1. FIT systems are used by most EU countries

2. The UK trails behind.. / UK 1.3%
40%
Next : the new EU targets for Austria 34% Denmark 30% Finland 38% Latvia 42% Portugal 31% Sweden 49% UK 15%
.. still a way to go
UK % /

3. But renewables are expensive..

4. ..or are they?
Cabinet Office PIU study 2003

5. £/MWh Frontier Economics 2008

6. Long term cost trends
Source: SUNA Iran, paper to WREC X 2008

7. Past and Expected reductions from 1980 prices
100%
50%
Source: ‘U.S. Program in Renewable Energy- Effectiveness and
Progress’, Stanley R. Bull, NREL, paper to WREC X 2008

8. US Generating cost in May 2008: California Energy Commission
Data from:
index.php?title=Comparative_electrical_generation_costs

9. But ….Wind power varies

10. Balancing variable Renewables At present, some gas plants are used the balance the variation in availability of conventional output and the daily cycles in demand. So they run up and down to full power regularly- perhaps twice daily. With more variable renewables on the grid, they will have to do this bit more often. It’s a minor operational issue, adding slightly to the cost. Balancing 20% from wind would add just 1-2% to domestic bills (‘Managing Variabilty’, David Milborrow,2009) .

11. The problem is not lack of wind (etc), it’s that we may at times have too much wind. If we try to have a large and increasing renewable contribution and also a large and increasing nuclear contribution, then there will be operational and economic conflicts, especially at times of low energy demand

12. Minimum Baseload ~ 20 GW (summer night) If Nuclear is at 20GW and we have 20GW of wind, plus say 10GW of tidal and wave, all delivering, then something has to be curtailed. Energy storage (e.g pumped hydro) and export, via new inter-connectors, could help. Output from the nuclear plants could also be curtailed to make room..but there are cost and operational penalties.

13. ...and EDF says we can’t do much of that: ‘As the intermittent renewable capacity approaches the Government’s 32% proposed target, if wind is not to be constrained (in order to meet the renewable target), it would be necessary to attempt to constrain nuclear more than is practicable’. EDF's submission to the UK governments renewable energy strategy consultation: ‘UK Renewable Energy Strategy: Analysis of Consultation Responses’ Prepared for: Dept of Energy and Climate Change