RAE report: Time running out for decarbonisation
The paper warns the government against what they describe as the derailment of offshore wind and new nuclear technology developments, with energy policy reset talks branded ‘unhelpful’, as the Tories impose cuts on solar, onshore wind and energy efficiency measures.
The RAE also argue that new capacity in nuclear, offshore windfarms and carbon capture technology must be firmly backed by Ministers.
The Academy's study recommends the creation of local, large-scale pilot projects to show how the future system would work, whilst also urging the use of known technologies on a larger scale, as the deployment of new innovations could take decades.
The report notes that the addition of shale gas or tight oil is unlikely to have a major impact on the evolution of the UK's energy system as we already have secure and diverse supplies of hydrocarbons from multiple sources.
David Clarke, Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) Chief Executive and leader of the group responsible for the report, believes the country has 10 years to prepare for a low carbon transition and decisions taken in the next decade are critical.
“The report’s findings closely align to the ETI’s view that the UK can implement an affordable transition to a low carbon energy system by 2050,” he said.
“Beyond 2030 we must largely decarbonise heat and transport, potentially through electrification but also using other options such as hydrogen and biofuels. We also need to adapt our transmission and distribution networks to become ‘smarter’.
“Failure to plan the development of the whole energy system carefully will result, at best, in huge increases in the cost of delivery or, at worst, a failure to deliver.”
Prepared for the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology, 'A Critical Time For UK Energy Policy' details the actions needed now to create a secure and affordable low carbon energy system for 2030 and beyond.
The study looks at the future evolution of the UK’s energy system in the short to medium term and considers how the system is expected to develop across a range of possible trajectories identified through modelling and scenarios.
Their recommendations include developing policies to accelerate demand reduction and introducing smarter demand management clarifying and stabilising market mechanisms and incentives to boost investor confidence.
Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, states that investment in a low-carbon future has to be balanced against the immediate cost to the taxpayer.
“Quite rightly, the talk alongside these changes has been all about the need to reduce carbon emissions in the most cost-effective way possible; making sure that the taxpayers' investment today will create a prosperous, low carbon economy for tomorrow,” Mr Delay said today.
“There is a need for continuing support for low carbon developments, both in innovation and deployment, which needs to focus on the technologies that can meet the UK’s needs for electricity, transport and heat, at the same time as benefitting our economy.
“We need a sensible new set of policies that will help the country to meet its carbon emissions reduction targets and create long-term economic value, without putting undue strain on the public purse.”
Dr Keith MacLean, chairman of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), warned that recent talk from the government on changes to energy policy has been misleading. "It's rather unhelpful, this talk there has been at the moment of a reset of energy policy from the Secretary of State," he said.
"It suggests that we've got magical new policies and technologies which we are suddenly going to pull out like a rabbit from the hat, and that's just an illusion. We have to get on with what we have today."
