Some are already in use in Scotland in Pentland Firth and more are planned there and also in Wales e.g. a 20MW Morlais tidal stream energy scheme on Anglesey is due to start up next year.  Projects on Alderney have also been mooted- using a novel spiral turbine . So tidal current turbines may prove to be suited to local energy needs in relatively remote island locations, although sadly the project proposed for the Isle of Wight may not go ahead.

While there is still a way to go before marine energy projects can break through on a significant scale, as can be seen, there may be some early niche opportunities in remote areas or where grids are weak. Of course nuclear enthusiasts may say the same the same of Small Modular Reactors- and, very provocatively,  the government is easing local planning rules for them.  But that may be in vain if costs stay high. Although the same is true for tidal projects- they have been falling, with CfD contracts helping, but are still high.  However, that all remains to be seen, public reactions too, though I suspect local tidal will be more popular than mini nukes! 

However, for the present, wind, on and offshore, and solar, large and small, are by far the main contenders for UK power supply, with wind, now at 30% of UK power, already overtaking natural gas.  That’s good news, but, as David Toke has noted, with heat supply still not seriously being addressed, if we really do want to get to net zero soon, then the pressure will be on to get all the existing renewable options expanding even more rapidly- along with storage. And, I would add, also getting inputs from new sources like tidal turbines as fast as possible.  As well as paying proper attention to energy saving and energy efficiency- the cash and carbon saving option that few oppose, but sadly too few actually adopt.