Memorandum 1
Submission from the Institute of Physics
(IOP)
THE CHALLENGE
FOR RENEWABLES
The Institute supports R&D into new renewable
energy technologies. As well as being low carbon energy sources,
renewables have a number of other advantages. They can enhance
diversity in energy supply markets, secure long-term sustainable
energy supplies, reduce dependency on imported energy supplies,
and reduce emissions of local air pollutants. Their stand-alone
nature also makes them particularly suited for use in remote locations
with relatively low demand, which are isolated from national networks.
Hence, renewables are an essential part of the future energy mix,
but there is a need for increased research and innovation in the
relevant R&D sectors in order for the UK to be in a position
to respond to the challenges of the medium to long-term future.
The Institute noted that the recent Energy White
Paper, Meeting the Energy Challenge, re-emphasised the
government's aspiration to see renewables grow as a proportion
of the UK's electricity supplies to 10% by 2010, with an aspiration
for this level to double by 2020. These targets represent a significant
challenge given that, in the UK, only around 4% of electricity
was being generated from renewables in 2006.
The Institute is of the view that the current
target of 10% itself is somewhat unrealistic, as renewables presently
suffer from various barriers to exploitation. However, analyses
carried out to support the 2003 Energy White Paper, Our energy
future: creating a low carbon economy, suggested that about
a third of electricity might be supplied by renewables by 2040
although this could be substantially higher if some of the other
options for low carbon energy supply were not adopted. For example,
renewables might be required to supply up to two thirds of electricity
demand if no new nuclear plants were built and carbon capture
and storage for fossil fuel fired plant were not implemented.
The modelling work suggested that wind, in particular offshore
wind, and biomass would account for a significant proportion of
renewable energy generation. In addition, technologies with a
higher cost but sizable potential resource, such as photovoltaics,
could also contribute significantly if other low-carbon options
are not available in the future.
Renewable Energy-generation Technologies
In October 2005, the Institute published its
report, The Role of Physics in Renewable Energy RD&D,[1]
which was prepared by Future Energy Solutions, AEA Technology
Environment. The report set out the challenges facing renewable-energy
technologies, the important role of research, development and
demonstration (RD&D) in meeting this challenge, and areas
where physicists contribute to this RD&D.
Section 3 of the enclosed report (pages 6-20),
highlights in detail the progress made in a number of key technologies,
including photovoltaics; marine energy; fuel cells; hydrogen infrastructure;
electricity transmission and distribution; energy storage; and
mature technologies. The report provides a robust review of these
technologies, citing case studies from UK university departments,
and offering commentary on the barriers to progression towards
RD&D.
Furthermore, the report emphasises the technologies
that are likely to be deployed in the UK, or where there may be
significant export opportunities for the UK. According to the
report, the two key areas where the UK has an opportunity to take
a research lead on are:
— the new generation of photovoltaic
energy technologies, although this would require a strong RD&D
effort; and
— wave and tidal energy, where there
are a number of universities with significant research capability.
Ensuring that these RD&D strengths are developed
could bring substantial benefits to the UK, both in terms of enabling
deployment of these technologies, with subsequent environmental
benefits in terms of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and in
terms of financial benefits from export earnings as technologies
are deployed globally. This will require support of RD&D and
the availability of suitably qualified personnel to work in these
areas.
Photovoltaics
The Institute's report revealed that the most
obvious area where physicists are contributing to RD&D is
in photovoltaics, where they are carrying out much of the fundamental
research required to develop novel types of cell that may result
in step changes in the cost of photovoltaic generation. Photovoltaics
can readily be adapted to suit the diffuse light conditions found
in northern climes as evidenced by their widespread use in Germany.
There is a strong research effort in the UK but to benefit fully
from this vitally important technology, investment in the underpinning
science needs to improve considerably.
Currently, over 95% of photovoltaic modules
are made of silicon in all its forms, of which about 5% is non-crystalline
silicon (such as amorphous silicon). They convert sunlight into
electricity with an efficiency ranging between 13 to 17%.The maximum
potential efficiency is only about 25% because only the light
with the right energy to generate the charge carriers (the bandgap)
is absorbed.
The vast majority of solar cells on the market
today are so-called "first-generation" cells made from
monocrystalline silicon. However, they are expensive to produce
because of the high costs of purifying, crystallizing and sawing
electronic-grade crystalline silicon, which is rather fragile
and in shortage.
Furthermore, a POSTnote entitled Carbon footprint
of electricity generation[2]
reported that, "The silicon required for photovoltaic modules
is extracted from quartz sand at high temperatures, which is the
most energy intensive phase of module production, accounting for
60% of the total energy requirement. However, future reductions
in the carbon footprint of photovoltaic cells are expected to
be achieved in thin film technologies which use thinner layers
of silicon, and with the development new semi-conducting materials
(organic cells and nano-rods) which are less energy intensive".
