Memorandum 42
Submission from the UK Energy Research
Centre
The UK Energy Research Centre's (UKERC) mission
is to be the UK's pre-eminent centre of research, and source of
authoritative information and leadership, on sustainable energy
systems.
UKERC undertakes world-class research addressing
the whole-systems aspects of energy supply and use while developing
and maintaining the means to enable cohesive research in energy.
To achieve this we are establishing a comprehensive
database of energy research, development and demonstration competences
in the UK. We will also act as the portal for the UK energy research
community to and from both UK stakeholders and the international
energy research community.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Funding of renewable energy is increasing,
which is welcome.
Co-ordination of research has improved
over recent years, but there is potential for further improvement.
The research landscape and funding
structures continue to undergo disruptive change, which is counterproductive;
a consistent approach should be pursued.
There is a need to improve funding
in bioenergy systems, particularly biofuels.
The focus for large scale wind energy
research should be on operational issues.
The challenge remains in producing
viable cost effective PV systems.
Fuel cell research also faces considerable
barriers, but the UK has a good position which should be maintained.
The UK has a leading position in
marine renewables, but it is still far from commercial deployment.
In addition to research on the individual
renewable energy technologies, integration issues are increasingly
important and continuation of the existing strong research activity
is encouraged.
The following submission is preceded by a tabled
summary of the current state of energy research and development
and deployment in the UK, technology by technology. This is used
as the basis for commentary on the technology potential of:
Hydrogen and fuel cells.
Groundsource heat pumps.
Intelligent grid management.
Finally, UKERC offers its views on the research
funding landscape.
1. SUMMARY OF
CURRENT STATE
OF R&D AND
DEPLOYMENT TECHNOLOGY
BY TECHNOLOGY[132]
|
Technology | R&D volume in
last 4 calendar
years (£million)
| Current installed capacity
|
|
Windoffshore | 2.9 in 2007
| 304 MW |
Windonshore | 4.4 in 2006
| 1,872 MW |
| 1.4 in 2005
| |
| 0.7 in 2004
| |
Photovoltaics | 4.6 in 2007
| 10.9 MW[133]
|
| 3.9 in 2006
| |
| 3.0 in 2005
| |
| 1.9 in 2004
| |
Hydrogen & fuel cells | 7.5 in 2007
| |
| 6.8 in 2006
| |
| 5.4 in 2005
| |
| 6.3 in 2004
| |
Wave | 8.5 in 2007
| Shoreline wave0.5[134]
|
Tidalbarrage | 11.2 in 2006
| The installed capacity of tidal
|
Tidalcurrent | 6.0 in 2005
| power reached 3,836MW in |
| 2.6 in 2004
| 2005[135]
|
Bioenergybiofuels[136]
| 0.9 in 2007 | 0.5% of total transport fuel
|
| 0.4 in 2006
| sales from UK-sourced |
| 0.4 in 2005
| biomass in 2007 (264 million
|
| 0.3 in 2004
| litres) |
Bioenergybiomass[137]
| 2.9 in 2007 | 4.1% of UK electricity and
|
| 2.7 in 2006
| heat.[138] Total installed capacity
|
| 2.1 in 2005
| in 2005 was 4,850MW. |
| 1.5 in 2004
| |
Ground source heat pumps |
| 3.2 MWth[139]
|
Microgeneration[140]
| 0.22 in 2007 | Not available
|
Energy sotrage | 1.6 in 2007
| Not significant |
| 1.1 in 2006
| |
| 0.5 in 2005
| |
| 0.2 in 2004
| |
|
2. TECHNOLOGY POTENTIAL
1. The potential of the different technologies is summarised
below. Primarily this is in terms of the time to reach a level
of development when significant contributions to energy generation
can be expected. However, some indication of levelised costs for
wind power will be presented, based on UKERC's recent report:
Investment in electricity generationthe role of costs,
incentives and risks (May 2007). Levelised costs provide an important
indicator of the relative attractiveness of different technologies
to investors but the complete picture includes market risks and
volatility as well as the design and credibility of any support
mechanisms.
