Renwable Energy Foundation on Wind Power

The Renewable Energy Foundation  are regularly getting their distorted views on wind power published. Here is a letter that i had published in a local paper as a response.

Dear Editor,

On Monday you carried a story claiming wind farms will cost electricity bill payers £400 a year.  A lot of people are really struggling with energy prices, particularly in rural Aberdeenshire where mains gas isn't accessible. The story was based on work by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) and this should provide some relief.

The Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) was set up in 2005 by Noel Edmonds (yes that one!) and has been called a "anti-wind lobbying group" by the wind industries trade body. It is not an academic institution nor an impartial party.

So where does this number come from? This £400 number is what you get if you estimate the subsidy due to all of the UK's wind farm projects likely to be built in Scotland by 2020 and then allocate all of that cost to Scottish electricity bill payers. Even if Scotland becomes independent it is far from clear how the issue of subsidies would be resolved, not least because everyone will want to take credit for the carbon saving. All of the UK's nations have carbon targets.

REF clearly want people to be disgusted by the cost of wind. The only problem is that wind power produces low carbon electricity in a safe manner at a cost only marginally higher than fossil fuel sources. As the cost of fossil fuels goes up and the cost of wind power comes down London School of Economics (1) predicts that onshore wind will become cheaper that traditional forms of energy. Wind power has the potential to create large numbers of jobs in Scotland and despite what REF wants you to believe alternative forms of power may well become cheaper than traditional forms. If you don't like the look of wind turbines i cant argue with that but the economic case is far from as frightening as REF portray it.

Yours faithfully,
Calvin Jones

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Economics of Gas vs Wind Power

It is often argued that wind power has one main failing, namely that it isn't available all of the time.

Because of this, it is argued, all wind power has to have backup capacity sitting in the background.

Now, there is a good deal of truth to this. Wind power spread over a geographical areas the size of the UK is significantly correlated and either backup generation or access to the European electricity grid is required to cope with this variability.

Against this we need to set the reality that their are many GW of medium scale diesel generating units used by utilities right across the country. In the UK only a portion of these can be called upon to be used by the grid, in France--with it's greater portion of inflexible nuclear generation--these units are required to be grid connected.

More to the point, we still have many GW of coal power generation in use. Even as we speak 19GW of coal power is in use.  These unit's must surely but put out of regular use but retained for the highest energy demand cold periods. If they are used for 2 weeks per year the carbon input would be negligible but the security of supply provided would be valuable.

Finally, i find it fascinating just how cheap gas power stations are. Recently 2GW of generating capacity was built for only £1Bn. If the numbers in this recent news story are correct wind power projects cost about £6000 per peak kW installed compared to £500 per peak kW  in the aforementioned gas power plant. In reality the situation is even worse as on an average annual basis wind power only provides around 40% of its maximum power.

Usually this is taken to mean that wind power is uneconomic and gas is cheap. In fact what is actually show by these numbers is that the economics are decided by capital costs and running costs, respectively. Onshore wind is likely to be cheaper than gas in overall terms in just a few years.

A comparison with energy efficient LED's is illuminating (no pun intended). LED's cost perhaps £6 each compared to regular halogen light bulbs which might cost £50 each. However, if you use the LED's 9hrs a day throughout the year--such as in a restaurant or shop--the energy savings will more than repay your capital expenditure. After that year you will be reaping a dividend of long term energy savings. Now, the same type of economics are at play with with and gas.


Finally, the costs of buying a light bulb and an LED is pretty much the same as just buying the LED: £6 vs £6.50. The same is true for building wind or wind and gas plants. The advantages of using wind are to be had when the wind is blowing (over 80% of the time at the average site) and when wind isn't blowing the gas technology can be plugged back in. The increased capital cost for backup gas is negligible.

Further Reading:

• The Committee on Climate Change address Electricity Prices and Carbon Targets
• The Grantham Insitute for Climate Change @ LSE: Onshore Wind Economics

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Wind power myths and spin.