As detailed in the Institute's report, most
physicists are now working on "second-generation" solar
cells, which are near market, with the aim of reducing high costs
by using thin films of silicon and other semiconductors, such
as amorphous silicon, gallium arsenide, copper indium diselenide
and cadmium telluride, which are mounted on glass substrates.
For the future, physicists are also working on "third-generation"
cells, such as dye-sensitised photochemical, and quantum/nanotechnology
solar cells, which, if practicable, would yield extremely high
efficiencies and be as cheap as thin-film devices.
However, the article, "Bright outlook for
solar cells", published in the July 2007 issue of the Institute's
membership magazine Physics World,[3]
whilst commenting on how future research efforts could transform
solar cells from niche products to devices that provide a significant
fraction of the world's energy, offers some caution by reporting
that building cheap and efficient photovoltaic cells does not
guarantee that solar power will become a major part of the world's
energy mix. Even if these devices can be converted into high-performance
commercial products there still remains the problem of actually
building and installing the enormous number of panels that would
be required. Mankind currently consumes energy at a rate of 13
terawatts, and many experts predict that population growth and
economic expansion will increase this figure to around 45 terawatts
by 2050. Generating 20 terawatts of that with panels that are
10% efficient would, according to the 2005 report, Basic Research
Needs for Solar Energy Utilization,[4]
sponsored by the US Department of Energy, mean installing such
panels over 0.16% of the Earth's land surface. Given that only
a fraction of this will be met by installing panels on people's
houses, vast "farms" will have to be built in areas
with significant amounts of sunshine. Attempting to build such
farms in Western countries could, ironically, be opposed on environmental
grounds.
Furthermore, the article reports that another
hurdle is the infrastructure needed to deliver the solar electricity
to where it is needed (when the cells are built in farms). Perhaps
the biggest challenge, however, is how to store solar electricity,
given that the Sun does not shine all the time. Solar energy could
be used to pump water up hill when that energy is not needed and
the gravitational potential then discharged when the energy is
required (technology that is already used to allow nuclear power
stations to respond to peak demand). It is also possible that
developments in batteries or flywheels might help solve this problem,
while solar electricity could be used to split water and produce
hydrogen. However, the infrastructure needed to pump the hydrogen
to where it is needed would be extremely expensive.
BARRIERS TO
THE DEPLOYMENT
OF RENEWABLES
Realising the large potential benefits that
renewables and other advanced technologies, such as fuel cells,
could make to a low carbon economy requires a number of technical,
economic, institutional and social constraints to be overcome.
The current Energy White Paper recognises the key challenges that
renewables have to overcome, namely grid integration, gaining
planning consent, scarcity of suitable sites, and limits of support
available from the Renewables Obligation.
Other barriers to the deployment of renewables,
as highlighted in the Institute's report, include:
Maturity
The maturity of renewables varies considerably.
While a number are commercially proven, others are still at a
pre-commercial stage, and some still require quite fundamental
R&D.
Cost
In the UK, at current gas prices and under current
market structures, without subsidy mature technologies are not
yet competitive with existing gas fired Combined Cycle Gas Turbine
plant, although in the medium term (2020) some technologies (eg
onshore and offshore wind) could be. Technologies such as photovoltaics
are unlikely to be cost-competitive with centralised generation
unless a step change in cost-effectiveness is achieved by the
new types of photovoltaic cells currently under development. They
may, however, become competitive in remote off-grid locations,
where the cost of other stand-alone systems, such as diesel generators,
is high. It is also worth noting that as governments seek to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions, the emissions will acquire an economic
"cost".
Intermittency
Many of the technologies, for example, wind
power (which is particularly unpredictable), are intermittent
and thus require energy storage or backup generating capacity
to be available on the electricity network.
Distributed nature
Renewable energy plant are currently generally
small in scale—from a few kilowatts for individual photovoltaic
installations to tens of megawatts for biomass plant—compared
to conventional power stations (typically a gigawatt or so). The
small scale has advantages for use in some situations, for example,
for stand-alone applications, but in a country like the UK where
the transmission grid is designed for distribution of power from
a small number of large power stations the incorporation of small,
distributed sources raises some technical issues. The bulk of
renewable energy resources may also occur in locations which are
remote from regions with large energy consumptions (eg remote
parts of Scotland), and where grid infrastructure to transport
the power is limited or else does not exist.
Social and institutional constraints
Issues which may hamper development include
public acceptability, planning constraints and institutional barriers,
for example, lack of clarity over planning consents, permitting
of plants, skills issues, and investment regimes. While most renewables
are environmentally benign in that emissions of carbon dioxide
and other air pollutants associated with them are typically very
low (even after allowing for their manufacture), they do have
a number of other local environmental impacts.