2.1 Wind power
2. Although wind power is a relatively mature technology,
R&D is required to underpin the scaling up of the technology.
It is widely recognised that turbines larger than 2 to 3 MW rated
require improved design codes to account for the intrinsically
more flexible structures. Turbine manufacturers are under extreme
pressures to deliver the increased volumes of machines and cannot
undertake the basic research required. In setting up a technology
platform for wind, the European Commission acknowledged that publicly
funded research was required and that Universities and research
institutes had an important role to play, both in delivering the
research and in providing the highly trained engineers required
by the fast growing industry.
3. There are engineering challenges in siting turbines
offshore at increasing water depths. Condition monitoring for
predictive maintenance is a key issue for operators if acceptable
levels of reliability are to be achieved. Support for continued
development of technology in these areas will help meet policy
aims and potentially provide an exploitable knowledge base for
the UK.
4. Wind energy is already making an important contribution
to UK electricity supply. It is well known that the UK has a massive
wind resource. Increasingly the barriers to exploitation will
be the electricity distribution and transmission infrastructure
(see section 2.8 below).
5. Current estimates of onshore generation costs according
to UKERC[141] are in
the range £39/MWh +- £17/MWh, with offshore in the range
£48/MWh +- £20/MWh.
6. Energy payback period is a reasonable proxy for carbon
footprint. Experts agree that the period is measured in months
rather than years. For example, calculations by the Danish Wind
Industry Association indicate the payback period for onshore wind
turbines around three months (although clearly this figure is
site dependent), with slightly lower figures for offshore wind.
2.2 Photovoltaics
7. PV technology has been evolving steadily since its
appearance in the 1960s. Initially the devices were based on crystalline
silicon, drawing heavily on the knowledge of that material that
developed out the fast growing electronics industry. The first
thin film device was based on amorphous silicon soon after discovery
of the material in the late 1960s. Thereafter a range of alternative
thin film and wafer based cells were developed, some for space
application where multiple-junction cells with over 40% efficiency
have been demonstrated. Some were developed specifically for the
terrestrial market, most notably Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) and
Copper Indium di-Selenide (CIS) devices where monolithic manufacturing
techniques have been applied to keep costs down. Efficiencies
for commercial thin film modules can be up to 12% whilst experimental
laboratory test cells have considerably higher efficiencies. This
compares with the best commercial mono-crystalline silicon modules
that have efficiencies approaching 20%. More recently research
has opened up the possibility of low cost moderate efficiency
organic cells, both dye based and polymer devices.
8. The primary challenge is the design and fabrication
of low cost, stable, good efficiency cells that will eventually
be able to compete with bulk generated conventional electricity.
The expected timeline for technology development, and the point
at which PV technology will be able to compete without explicit
subsidy, is a matter of debate and of course depends of the levels
of R&D expenditure that will be committed and the degree of
commercial investment. The published Strategic Research Agenda
of the EU PV Technology Platform presents an informed view on
these key issues, and this has been adapted to provide UK specific
targets in UKERC's UK PV Research Road Map.
9. The overall aim of research in PV has to be to reduce
PV generated electricity costs. Some improvement in conversion
efficiency is required, particularly for the thin films, but this
must be coupled to dramatically reduce production costs; the goal
is often considered to be the reduction in the cost per peak Watt,
but should more accurately be the cost per kW hour generated considering
all system and operational costs. There is no one approach or
technology that stands out in terms of its potential to deliver
but it is clear that increased research emphasis on the manufacturing
process is required. Materials research aimed at improved PV devices
must constantly bear in mind the manufacturability of provided
device architectures. Although most of the research challenges
lie with PV module design and manufacture, systems are presently
let down by underperforming balance of system components and in
particular the inverter. Moreover presently available performance
prediction tools are inadequate and as a result, potential customers
can be misled. Research is needed to improve the available calculation
tools.