Wind power is the cheapest form of renewable energy. If we dont want to take the nuclear option and associated risks then our current best chance at reducing carbon emissions and dependence on volatile fossil fuel prices is to use wind power.

On the down side, wind turbines are not a reliable form of energy. In a diverse energy grid this isn't a major issue but it is an issue that critics of wind power have siezed on and blown out of all proportion.

Their are numerous critics of wind power, some of whom are genuine, some of whom have been misled by vested interests and some of whom are the spokespeople of those interests. At the moment their focus is on not the unreliability of wind power but rather the unrealiability of the grid (which they blame on wind power).

As already mentioned wind power is not a constant form of power. This can be dealt with, however, by having other forms of generation that can step into the breach. Luckily we already have certain forms of energy such as combined cycle gas turbines, pumped storage and regular hydro electric which can do this job. What we dont have is an electricity system which can accept large quantities of wind power. Partly this is a matter of transmission but in the future the poor flexibility of some of our generation types such as nuclear power will be of increasing concern.

Because licensed generating units are entitled to sell their energy on the UK market, compensation payments are made if the grid isn't up to the job and wotd give them access. If you rephrase 'being denied market access' and turn it into 'getting paid for doing nothing' you will be in line with current rhetoric flowing out of the Telegraph, Times et al.,

Whatever the current debate over wind power. The encouraging truth of the matter is that 9% of the UK's energy was produced from wind power during the last quater and this number is expected to rise rapidly in the coming years.

One group that has been getting more than it's fair share of attention is the Renewable Energy Foundation. A group that, ironically, spends most of its time attacking wind power. A look into their background will explain it's position but not why the sunday times and other ostensibly reputable news papers are taking their 'research' as gospel without revealing the groups funding sources or it's directors backgrounds to the public.

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UK Renewable Energy Support and Information

Ed Milliband has just announced the govornment's latest energy efficiency plan for homes, and it is reported to include long term energy efficiency loans that are fixed to the building rather than the person taking them out. This approach allows a 'pay as you save' approach wherby the income generated from the feed-in tarrif and from energy savings allows householders to see a net reduction in total enerergy related expenditure. The loans take a long time to pay back but wouldn't you rather be paying for solar pannels on your roof than for energy companies profits? The report's name 'warm homes, greener homes' suggests that DECC is starting to take advantage of the way energy saving measures can be used to attack fuel poverty. This isn't quite how some people see it however!

If you are interested in taking advantage of the feed in tarrif then check out the rates here. The feed in tarrif starts on April 1st, but as Monbiot point's out the payback is nothing to laugh at, his problem with it is that the middle classes will benefit handsomely while everyone will have to foot the bill. So if you like renewable energy and you can handle the guilt of someone else paying your bills then go right ahead. Otherwise we all need to start looking at larger scale community schemes that can finance themselves without the subsidies.

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My thoughts on the Beauly to Denny transmission line.

Today's news has been dominated by the Scottish Government's approval of a major piece of electricity transmission infrastructure. The Beauly-Denny line is a 135 mile long high voltage (400Kv) electricity line that passes through some of the most scenic areas of Scotland including part of the Cairngorm National Park (CNP) . I live some miles away from the power lines track, but still within the CNP and the idea of 400kV lines passing by my house does bring on deep emotions of rejection and horror. Despite knowing perfectly well that almost every aspect of the landscape in which i live reflects the actions of man--from the deforested and now heath covered hillsides to the grazed valleys and the plantation forests--it somehow feels wild and removed from the economic and political laws that we all except are governing our urban environments. Unfortunately i`m wrong on this, but that doesn't stop me from connecting in a visceral way with the 20'000 people who objected to this line being built.

I support the line because according to the experts it is one vital piece required in the rebuilding of the UK's electricity grid in order to deal with low carbon forms of power. My support for the line is tinged by a sadness for what has unarguably been lost and the sense that there is a disconnect between the act of energy consumption and the large scale consequences. In a way climate change is reducing this disconnect, government policy is starting to shift us away from fossil fuels the damaging results of which where shifted in time and space. No longer are the negative effects of our energy use felt by miners lungs, by communities near to extractive industries or by the victims of climate change either now or in the future. Renewables force all of the impacts of our energy onto the local population in the present and near to where the energy is being used. In a renewable powered future we wont be able to dump the unpleasant results of our energy intense lifestyles overseas or into the future anymore. My conclusion from this is that energy isn't without cost and people need to look at their own energy use; weather it be flying or driving or heating and ask how many wind turbines and how much land would be needed to sustain this lifestyle?

