Keeping the lights turned on

Renewable energy is a capitalist’s dream — an inexhaustible supply of something for which global demand is growing at an exponential rate, and which, if carefully managed and
appropriately invested in, will continue to provide returns for as long as people need power for living and working. It’s up there with the goose that laid the golden eggs.
One of the reasons it has taken so long for commercially viable renewable energy to appear is the cost; research and development (R&D) in renewable energy is notoriously expensive. There are also the legal and regulatory aspects to consider, with the UK being one of the slowest moving countries in Europe where renewable energy is concerned. In the 2006 Global Status Report from the REN21 global policy network (on whose steering committee Defra holds a seat), the UK is conspicuous by its absence from the top league tables of countries around the world that are investing in renewable energy.
Richard Burge, founding director of Kimberley Burge, a sustainable development company, says: “Energy is a very emotive and political issue and it gets tied up with all sort of concerns, some of it real — how much longer do we have these fossil fuels for, what about waste management — some being driven by political concerns, and some of it basically politics verging on very unpleasant xenophobia. These areas make energy very difficult to get a handle on.
“My view of energy comes very much from climate change and the ecosystem balancing perspective,” he says. “So my view is that energy efficiency is not the issue; the issue is how you use the sources of energy sustainably to make sure you have continual and growing access to energy. Because without economic growth, a lot of people are going to continue to go hungry around the world.”
Aside from the obvious benefits to the environment, the reason for the global excitement around renewable energy can be captured in just three words: the energy gap.
In the early years of the 21st century, energy pundits began voicing concerns surrounding the UK’s ability to produce all of the energy it required. This emerging energy gap was forecast to arise as a result of the modernisation or closure of older, coal-fired power plants. Depletion of gas reserves in the North Sea and a programme of nuclear decommission were also seen as drivers of the crisis.
Summing it up in terms of the UK’s current energy sources, Chris Vernon, a respected UK energy blogger, wrote in 2005: “Taken together, at least 50 per cent of our current electricity supply is threatened within 15 years. Economic growth over this time is expected to increase electricity demand by 10 to 15 per cent, further exaggerating the shortfall.”
In 2006, Deloitte’s Energy, Infrastructure and Utilities division published 2020 vision – Meeting UK power generation objectives in 2020, a report on the UK electricity environment.
The report states: “By 2020, over 50GW of new or refurbished generation capacity will be required, which represents circa two-thirds of current capacity – equivalent to either 55 new combined cycle gas turbine plants, 30 new nuclear power stations, 95,000 on-shore – or 40,000 off-shore wind turbines.”
In its present form, and with its government-set expansion targets of 10 per cent by 2010 and 20 per cent by 2020, the renewable energy sector is by no means the final answer. However, it goes some way to addressing the problem and, until Whitehall follows the example set by other European countries and commits itself more fully to the notion of a competitive economy powered by renewable energy, this is as good as it gets.
As one might expect, given the Welsh Assembly’s positioning of Wales as a small, clever country, there are already a number of companies in Wales researching and developing technologies for renewable energy generation. Wales is richly blessed with the resources required for a number of renewable energy options and the individual niches within the renewable energy sector will annually be worth billions once the technology is commercially exploited. Renewable energy represents a real chance for Wales to regain its strength in the global energy provision industry and these companies are in the vanguard to realise that vision.
But while investing in energy technology is all very well for entrepreneurs, what about companies concerned about the sustainability of their own energy consumption? The Carbon Trust recommends that businesses wanting to make the most of renewable energy work their way down what’s been dubbed the energy hierarchy; that is, the order in which energy issues should be pursued. Beginning with reducing the need for energy, businesses are then advised to use energy more efficiently, to use renewable energy and to ensure that continuing use of fossil fuels is clean and efficient. The government-funded body provides templates for assessing current energy needs and testing the viability of using renewable energy on its website.
Companies or individuals wishing to embrace the principal of renewable energy should consider installing a solar water heating system, says Ian Tansley, the managing director of Bright Light Solar. “After draught excluders and loft insulation, this should be the obvious next step for anyone wanting a visible and cheap investment in environmental responsibility.”
The attitude of occupiers to these challenges does seem to be changing. Those embarking on new premises are taking energy needs into account. Bluestone, the £110m holiday village in Pembrokeshire, will build a bio-mass plant supplied by a cooperative of local farmers to supply some of its energy needs.
One of the attractions of Baglan Energy Park is its the $500m GE global showcase power station, which uses the revolutionary H system gas turbine and can supply local businesses with cheaper, cleaner energy. This was a big attraction for Intertissue, a high energy user that has moved to the site.
Matthew Phillips, head of agency at property consultancy Knight Frank, says that while, historically, clients haven’t displayed an interest in how their premises are heated, the agency has seen a sea change in the last six months, due largely to growing awareness of the green issue and the position the public sector has taken.
“It’s more relevant to some of the bigger companies, who’ve got to be aware of their corporate social responsibilities. What we haven’t seen yet is — because greener buildings are more expensive to build — whether people are prepared to pay higher rentals on their premises,” he says.
Steve Matherson, director at property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton, adds that the government should offer incentives to developers. “It could be led by government by making it tax efficient or incentivised for developers to build sustainably, rather than penalising them [if they do not].”

