10-13-2016, 08:00 PM
The Liberal Party’s energy policy as stated on our website proposes that central government should be taking the lead to produce a national plan for all energy resources.
Unfortunately faced with a cacophony of demands on government time, energy policy only appears in the media accompanied by apocalyptic commentaries about potential disruption to supply and rolling blackouts.
Much of our national oil and coal generating capacity needs to be retired on a range of grounds including climate change, pollution and increasing maintenance costs for aging plant and machinery.
Energy companies themselves, although increasing storage almost exclusively for natural gas, are unlikely to want to move into the generating field, clouded with uncertainties over revenue from generating and returns on investment.
The UK regulator has taken over from National Grid in ensuring uninterrupted supply but has been criticised as having insufficient experience to manage such a complex system, and relying on open bidding for additional generating capacity, which only adds to consumer cost.
As a civilisation we are addicted to fossil fuels, and the current national debate on the exploitation of shale gas and fracking is one example of this.
One of the major draw backs to the current proliferation of renewable energy sources in the lack of off-peak storage. Material science is still some years away from battery storage of the national scale needed to dispense with conventional power generations.
German renewable energy generation dropped 40% during the last European partial solar eclipse necessitating conventional power sources to be brought online. Gas powered facilities are able to meet such short notice demands, but national electricity grids needs a steady power source, only sustainable by larger coal, oil and dare I say it nuclear power.
Conventional power grids run at a high voltage base, and are very inflexible in accommodating energy sources such as renewable with daily and seasonal cycle’s. Yet the technology to bridge potential capacity shortfalls using ‘stored’ renewable energy does not readily exist.
The last nuclear power plant to be commissioned in this country was Sizewell B in 1995, having previously been subject to a 2 year public enquiry, at the time the longest one in domestic planning history.
Plans for up to 3 more pressurised water reactors were side tracked by the ‘Dash for Gas’, the realisation that a cheaper and more ready supply of fossil fuels existed under the North Sea, with the added incentive of an opportunity to the further dismantling of the UK’s coal industry.
Yet after less than 25 years, we as a nation have become a net importer of gas, in a continent already increasingly dependent on supplies from an antagonist Russia Federation, leading to increasing concerns over security of supply.
Nuclear energy and projects like Hinckley have been criticized for their up-front cost and guaranteed generating price, but it has been argued that renewables already receiving a subsidy and that like for like comparisons on price per megawatt are questionable.
Renewable energy has needed subsidies and preferential access to national grids to get established. As Liberals we would normally oppose such manipulation of the free market but as an answer to the prospects of global warming, it is for the wider benefit of society.
In Germany though a pricing system to encourage renewables, actually penalises conventional power sources to such an extent, that in peak summer, fossil and nuclear power is actually penalised for generate electricity, despite the fact they form the base line of the power generating grid.
What is needed is a complimentary mix of conventional and renewables into the near future. The UK’s domestic energy demands are reasonably well understood, and peak capacity relatively easy to predict.
Tidal power has yet to be full exploited whilst urgent investment needs to be made in extending energy storage.
Perhaps the most pressing issue is the construction of an ‘intelligent grid’ better able to accommodate the fluctuations in renewal energy generation.
This investment should not simply be solely funded by ‘green levies’ on hard pressed domestic consumers, but through properly funded investment, either from government or industry
Unfortunately faced with a cacophony of demands on government time, energy policy only appears in the media accompanied by apocalyptic commentaries about potential disruption to supply and rolling blackouts.
Much of our national oil and coal generating capacity needs to be retired on a range of grounds including climate change, pollution and increasing maintenance costs for aging plant and machinery.
Energy companies themselves, although increasing storage almost exclusively for natural gas, are unlikely to want to move into the generating field, clouded with uncertainties over revenue from generating and returns on investment.
The UK regulator has taken over from National Grid in ensuring uninterrupted supply but has been criticised as having insufficient experience to manage such a complex system, and relying on open bidding for additional generating capacity, which only adds to consumer cost.
As a civilisation we are addicted to fossil fuels, and the current national debate on the exploitation of shale gas and fracking is one example of this.
One of the major draw backs to the current proliferation of renewable energy sources in the lack of off-peak storage. Material science is still some years away from battery storage of the national scale needed to dispense with conventional power generations.
German renewable energy generation dropped 40% during the last European partial solar eclipse necessitating conventional power sources to be brought online. Gas powered facilities are able to meet such short notice demands, but national electricity grids needs a steady power source, only sustainable by larger coal, oil and dare I say it nuclear power.
Conventional power grids run at a high voltage base, and are very inflexible in accommodating energy sources such as renewable with daily and seasonal cycle’s. Yet the technology to bridge potential capacity shortfalls using ‘stored’ renewable energy does not readily exist.
The last nuclear power plant to be commissioned in this country was Sizewell B in 1995, having previously been subject to a 2 year public enquiry, at the time the longest one in domestic planning history.
Plans for up to 3 more pressurised water reactors were side tracked by the ‘Dash for Gas’, the realisation that a cheaper and more ready supply of fossil fuels existed under the North Sea, with the added incentive of an opportunity to the further dismantling of the UK’s coal industry.
Yet after less than 25 years, we as a nation have become a net importer of gas, in a continent already increasingly dependent on supplies from an antagonist Russia Federation, leading to increasing concerns over security of supply.
Nuclear energy and projects like Hinckley have been criticized for their up-front cost and guaranteed generating price, but it has been argued that renewables already receiving a subsidy and that like for like comparisons on price per megawatt are questionable.
Renewable energy has needed subsidies and preferential access to national grids to get established. As Liberals we would normally oppose such manipulation of the free market but as an answer to the prospects of global warming, it is for the wider benefit of society.
In Germany though a pricing system to encourage renewables, actually penalises conventional power sources to such an extent, that in peak summer, fossil and nuclear power is actually penalised for generate electricity, despite the fact they form the base line of the power generating grid.
What is needed is a complimentary mix of conventional and renewables into the near future. The UK’s domestic energy demands are reasonably well understood, and peak capacity relatively easy to predict.
Tidal power has yet to be full exploited whilst urgent investment needs to be made in extending energy storage.
Perhaps the most pressing issue is the construction of an ‘intelligent grid’ better able to accommodate the fluctuations in renewal energy generation.
This investment should not simply be solely funded by ‘green levies’ on hard pressed domestic consumers, but through properly funded investment, either from government or industry