10. UKERC's Research Road Map for PV (January 2007) projects
a target price for PV systems of 1 Euro/Watt by 2030, but of course
this figure is critically dependent on R&D and market expansion.
By this time it is estimated that PV in the UK could be contributing
approximately 3% of national electricity.
11. Energy involved in the manufacture of a PV system
is recouped in the case of the market dominant silicon wafer cells
in between 3 and 4 years, with thin film cells, having less energy
intensive manufacturing, at 3 years or less. Design and fabrication
improvements are anticipated to reduce these figures substantially,
perhaps to around 1 year for thin film devices.[142]
2.3 Hydrogen and fuel cells
12. Fuel cells, operating on hydrogen or hydrogen-rich
fuels, have the potential to become major factors in catalysing
the transition to a future sustainable energy system with low
carbon dioxide emissions. The vision of such an integrated energy
system of the future would combine large and small fuel cells
for domestic and decentralised heat and electricity power generation
with local (or more extended) hydrogen supply networks which would
also be used to fuel conventional (internal combustion) or fuel
cell vehicles.
13. As the table in Section 1 shows this field receives
is the best-funded of the technologies discussed, although in
comparison to other countries the absolute level is modest. The
UK has established an internationally competitive position and
can boast two world-class spin-out companies, which demonstrates
a good return from the investment to date.
14. There remain three major technological barriers that
must be overcome for a transition from a carbon-based (fossil
fuel) energy system to a hydrogen-based economy. First, the cost
of efficient and sustainable hydrogen production and delivery
must be significantly reduced. Second, new generation of hydrogen
storage systems for both vehicular and stationary applications
must be developed. Finally, the cost of fuel cell and other hydrogen-based
systems must be reduced.
15. Consequently we believe there are strong grounds
for the existing funding level to be at least maintained.
2.4 Marine Renewables (Wave and Tidal Current Energy)
16. Marine renewables cover wave energy and tidal current
energy. The potential for offshore wave energy in the UK has been
estimated to be 50 TWh/year with nearshore and shoreline wave
adding another 8 TWh. The UK tidal stream potential is 18 TWh.
Taken together, approximately 15-20% of UK electricity demand
could in principle be met by wave and tidal current. This growing
sector believes that by 2020 there could be 1-2GW of installed
capacity in the UK. To achieve this requires successful demonstration
of the technology at full scale.
17. Since 2000, a number of large scale wave and tidal
current prototypes have been demonstrated around the world, but
marine renewable energy technology is still 10-15 years behind
that of wind energy. UK based developers are leading the field
with the majority being SMEs. The Carbon Trust estimates that
there are 40-50 devices in various stages of development. In the
UK only one wave energy device (Pelamis) and two tidal current
devices (MCT & Open Hydro) have been demonstrated at near
full scale in the open sea. The first commercial wave energy farms
using the Pelamis device are being planned in Portugal, Orkney
and Cornwall. The largest tidal current turbine (Seagen, MCT)
will be installed in August 2007 in Strangford Lough in N. Ireland.
Although there are some companies installing large devices there
is still no clear technology winner, with many companies still
in the early development stage.
18. The UK leads the development in marine renewable
energy and has the potential to benefit from any emerging global
market. Areas where the UK can benefit from this global market
include: wave & tidal current device development; Electrical
system design; Scale model tank testing; Resource Assessment;
Device Installation, Device Manufacture; Grid connection; System
demonstration; Offshore test facilities at European Marine Energy
Centre (EMEC) in Orkney and at the Wavehub off the Cornish coast.
19. Although progress is underway through deployment
and test there are still key scientific challenges to be addressed
in areas including, Resource Assessment and Predictability, Engineering
Design and Manufacturability, Installation, Operation and Maintenance,
Survivability, Reliability and Cost Reduction. The research priorities
required to meet these challenges have been drawn from current
roadmaps and vision documents including more recent consultations
within the community by the UKERC Marine Research Network. Some
of these priorities are being addressed by the EPSRC Supergen
Marine Consortium. Development of a prototype is time consuming
and very expensive, taking between 7 and 10 years. An overarching
challenge is to reduce this development time, which will require
developers and academic research teams to collaborate in research
programmes such as Supergen Marine to develop reliable design
codes and reduce the reliance on tank testing at different scales.