A GUIDE TO ENERGY COMPANIES IN WALES

Bright Light Solar
Bright Light Solar specialises in the delivery of off-grid solutions worldwide and counts the World Health Organisation and UNICEF among its many clients.
The company has developed a wide range of solar-powered products, including water heating systems, water pumps, electric panels and lighting systems.
In the developing world its solar powered refrigerators are acclaimed and are widely used by medics to preserve precious vaccines at an optimum room temperature.

Agri-Energy
Agri-Energy, a subsidiary of the £1bn- turnover company Irish Food Processors, is planning to develop the former Royal Naval Armaments Depot site in Milford Haven as a leading-edge biodiesel plant and renewable energy generator.
The company has started its consultation process as it prepares to apply for planning permission towards the end of April.
Irish Food Processors procures, slaughters and processes beef for sale to blue-chip retail outlets including Sainsburys, Burger King and Asda. The high-tech environmentally-friendly plant, which Agri-Energy hopes will be operational in 2008, would take animal by-products and bio-waste streams and convert them into biodiesel for use by the refineries on the Haven.

Wave Dragon
Wave Dragon Wales is a Danish venture that found a home off the Pembrokeshire coast after Denmark cut back funding for wave energy R&D. The company is proposing the world’s largest wave energy converter in the waters off West Wales and will be constructing a pre-commercial demonstrator at Milford Haven.
UK manager Iain Russell says the company has over 20,000 hours of grid-connected operational experience through its prototype and is on track for starting to generate electricity for sale from the summer of 2008.

Swanturbines
Swanturbines, a Swansea University spin-out company, has patented technology to exploit the £4bn UK tidal energy market. The prototype device works like an underwater wind turbine and is submerged. One of the key concerns facing tidal energy generators is the cost of maintenance of their equipment. James Orme, a founding director of Swanturbines, says the design has only one moving part in the drive train, offering “exceptional reliability”.

G24 Innovations
G24 Innovations, a manufacturer of a new, next-generation photovoltaic technology based on dye-sensitised solar cells, opened its production facilities in Cardiff last year. It aims to be the first facility to produce dye-sensitised solar cells on a commercial scale and it will rely entirely on green energy sources to meet its own energy needs.

Marine Current Turbines
Marine Current Turbines, the company that installed the world’s first tidal stream device off the north Devon coast in 2003 (the 300kW SeaFlow device), is investigating the feasibility of building a seven-unit tidal energy farm in waters off Anglesey. Once a detailed environmental impact assessment has been completed, MCT will determine whether or not the waters off Anglesey are a suitable location for an array and whether the necessary consents should be sought.

Hydrogen Energy
The University of Glamorgan has lodged plans with Neath Port Talbot Council to develop a hydrogen-based fuel in a new £1.7m Renewable Hydrogen Research and Demonstration Centre on Baglan Energy Park. The first of its kind in Wales, the centre will explore the potential of hydrogen as one of the key fuels of the future and will show how hydrogen can be produced from local sources.