Policy News

Monday 12 October 2009

"Significant investment" in onshore and off-shore wind, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear power is needed if Britain is to decarbonise its economy and deliver the Government's Low Carbon Transition Plan, the Climate Change Committee have said today (October 12).

In today's report to Parliament, entitled "Meeting Carbon Budgets - the need for a step change", the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said that 20GW of wind, 2GW of CCS coal and 3GW of nuclear power would have to be built by 2020, and an additional 20GW of low carbon generation capacity in the subsequent decade would be needed to meet the government's target of cutting emissions by 80% in 2050.

The Committee, established under the 2008 Climate Change Act to advise the Government on carbon emissions, also backed Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) to "provide confidence" over the price received by low-carbon generation and urged the government to introduce a new set of financial and other incentives to meet "very ambitious" renewable heat targets.

It noted that between 2003 and 2007, emissions reductions averaged 0.5% per annum, but that reductions of 2-3%pa will be required to meet the carbon budgets. It added that declining economic activity is likely to have produced an emissions cut of around 2% in 2008 and should not be confused with progress on emissions.

It said its analysis of the actions needed to ensure delivery of the first three carbon budgets suggested a need to revise or strengthen policy in three areas - particularly electricity generation, but also energy efficiency in residential and domestic buildings and road transport emissions.

Lord Turner, Chair of the CCC said: "With the carbon budgets in place, we now need to achieve a step change in the pace of emissions reduction. The Government needs to build on its "Low Carbon Transition Plan" and put in place a comprehensive delivery framework. What we have proposed is achievable and affordable but action needs to be taken now if we are to make our contribution to combating climate change."

Wind

Wind generation was highlighted as offering the "best opportunity" for early decarbonisation of the power sector as the "only low-carbon technology that is ready for deployment now."

The CCC estimated that it would be feasible to add up to 23 GW of new wind capacity by 2020, comprising an additional 12 GW onshore and 11 GW offshore, supported by streamlined planning processes, improved transmission access and an expanded supply chain.

However, it added that if planning decision-making remained at the current speed, of taking over two years to approve a large onshore wind project, just 18 GW of new wind capacity could be added by 2020.

The CCC also warned that if the supply chain failed to adjust to accommodate a threefold expansion in annual installation capability for both onshore and offshore generation, as little as 13 GW of new capacity would be added, 8GW onshore and 5GW offshore.

The committee added that the Severn barrage was "not a clear current priority", as it was "relatively expensive" compared to other low-carbon options currently available, although it may become an attractive option in the future if "other technologies fail to deliver."

CCS

In their December report, the CCC argued that there is no role for conventional coal generation through the 2020s on the path to an 80% emissions reduction target in 2050, and said that this should be signalled by the Government to investors.

In today's report, the committee backs the government's CCS competition but said a second competition should follow in 2010 and support up to four plants, with the first demonstration project on the system in 2014 or 2015, and the second phase of demonstrations operational in 2015 and 2016.

The committee added that it may be possible to deploy 20 GW of CCS plants by 2030 if

 roll-out were to start in the early 2020s and build rates of around 2.5 GW per year were achievable, although it described this situation as "very challenging".

Transmission

The Committee said it was "crucial" that the power transmission network was developed to support a significant increase in the level of wind generation, adding that the current system has limited capacity and severe bottlenecks in areas of wind resources.

Offshore, the CCC said up to £15 billion of investment would be required to develop the transmission network to eventually support up to 40 GW of offshore wind generation, while onshore, the report urges the National Grid and Ofgem to agree upgrade that can be implemented by 2012.

Nuclear

The committee envisioned construction of up to three new nuclear plants by 2022, supported by an improved enabling framework to contain the development timeline, if the emissions targets were to be met

However, this idea was rejected by Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary.

"While tougher targets, a huge advance in energy efficiency and massive investment in renewable energy are all vital, it is deluded to think that nuclear power will fill the energy gap by 2020. Any new nuclear plants will simply not be ready on time, as well as being hugely expensive," he said.