Large-scale renewable energy projects


Opportunities for large-scale renewable energy projects were discussed at a recent meeting of a community energy network in the West of England. An example would be the buying back into community ownership of a commercial solar farm. This is potentially attractive in the current UK situation where projects suitable for individual CE groups are now hard to find. A large-scale project would, however, exceed the financial means and possibly the expertise of such groups, making a consortium necessary. The legal structure of such a consortium might have to be different from that of any existing CE group, and its activity might also challenge the present concept of local energy. A new kind of business model could be required, making the literature on this subject relevant. A starting point is the article

Business model innovation in electricity supply markets: The role of complex value in the United Kingdom
Stephen Hall, Katy Roelich, Energy Policy 2016
This is an open-access paper in which nine different business models relating to local energy supply are identified and discussed.

In addition, current research work at the Energy Policy Group of Exeter University may be of interest: research projects include 'Local Energy Markets', which uses Cornwall as a prototype. There is a blog at http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/energy/



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage

    Introduction The need to limit the harmful effects of climate change is a powerful motive for preventing carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere, and for removing CO2 that is already there, but there can be subsidiary aims associated with carbon capture, and there are many methods of accomplishing it. According to a definition published in 2014, “Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) encompasses methods and technologies to remove CO2 from … flue gas and from the atmosphere, followed by recycling the CO2 for utilization and determining safe and permanent storage options” (RCN-CCUS, 2014a). A definition of carbon capture and storage (CCS) used by Torvanger (2020) “refers to a group of technologies that reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from coal-fired or gas-fired power stations, or from process industries." The term sequestration is also used for the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere or from combustion gases, and permanent prevention of its...
Read more

Climate fiction and climate action

The interactions between climate fiction and environmental activism are the subject of a paper by Alacovska and Holt (2023). They describe environmental activism as “grassroots, decentralised social movements” which attempt to address issues of “inequality and systemic injustice arising from anthropogenic climate change, environmental degradation and ecological collapse” by means of non-hierarchical collective organising. The main object of their paper is to propose methods for future research, but here we will only draw on their introduction to the subject and its background. They believe that the popular genre of climate fiction influences climate activism , with the potential to stimulate the imagination and to energise the “quest for the attainment of better climate alternatives”. This stands in contrast with much writing on climate change, which is concerned with data and “mathematical prediction models for forecasting and comprehending the gravity of global environmental challeng...
Read more

Solar installations in the UK.

It is no doubt safest to assume that any correlation between an increase in solar generation in the UK and declining consumption of electrical energy from the grid is no more than that; nevertheless, a correlation is suggestive, and it could be instructive to pursue it further. To do this we will need to know more about solar installations in the UK. Ofgem, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets for the UK, publishes data on the total FiT PV installation capacity for each year. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/data-portal/total-installed-capacity-kw-installation-type Capacity in kW, as of 30 September 2017 is given as follows (here rounded to the nearest thousand). Community                                       287,000 Domestic              ...
Read more