2.5 Bioenergy
20. The UK's biomass resource is significant and is estimated
by some as generating up to 20 million tonnes per annum. Research
and development needs within the bioenergy area have been identified
in the UK horizon scanning activity in foresight, in the EU with
the Biomass Action Plan and the ReFUEL project for liquid transportation
and the development of the biorefinery concept. A clear distinction
is necessary between first generation crops that have been developed
for food (sugar beet, oil seed rape and wheat grain) that may
be used for chemical conversions to biodiesel and bioethanol and
second generation lignocellulosic (biomass) crops that can be
used as feedstock for heat, power and liquid fuels. The UK biomass
strategy report May 2007[143]
makes it clear that biomass streams in the UK could be much better
utilised.
21. First generation technologies have in general a poor
carbon footprint and represent a "intermediate step"
towards second generation lignocellulosic feedstock. Research
emphasis for these crops should be placed on landscape-scale impacts
of moderate increases in OSR growth, on the knock-on effects on
increased cereal growth and consequent loss of set-aside land
and associated impacts on UK Biodiversity and altered carbon footprint
and complete Life Cycle Analysis. At present there is limited
understanding on how these bioenergy chains compare in environmental
impact and a better evidence base is required.
22. Future strategic research efforts should be focussed
on second generation lignocellulosic feedstocks. Current funding
in place will address breeding and improvement for higher yield
in these crops, but the UK should be prepared to place additional
resource to ensure adequate miscanthus, poplar and willow germplasm
as the climate changes and this will require a strategic long-term
investment in breeding and improvement. Our 10 year aim should
be to obtain reliable 20 tonnes ha-1 y-1- yields, rather than
the commercial-scale 10 t ha-1 y-1 currently reported, with limited
inputs of water, fertilizer and chemicals. All evidence suggests
that in comparison to arable crops, deployment of perennial second
generation crops will give positive benefit to the environment,
however landscape-scale issues of large commercial plantation
still require further whole-system understanding, where spatial
supply and demand are considered together in relation to the emerging
technology deployment. It is well recognised that the "bioeconomy"
will be of increasing importance but in the UK limited research
effort has been focussed on the biorefinery concept and this will
require a cross research council initiative involving bioscientists,
engineers, computer scientists and environmentalists working together
to ensure the value chain is captured from these emerging concepts.
The UK is some way behind the rest of Europe and the USA in this
area.
23. The UK will continue to rely heavily on imported feedstock
for liquid transportation biofuel and for co-firing. The development
of additional tools to assess sustainability in a global context
should be given high priority. Similarly, public awareness should
be raised in this area, given current misconceptions and misinformation
for example on food versus fuel, environmental impacts, and the
biomass resource available to us in the UK and globally.
2.6 Ground source heat pumps
24. Ground source heat pumps make use of renewable (solar)
energy stored in the ground and provide one of the most energy-efficient
ways of heating buildings. They are suitable for a wide variety
of building types and are particularly appropriate for low environmental
impact projects. They do not require hot rocks (geothermal energy)
and can be installed in most parts of the UK, using a borehole
or shallow trenches or, less commonly, by extracting heat from
a pond or lake. Heat collecting pipes in a closed loop are used
to extract this ambient stored energy, which can then be used
to provide space heating and domestic hot water. In some applications,
the pump can be reversed in summer to provide an element of cooling.
25. The only energy used is electricity to power the
pumps. Typically, a ground source heat pump will deliver three
or four times as much thermal energy (heat) as is used in electrical
energy to drive the system. And, in the longer term this electricity
can be provided from renewable sources.
26. Ground source heat pump systems are widely used in
other parts of the world, including North America, China and Europe.
