Renew Extra Weekly

A new briefing note from POST, the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, looks at green skills, employment and education. It says that Green skills can be defined as ‘the knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a society which reduces the impact of human activity on the environment’. But it notes that several other definitions exist, with some focused on technical skills for jobs that play a major role in reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (e.g., heat pump installation). Other definitions are broader, and include enabling skills and attitudes, such as public engagement and systems thinking. POST says that ‘the lack of a consistent definition can make it challenging to analyse the supply & demand for different skills in the UK workforce,’ but ‘evidence suggests that developing green skills will be achieved mainly by up-skilling the current workforce’, though ‘all components of the education system will play a ro...

The UK government has said it plans to quadruple its nuclear capacity by 2050 to 24GW- see my last post. That is pretty ambitious. Approval will be given for one or two new plants every five years from 2030 to 2044, and backing given to another large-scale plant in addition to Hinkley C & the planned Sizewell C. So that’s a third large multi GW plant- maybe at Wylfa (in North Wales), or Moorside (in Cumbria).  However, although none yet exist, small modular reactors (500MW or less) might be seen as providing a way to top up- there could a lot of them. To make that more credible, UK Planning rules are to be relaxed for small nuclear reactors. As Utility Week reported ‘the government is keen to relax planning rules to allow nuclear power stations to be built on more sites than are currently permitted’ . According to the government’s new Civil Nuclear Roadmap to 2050, it says ‘having more freedom over siting for new nuclear plants is required for the rollout of small and advanc...

 A major Clever energy study led by negawatt has found that Europe, including Norway, Switzerland and the UK, can reach climate neutrality by 2045, based on a demand-first ‘sufficiency’ approach, with renewables supplying all the reduced energy needs by 2050. And all with no nuclear and no CCS. Green Hydrogen plays a key role in decarbonising industry as does materials recycling.  The Clever scenario is obviously interesting, showing the gains that can be achieved by demand side changes and a sufficiency approach, but that should no longer be in doubt, with, for example, the scenarios produced for 149 countries globally by Jacobson at al, showed how energy use can be cut by 54.4%.   If all that looks too optimistic, take a look at the actual progress made so far in Germany. A new report from energy think-tank Agora Energiewende says that German greenhouse gas emissions are now at their lowest point in around 70 years, as Europe's largest economy has managed to reduc...

Renewables reached a historic peak supplying more than 40% of UK electricity generation during the last quarter of last year, and almost 50% at times , according to Drax Electric Insights. Most of that was from offshore wind. It was helped by a decrease in electricity demand by 5% compared to the previous year, attributed in part to mild weather conditions and high energy prices.                                                             And the prospects for the future look good. While new offshore wind power development had faced some problems in the UK last year, it now seems to be recovering. Under the new Crown Estate leasing round, three floating wind farms will be located off the coast of South Wales and South West England, with a combined capacity of up to 4.5GW. This will be the first time floating wind farms have been depl...

  COVID Wipes out Renew    In the middle of the Xmas week we got hit by COVID - very badly. So we have had to delay the release, planned for Jan 1st, of Renew 267 and Renew On line 167 while we recover. We are told two weeks should do it. Same for the weekly Renew Extra.  Back as soon as we can. Our apologies, but it is a pretty grim experience  And we are feeling pretty rough...

There has of late been something of a global nuclear PR push, but it's perhaps been oddly timed in that  not everything has been going its own way. The USA’s flagship NuScale Small Modular Reactor (SMR) has taken a dive. It was seen as the pioneer for cheap fast-build mini-reactors, a scaled down but otherwise conventional pressurised water reactor. But, despite some speculative funding, it was looking increasingly dodgy financially, with lawyers circling like vultures . And then the big Idaho Falls NuScale project was cancelled. WIRED said this had been on the cards since ‘the utilities backing the plant were spooked by a 50% increase in the projected costs’. That was not seen as good news for other SMRs further back in development. Some see it all as a bit of a dangerous gamble .  Maybe not the right time then for the UK to launch what amounted to a promotional report ‘ Made in Britain : The Pathway to a Nuclear Renaissance’. Produced by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (...

After a review of the evidence, including the impact of global events on supply chains, the government has raised the maximum price offshore wind projects can receive in the next UK Contracts for Difference (CfD) next year. Infamously, in the last round in September, with gas prices and materials costs rising, the price cap was set too low for offshore wind and there were no bids for projects – which came as a big shock since it had been doing very well.  Some predicted the ‘end of wind power as we know it’, and it certainly was worrying, with some plans for new projects being halted.  However, on reflection, what was arguably more worrying was that the government had been warned about this problem, but had done little about it. Thankfully, now it has. So for the next round, the maximum strike price has been increased by 66% for offshore wind projects, from £44/MWh to £73/MWh, and by 52% for floating offshore wind projects, from £116/MWh to £176/MWh, also for Allocation Round...