Wind Power To Bypass Nuclear Power In UK By 2012

 

The UK wind power industry will be celebrating today as it achieves an important milestone - 4 gigawatts of installed wind energy capacity across the nation.
 
According to the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), the UK wind power sector now powers the equivalent of all Scotland's household needs, or 2.3 million homes.
 
The 4 gigawatt mark was realised with the final commissioning of three wind farms - a 38MW wind farm at Longpark, a 30MW facility at Dun Law and the first phase of Dong Energy's 173MW Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm.
 
The UK added the latest 1GW of capacity in less than a year. It took 14 years to deliver the first gigawatt in 2005, 20 months to the 2nd gigawatt and 18 months for the 3rd. 
  
Industry experts predict the UK will reach 6 gigawatts by the end of next year and the sector is gearing up to reach the Renewable Energy Strategy target of 30GW of wind energy by 2020. This goal is entirely achievable given over 12GW of wind farm programs are now either operational, being built or already with planning permission. When the current round of projects is completed by 2012, wind energy in the UK will have overtaken nuclear power in installed capacity.
 
There is also an additional 9GW worth of projects in planning; but waiting for approval. However, BWEA warned that onshore approvals by local councils have now fallen to a new low, with just 25% of applications being approved, compared to over 70% for other major projects such roads, housing and supermarkets.
 
Adam Bruce , BWEA Chairman, said even in the midst of the UK's worst recession in a generation, the industry was "more than doing our bit to help deliver a low carbon, high growth future for the UK."
 

Solar Panel Myths - Climate Change Contributors

 

Solar power is often the victim of detractors; sometimes drawing ire from those with a vested interest in maintaining fossil fuel based economies, but also from uninformed parties perpetuating myths or sowing seeds of doubt in relation to renewable energy.
  
Nathan Myhrvold, the former Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft, is causing a stir due to reported comments stating that solar panels contribute to global warming. 
  
According to the soon to be released book "Superfreakonomics", the sequel to the best-seller "Freakonomics", Mr Myhrvold had this to say:
  
"The problem with solar cells is that they're black, because they are designed to absorb light from the sun. But only about 12 percent gets turned into electricity, and the rest is reradiated as heat--which contributed to global warming."
  
While all electricity generation systems will create heat in their operations, Pablo Päster, a greenhouse gas engineer and writer for TreeHugger.com, challenged this statement by comparing solar panel based electricity production to a coal fired power plant. 
 
Mr Päster says that a fossil fuel based power plant directly adds at least 1.6 times more heat to the atmosphere than solar panels. Mr. Päster also points out that solar panels don't generate any greenhouse gas emissions, but coal-fired power plants emit about 2 pounds of carbon dioxide for every kilowatt hour of electricity produced. He also mentions that many solar cells are blue, not black and that solar panels are often installed on rooftops, which also radiate heat after being e exposed to the sun.
 
According to Australian solar power solutions provider Energy Matters, one of the most common misconceptions they hear regarding solar power is that it takes more energy to create a solar panel that what it outputs over its lifetime.
 
Information from the Energy Matters web site states an assessment from the International Energy Agency in mid 2006 concluded  that roof-top solar panel systems recover their energy content from manufacturing and recycling in under 2 years in Australia.
 
Once the panels have reimbursed their initial energy input, roof-top solar arrays can avoid the emission of 40 tonnes of CO2, depending on their location and on the local electricity mix available. During their 30 year lifespan, home solar power systems are expected to produce around 17 times the amount of energy needed for manufacture, installation and dismantling.
 

News for Monday 19 October, 2009

 

• The 11kW Solar Powered House
  


• Preventing Solar Panel Theft
  

View all news for Monday 19 October, 2009 on one page

Recent News

 

• Friday 16 October, 2009
  


• Thursday 15 October, 2009
  


• Wednesday 14 October, 2009
  


• Tuesday 13 October, 2009
  


• Monday 12 October, 2009
  

News archive