Typically they cost more to install than conventional systems;
however, they have very low maintenance costs and can be expected
to provide reliable and environmentally friendly heating for in
excess of 20 years. They require heating systems optimised to
run at a lower water temperatures than conventional UK boiler
and radiator systems. They are therefore well matched to underfloor
heating systems.
27. No fundamental research is required and the basic
technology is well developed. Improved system designs for heating
and cooling applications require research and development and
improved design guidelines should be developed to increase the
confidence in installation quality and performance.
2.7 Microgeneration
28. Microgeneration covers the very smallest electricity
generation plant. Most often these units are installed at consumers
premises, and a large market is foreseen for domestic application.
The key technologies are micro-wind, PV and micro-chp (usually
gas powered). Common issues relate to grid interfacing through
power electronics and the safe integration of numerous such sources
into the electricity distribution system. Significant R&D
is underway on these topics, much of it supported by EPSRC's Supergen
Programme, but the challenges are considerable and continuity
of research funding in this area is essential. Currently the technologies
are far too expensive and research efforts should be directed
at improved designs suited to high volume manufacture. For micro-wind
there still exist challenging problems of yield estimation; the
wind field in and around buildings is very complex and needs to
be better understood through a combination of fluid flow modelling
and field measurement.
29. The roll-out of smart metering and the increasing
use of IT in the home opens up the possibility of linking demand
side management to micro-generation, house by house. Research
is required to explore this new opportunity.
2.8 Intelligent grid management
30. The UK's electricity system remains dominated by
conventional generation that injects large amounts of power into
the high voltage transmission network, where it is transported
to passive distribution networks, and finally delivered to consumers.
Future power systems based on renewable and low carbon distributed
generation are likely to be rather different. Large numbers of
generators varying in type and scale and with different operational
characteristics will be connected across every level of the distribution
system. Integration of these new resources is a central challenge
and is key to ensuring the evolution of a viable and effective
system based on sustainable generation sources.
31. There are numerous technical challenges to be addressed
including the planning and operation of active distribution networks,
the control and interfacing of renewable energy sources, and system
protection. The UK is currently leading research in this area
through the EPSRC Supergen consortia and the DTI Centre for Distributed
Generation and Sustainable Electrical Energy. Increasingly there
is a need to demonstrate the new technologies at a convincing
scale, and the concept of Registered Power Zones (RPZs) is useful
in this regard. Technical developments need to be supported by
appropriate regulatory change and continuing cooperation between
researchers, industry and the regulator (OFGEM) is important.
2.9 Energy storage
32. Research undertaken by the DTI Centre for Distributed
Generation and Sustainable Electrical Energy indicates that dedicated
energy storage systems would need to be much cheaper than at present
to play any useful role in electricity supply systems, even with
an increased renewable energy penetration. Nevertheless there
is always a hope that new and significantly improved energy storage
systems will be developed and some level of background research
is appropriate, as for example being currently undertaken by EPSPC's
Supergen Energy Storage consortia.
33. In the longer term, say around 2050, when many observers
expect the electricity system to be dominated by sustainable sources,
energy storage could be essential to ensure stable and robust
operation of the system.
34. However, if there is parallel electrification of
the energy system, which some believe is inevitable, then there
would also be an increase in devices with in-built storage capacity,
such as electric vehicles, heating systems, and other power devices
with a large re-charging demand. Coupling this need with advanced
Demand Side Management systems could give effectively the same
flexibility as a dedicated network storage system. More open ended
research should be funded to explore these longer term possibilities.
3. COMMENTS ON
RESEARCH FUNDING
LANDSCAPE
35. Recent years have seen a welcome increase in R&D
expenditure and activity for renewable energy technologies, applied
at stages along their span of evolution from basic research to
demonstration. The emergence of the Research Council's Energy
Programme has increased collaboration and coherence across the
UK research community. In addition significant R&D support
is available from Carbon Trust and DTI, ostensibly to fund nearer
to market research.