The other big issue that this decision raises for me is local planning control. Earlier in the year the Scottish government called in a golf course planning application and treated that as a national priority. That was absurd and this was clearly of more national significance but 20'000 letters of objection sounds like a lot to me. I wonder what local opinion was like and as an some-time anti-aviation campaigners i have to ask myself where my principles are on this. Should local people be pushed aside under the rubric of the greater good or is that hopelessly naive; do people nationally know what is best for the country or is it all about people controlling their local destiny?

The final issue it raises with me is the difference between environmentalists on the one hand who believe that a landscape is constituted of a places geology, soil, flora and fauna. And on the other hand, hikers, conservation groups, local home owners...and part of me! The latter group are romantics and would sooner see hundreds of millions more spent on under grounding power lines (and damaging local ecology more) rather than see the unique Landscape characteristics altered. It's only part of me that feels this way and i see the flaws in that part only to well. There are plenty in Scotland who rarely see the area we are discussing and even more who don't have the money to spare in increased energy bills for some of the project alternatives. My better side sees that pylons will have minimal ecological impact and will benefit the less well off through lower bills as compared to the alternatives. Also, the idea that under grounding, which involves digging VERY LARGE trenches and incurring efficiency losses would be done in the name of the environment is bizarre. Climate change is a far greater threat to the Cairngorms that even a rather large number of ugly pylons; anyone claiming to care about the Cairngorms as a place must recognise that it is more that a topography for their outdoor pursuits, it is a unique sub-alpine ecosystem worthy of our efforts to leave carbon in the ground.

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Electricity Grid Videos

How can we develop a"renewable rich" electricity grid?

• EESI Smart Grid Briefing on Capitol Hill
• Energy Efficient Electronics
• The Great Green Grid
• Grid 2.0
• EESI Transmission Technology and Regulation Briefing
• Wired for Progress
• Microgrids: providing power locally.

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Build your own wind turbine workshop. Cambridge 5-7 June.

The idea is to build a wind turbine that can be used for Climate camp, EF! and other gatherings and local events, and for participants to acquire the knowledge to build their own turbines.

The cost for the weekend will be a sliding scale between £120-£200, food and
accomadation(camping) included.

V3 are an excellent group who are higly experienced in this field.

*Background to V3 Power:*
We are a DIY renewable energy cooperative, that focus on running courses
teaching people how to build renewable and appropriate technology. The wind
turbines we build are based on a design by Hugh Piggott, more details of which
can be found at www.scoraigwind.com <http://www.scoraigwind.com>
More information about V3 power can be found at www.v3power.co.uk
<http://www.v3power.co.uk>

*The Wind Turbine:*
The design consists of 3 blades carved from wood, a permanent magnet alternator
consisting of two rotors which are steel disks with permanent magnets on them,
and a stator with hand wound copper coils, all cast in epoxy resin. Everything
is held together on a welded steel mounting. For a weekend course, we will be
building a 2.4m blade diameter, 500W power output turbine, to charge 12V
batteries.

*Course Structure:*
The course should start on Friday evening, with a lecture giving an
introduction to the wind turbine, and general theory behind wind turbines. For
the following two days, the group will be split into 3 groups, rotating around
3 bases, this way getting an experience in all aspects of the turbine build.
Each session should last 2 hours, with a break inbetween for tea, coffee, lunch
or dinner. The course will culminate on Sunday with the turbine being
assembled on a stand.

*Course Participants*:
We can teach up to 12 people, which results in 4 per group, or 4 per instructor
which results in a good learning environment for the participants.


For further information contact :
markos[at]riseup.net amy[at]amyscaife.co.uk

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