The Severn barrage plan is a good example of
the real social, environmental and political problems in adopting
many renewable technologies. The plan to build a tidal barrage
across the Severn estuary to produce renewable energy, according
to the National Assembly for Wales, is potentially the largest
single renewable energy source in the UK, which could meet about
6% of the present electricity consumption of the UK. However,
the plan has received much opposition from environmental pressure
groups that claim the barrage could cause irreversible damage
to local wildlife.[5]
FUNDING OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY-GENERATION
TECHNOLOGIES
A significant problem facing renewables and
other low carbon generating technologies is that following the
liberalisation of the UK energy market, the current price of electricity
is so low that it is not economically viable to develop and introduce
new generating technologies to the market, unless they can be
developed at a low cost and can provide electricity predictably
at competitive wholesale prices.
The solution to date has been to subsidise RD&D;
renewables have benefited from UK government support for RD&D
and the support must continue to stimulate investment for pilot
and full-scale prototypes/demonstrators of technologies that are
sufficiently mature for near-term deployment. Research into technologies
for mid-term deployment and "blue sky" development is
best undertaken within the universities, encouraged and supported
by current funding mechanisms operating within a strategic framework
that takes due account of national priorities and policies.
Investment is also required in the development
of whole-lifecycle financial models, including full acquisition,
operating, distribution, disposal/recycling and environmental
costs, for all of the technologies under consideration. Models
are also required to predict how significant power levels generated
from renewables might change the characteristics of the transmission
network planning and operation.
The Institute's report revealed that renewables
RD&D in the UK is funded through a number of routes, the main
ones supported by the government and the public sector, together
with EU funding. In addition, there is industry funded RD&D,
and commercial deployment of renewables in the UK is supported
by the Renewables Obligation.
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
suggested in their report, The practicalities of developing
renewable energy,[6]
that the level of funding for RD&D is not sufficient if the
UK is to meet its renewable energy targets. While UK expenditure
has increased in recent years (from $36m in 2004 to $66m per annum
in 2005), it is still lower than in some other leading European
countries, such as Germany ($123m per annum in 2005), according
to data from the International Energy Agency;[7]
US expenditure on renewables RD&D, on average, is about $250m
per annum.
A DTI/Carbon Trust review[8]
found that there appears to be a funding gap in moving renewables
to the pre-commercial stage, and from the pre-commercial to the
supported commercial stage. They also considered that the current
landscape for renewables funding is complex, which suggests that
a clearer overall strategy for UK RD&D in both renewables
and other new energy technologies, together with a clearer map
of RD&D funding and clearer demarcation of the roles of different
funding bodies could be useful. This could be a key activity for
the UK Energy Research Centre to undertake.
Renewables seem to have developed a "low
cost" view of their implementation, which will not drive
the actual costs of developing energy sources on the scale needed.
There is no clear route to provide a large percentage of the UK's
energy needs by this method. Photovoltaics, for instance, are
certainly more appropriate for local power supplies and the concept
of using them for large central "power stations" is
difficult to support.
SUPPORTING THE
RD&D BASE
The Institute's report noted that studies which
examined the renewables supply chain have reported that several
technology and project developers have found a lack of necessary
skills in the UK—both general technical skills and also
more specialist skills[9],
[10]
which developers have remedied either through in-house training
or by recruiting internationally.
Hence, encouraging physicists, and indeed other
scientists and engineers, to consider a career in renewable energy
could help to plug the skills gap. One option would be to raise
awareness of and interest in the physics element in the development
of these technologies. This could be achieved by promoting the
inclusion of examples of "the physics" of renewable
energy sources and fuel cells in teaching on undergraduate physics
courses, or even on A-level physics and other A-level science
courses. Another option would be to raise awareness of opportunities
for physicists in these areas in careers advice material for physicists,
at both graduate and postgraduate level, and in advice provided
for mid-career changes.
There is also concern regarding the shortage
of opportunities at postgraduate level for physicists wishing
to specialise in these areas. There are a few MSc courses in renewable-energy
technologies and fuel cells, but these are, by their very nature,
multidisciplinary, and obtaining funding or training bursaries
for such courses can be difficult. There are also few PhD research
opportunities, again partly due to the difficulty of obtaining
funding for interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research topics.
A more flexible approach from funding bodies may be required.
July 2007
1 http://www.iop.org/activity/policy/Publications/file_4145.pdf Back
2
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/postpn268.pdf Back
3
http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/ Back
4
http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/reports/abstracts.htmlSEU Back
5
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4898514.stm Back
6
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200304/ldselect/ldsctech/126/12602.htm Back
7
http://www.iea.org/ Back
8
Renewables Innovation Review, DTI/Carbon Trust, 2004. Back
9
Mott MacDonald 2004 "Renewable energy supply chain analysis",
DTI. Back
10
ICCEPT & E4Tech Consulting 2004 "The UK innovation systems
for new and renewable energy technologies". A report for
the DTI. Back
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