36. Nonetheless significant and strategically important
areas of basic technology research remain under-funded.[144]
Many researchers would accept that they often make use of available
development funding to undertake work that is really of a more
fundamental nature. That this can happen does reflect to an extent
a lack of clarity in the provision of funding from the different
agencies. UKERC welcomes the progress that is now being made in
co-ordinating the various energy RD&D initiatives that have
developed in the last 3-4 years. However there is further work
to be done to ensure the effective, coherent RD&D effort along
the innovation chain that is needed to realise the UK's long-term
energy goals. UKERC is already working with ERP, DTI and RCEP
and is well positioned to contribute to the further development
of energy research policy.
37. Much as the sector welcomes the proposed new Energy
Technologies Institute (ETI) and significant associated increase
in R&D expenditure, there are concerns that without appropriate
high-level co-ordination, this additional source of funding could
further complicate and obscure the research landscape. UKERC sees
itself having a useful role in supporting the Research Councils
in their role in connection with the ETI.
38. If Government wishes to create a smooth path for
strategic research to move through to development to commercial
deployment, then greater strategic persistence is required, outlasting
individual Ministers or Governments. The research funding landscape
in the UK has seen a number of disruptive changes over recent
years and we believe this should be avoided in future. The support
mechanisms, for technology transfer in particular, have lacked
stability and this interrupts the process of technology development
and discourages participation. Germany's Fraunhofer model in contrast
has been developed consistently over decades and is widely regarded
as exemplary. Japan and the USA have developed similar frameworks.
3.1 Training
39. R&D makes a valuable contribution to the training
of skilled professionals. The measures in the UK Climate Bill,
the intention to create `zero carbon homes' by 2016, and EU intentions
in the 2007 Energy Efficiency Action Plan for 20% of all energy
to be renewable by 2020, imply an unprecedented expansion of renewables
deployment. Although the energy sector does not see itself as
held back yet by a lack of trained staff[145]
this situation is likely to change quickly, and there are areas
such as the wind sector that already have difficulty recruiting
suitably trained engineers.
4. POSTSCRIPTENERGY
RESEARCH DATA
FROM UKERC
40. One of UKERC's key functions is to provide up to
date and authoritative data on UK energy research. This is presented
as an Energy Research Atlas comprising a Research Register (an
online searchable database of energy related awards and projects),
used in the production of the research spend figures of Section
1, a Landscape (including a comprehensive account of research
groups by subject, and funding frameworks), and a collection of
research Roadmaps covering the main energy fields. All of these
can be accessed at www.ukerc.ac.uk. The Atlas is being used increasingly
by Government departments to provide the evidence base to underpin
R&D planning.
July 2007
132
Unless stated otherwise, data is from the UKERC Research Register. Back
133
2005 data from IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme. Back
134
DTI, DUKES 2006. Back
135
Variability of UK marine resources, 2005. Back
136
Biofuels designates liquid fuels derived from biomass including
dedicated energy crops. Back
137
Biomass is biomaterial (eg from energy crops and forestry waste)
burned to produce heat or electricity or both. Back
138
Figures taken from Biomass Strategy Document May 2007, published
by DEFRA. DTI, DFT. Back
139
2005 data from National Energy Foundation. Back
140
Microgeneration includes domestic scale generation from wind
and CHP. Back
141
UKERC report: Investment in electricity generation-the role
of costs, incentives and risks (May 2007). Back
142
Figures from US Department of Energy. Back
143
UK Biomass Strategy, May 2007. Back
144
UKERC's PV Research Road Map for the UK (Jan 2007) highlights
significant under funding of PV and the lack of central research
facilities as the key factors holding back the development of
PV technology in the UK. The Carbon Trust's recent PV Accelerator
Programme is welcome but not nearly enough to bring UK research
funding into line with key competitor countries. And wind energy
research has been under funded for many years in the UK following
a mistaken belief that the technology is fully mature. Research
into biofuel production is also currently low in relation to the
challenges. Back
145
ERP report: Investigation into high-level skills shortages in
the energy sector. Back
|