Is there anything being done on a large scale with renewable energy uk?

[MyDogLovesBiscuits]

Like solar panelling etc.

I remember a few years back solar energy was the in thing and people were being offered grants to put solar panels in but I'm talking on a large scale.

There are a handful of cities adopting the renewable energy routes and it's left me wondering a few things really.

Is it sustainable for example, could it be something that could alleviate the energy bill hike/crisis this year, and if there is anything similar planned for cities in the UK?

Not on the scale needed. Sadly the government/MPs are still bribed/Invested in the oil industry so much that the incentive is not there. It's so frustrating as not only is it environmentally going to be a disaster it also makes the UK vulnerable to the whims of the middle East and Russia. If we produced all our own energy we would be much more self sufficient.

The UK isn't doing that badly on the renewable energy front. Yes it could be better but it could always be better. Renewable energy use is increasing and use of fossil fuels decreasing. So we're heading in the right direction.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/28/uk-electricity-from-renewables-outpaces-gas-and-coal-power

Sadly not nearly quick enough though.

Wind turbines, especially offshore.

You might be interested in community energy groups (run by volunteers who raise money partly through share/bond offers to install wind/solar/hydro in their local area, then sell the electricity to the grid). There are many groups around the country but Brighton Energy have been particularly successful in installing solar arrays on schools, churches, factories and other buildings in Brighton. brightonenergy.org.uk/

Currently, however, a lot of community energy groups only have one or two installations each and a lot of potentially good sites are not being used. Big Solar Co-op are trying to get things going on a larger scale in community-owned solar energy:
bigsolar.coop/

(Disclaimer: I used to work in this area)

Yes.

Disclaimer - I work in the renewable energy industry.

Google suggest renewable is over 40% of the UK electricity generation.

Offshore renewable energy is due to increase by 400% by 2030. Some of the posts on here are willfully ignorant.

Also....

Yes.

Disclaimer - I work in the renewable energy industry.

Yes - I’m in Scotland and we have huge onshore and offshore wind farms. One issue is that the national grid isn’t really set up for lots of small scale energy producers. It’s being upgraded but it’s not a quick/easy job.

This is a genuine question though - I know for solar power is used very effectively in some countries but is it really the way forward here? Is there enough sun in winter?!

The wind farms in Scotland are a bit of a double edged sword… many are built on ancient peatland that holds millions of tonnes of carbon which is being dug up and ruined.. and the winds are often v high which can shut down/damage the windmills. Not to mention spoiling previously untouched countryside. Wave energy would be much more benefit and much less damaging.
Sadly the wave energy doesn’t have government cronies pocketing a fortune from it in the same way the wind farms do.

There is a massive wind farm off the coast of the North West of England (it is very windy here).

I’m pinning my hopes on nuclear fusion. But that’s at least 10 years off.

Well if you drive around the A1 in Beds/Cambs you'll spot the new windfarms and solar farms that have all been built in the last 5 years with more on the way.

And the off shore windfarm in Norfolk that you can only see about 5% of from the beach but is massive.

Loads of stuff is going up all over the place rurally.

Nuclear fusion was 10 years off in the 1980s when my Dad first went to see it at Didcot. It was still 10 years off when he retired and I'm glad to see it's 10 years off now.

@Fleur405 we will need a mix of energy sources.

@Lucifersleeps fusion is more like 20 to 30 years off. Small modular nuclear is maybe 10 years away.

documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:facc0c26-c9c0-415e-a12b-5cb51a1ebee5

Offshore wind sites in planning.

There are loads of field-sized solar panels around here as well as wind turbines. Due the way capitalism works, they won’t cut our energy bills at all. I am pleased we have so much renewable energy and it is being done on a huge scale.

I read that the electricity grid needs a lot of investment in order to be able to take more renewable installations, plus electric heat pumps for homes, and electric car charging. Without this investment, it puts these other things in jeopardy.

Loads of solar fields springing up in the SE. It seems such a pity to lose green farmland rather than putting panels on the roofs of large industrial units (which are also everywhere).

@Fleur405

Yes - I’m in Scotland and we have huge onshore and offshore wind farms. One issue is that the national grid isn’t really set up for lots of small scale energy producers. It’s being upgraded but it’s not a quick/easy job.

This is a genuine question though - I know for solar power is used very effectively in some countries but is it really the way forward here? Is there enough sun in winter?!

Yes solar power is still viable in UK winters - it doesn’t require blazing sunshine to work, just daylight.

Tidal is coming into its own.. look at Orkney/Shetland research. The tides wax and wane every day... forever... predictably, so will be a very big thing in our island nation.

Solar panels on a building might help supply that buildings needs, but even using it in 100% of the cases where it makes economic sense won't have an impact big enough to be visible on national statistics.

I remember reading that if you wanted to power the UK with renewable energy, you would need to cover an area roughly the size of the UK in solar panels/wind farms.

Fortunately, that's a realistic possibilty, in that most of the North Sea is very shallow, so we are now getting massive amounts of electricity from off-shore wind, and I think capacity is going to keep increasing, year after year, as new areas get auctioned off to wind companies. (We have been getting massive amount over the last few years, but apparently the last few months being unusually windless has contributed to the current issues.)

I've just moved 4% of my pension fund into a company that generates solar for the grid, by for example covering on obsolete airforce base in solar panels.

Another company has a project to generate 8% of the UKs electricity by solar and wind plants in the south of Morroco. Apparently they only need the government to guarantee a price of 4.5p per kwh to go ahead with it. Given the capped price paid by consumers is currently about 20p, and most current non-fossil fuel generation costs more than 4.5p, it should be viable.

Nuclear fusion was 10 years off in the 1980s when my Dad first went to see it at Didcot. It was still 10 years off when he retired and I'm glad to see it's 10 years off now.

I think by 10 you mean 30. The standard joke is that "nuclear fusion is 30 years away, and always will be."

Well, we are up to 42% of renewable energy in the UK's mix, according to the latest stats and our last coal power station is set to close in 2024. Offshore wind is booming and there's talk of turning our old mines into geothermal energy sources.

www.theengineer.co.uk/generating-clean-energy-from-the-coal-mines/

The problem is:
a) wind is unreliable; we need a back-up or better battery storage,
b) we are a bit too far north as a country to depend on solar in the winter - although it does play a part,
c) Our national grid and majority of boilers run off gas. I have yet to see a large-scale green solution proposed for this conundrum. Green hydrogen is a possibility, as is small-scale nuclear but I have not heard of any serious proposals.

"There is no Planet B" offers a good, in-depth look at the problems and solutions from a layman's viewpoint.

@TheABC hydrogen is very unlikely to be supplying homes. Home heating will be by electric heat pump.