Over the next decade Britain is expected to invest more than £100bn in renewable energy and still fail to meet an EU target on clean technology. The Renewable Advisory Board (RAB), made up of senior figures from across the industry, says the best the UK could realistically hope for is to generate 14% of its energy from sustainable sources by 2020. The EU has set Britain a target of 15% renewable energy generation by then.
The government has published a consultation on how it aims to meet the EU target – which is expected to outline measures to speed the installation of wind turbines and boost the take-up of domestic-scale renewable technologies such as solar panels and other micro generational programs. But government insiders admit they are unlikely to hit the 15% figure, and officials are already campaigning for Britain to be allowed to offset some of the target by investing in clean energy schemes abroad.
The RAB issued a report that says 14% renewable energy can be achieved by 2020 through “significant but achievable policy changes”. The majority of the changes will be within the electricity industry. The EU target applies to all energy sources, but experts say there is little scope for rapid take-up of green technology in the transport and heat generation sectors. That means up to 40% of Britain’s electricity must come from renewable sources by 2020 – eight times the current level – to stand a chance of hitting the overall target.
To reach the 14% figure, domestic renewable needs to see one home in every 20 fitted with solar panels to heat water, and one in 38 would need photovoltaic panels (PV Cells) to generate electricity by 2020. Last year Germany installed 130,000 PV panels, while the UK fitted only 270.
On the use of wind power, biomass and energy from waste: At the moment electricity generated by onshore wind farms is 1,850MW and needs to jump to 13,000MW in just twelve years. Offshore wind capacity needs to be 18,000MW by 2020, up from 394MW operational now.
The RAB says there is now an urgent need for studies on how to extend and reinforce the National Grid to make it suitable for large-scale renewable generation. Industry experts say the UK will need 34,000MW of new transmission infrastructure to channel the power from new renewable projects.
Britain can still conceivably reach the 15% target but only through options such as a contribution from a projected new tidal barrage which would be set across the Severn estuary. Privately, some industry sources say the target is unrealistic, and that Britain could struggle to reach even 10% renewable energy by 2020.
The final bill for Britain’s required renewable revolution, the RAB report notes, would be “expected to exceed £100bn”. It is still unclear how the money would be produced, but a large proportion of the investment could be passed on to consumers by raising energy bills.
