what do we want from the energy review

8/9/2019 What Do We Want From the Energy Review

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But solar PV is far more than a proven domestic micro technology. In Germany forexample, multi MWp solar farms are already a common sight, and here in the UK large-scale

building integrated applications such as the Manchester CIS tower are already delivering 400kWp plus projects.

The main policy drivers required to maximise the contribution from solar pv to 2020

renewables and energy efficiency targets are a combination of those set out in the 2003Energy White Paper and new measures. There is no reason for example why the 4%contribution from domestic solar PV based on energy export equivalence cannot be deliveredover a far shorter timeframe ie by 2020 than that suggested by the EST report.

Solar PV in the built environment

A key part of the challenge for this Review is to understand that the value of PV (and other

building integrated technologies) in the built environment cannot be judged purely in terms ofcomparing the cost of generation today with that of large-scale fossil fuel or wind energy

plants.

Solar PV is a building material in its own right, with UK knowledge based firms such assolarcentury already at the forefront of the rapidly growing UK and global building integratedPV market.

PV is uniquely suited to Britains largely urban environment, with few barriers in terms ofplanning permitted development rights or public acceptance.

A proven, reliable and robust technology

Technically, it is already a proven and reliable energy efficiency technology with 1 kWp (7m2 of modules) needed on the average house built to 2006 Part L building regulations toreduce the dwellings carbon emissions by a further 23% - ie adding this sized system to a2006 Part L house would deliver total carbon savings of 63% over the equivalent house built

to 2000 Part L standards.

Sharp, the worlds largest solar PV manufacturer has been making solar PV modules since the

mid 1960s. Their first lighthouse installation in Japan is still working some 40 years later.All solar PV modules come typically with 25 year warranties and will last far longer. In thissense, for Government to describe solar PV persistently as an innovative or emergingtechnology alongside eg domestic gas micro CHP, is highly misleading.

The growing UK manufacturing and installer base

There are over 60 accredited installation companies in the UK with EST reporting literallyhundreds of expressions of interest through the lifetime of the solar PV MDP. A UKmanufacturing base is developing. In 2005, Cabinet Ministers opened two plants in County

Durham and Wrexham operated by Romag/BP Solar and Sharp UK respectively. The Sharp


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assembly line now employs over 300 people, with further investment plans for the UK

currently on hold, given current uncertainties over the LCBP and the UK Governmentsmedium term policy objectives.

The experience of other markets eg Japan and Germany also suggests that very rapid increases

in installation rates can be delivered by the private sector given the right policy mechanismsand long-term Government commitments eg the German programme saw annual installation

rates rise from 9 MWp in 1999 to 500 MWp in 2005. This puts into perspective theassumption in the UK that measures to support a rapid increase in the take-up of PV and othermicro-renewables are premature in the absence of a wider installer base.

Solar PV and cloudy Britain

The average sized 2.5 kWp domestic PV system in the UK generates 2,160 kWh per

annum, the equivalent of nearly three-quarters of the electricity demand of the typical

house. Some PV modules will generate more per kWp. It is therefore the absolute performance of the technology in the UK that matters, not its relative performance incomparison with more tropical climates, as is so often argued by the Carbon Trust and otherconsultants.

Knowing for example that the UKs typical output of 2,160 kWh from a 2.5 kWp systemwould be higher in Central Africa or California is quite meaningless in terms of UK public

policy. But this was the starting point for the hugely damaging Carbon Trust Renewables

Innovation Review of February 2004. It is a source of frustration to the solar PV industryinternationally that this discredited report which played a key role in the decision to abandonsuccessive White Paper commitments to the sector still appears to carry such weight within

the UK Government.

C/ What does solar PV need the four policy drivers required

The four main policy drivers to ensure that the contribution from PV can be maximized by2020 are:

(i) Capital grants to 2012 and ECAs

A short-term increase in capital grant funding in the medium term to 2012 to bedelivered in part by the current Spending Review, to ensure that the six year Low CarbonBuildings Programme is an effective market building measure capable of deployingsignificant volumes of small-scale renewable technologies (LCBP June 2005 consultation

para 6.2). Since the 2003 White Paper, PV and other renewables have been told repeatedlythat capital grants are the preferred policy driver for all technologies effectively outside theRO. The current 28.5 million budget over 3 years for the LCBP is woefully inadequate to

deliver the DTIs own aspirations for this new programme as set out in the June 2005consultation document.

Given the grant caps under both the solar PV MDP and the LCBP and the competitive bid

nature of commercial sector projects under these programmes, it is also essential that solar


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PV is made eligible for Enhanced Capital Allowances from the 2007 budget.

(ii) Feed-in tariff

If the Energy review confirms that the capital grant route is no longer the DTIs preferredsecond tier policy driver for renewables, an alternative option is to deliver the

Governments 2001 and 2003 White Paper commitments made specifically to PV byintroducing from 2009 a feed-in tariff mechanism.

The only serious objection to a feed-in tariff approach in the UK has been on the grounds thatit is incompatible with our liberalised energy market. But the Government is prepared to

intervene in other ways in our free liberalized electricity market not least through the EECand the RO itself. In our discussions with DTI and EPIA, officials have admitted that theirsis not an objection in principle, and that given political will (leadership?), it could beovercome.

(iii) require all local planning authorities to adopt variant of the Merton model

A requirement for all local planning authorities to adopt a variant of Merton-style positive

planning policies for micro-renewables policies, subject to local consultation and conditions.This is particularly important for new buildings eg the 6.6 million new dwellings to be built

between now and 2050. The advantage of this approach politically is that these policies havealready been developed and implemented successfully by Labour councils. It is thereforesurprising that the Government has opposed precisely this measure proposed by the

Conservative opposition in the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill committee stage.

The main barrier to ODPM now requiring all authorities to adopt similar policies appears to be a fear that sustainable housing is incompatible with affordable housing. But many

social housing tenants are already benefiting from reduced utility bills as a result of sociallandlords investing in solar PV and other renewables in both new-build and retrofit projects.

There is some enthusiasm for the Merton model within the DTI but given current ODPMs

current stance, there is a danger of overestimating the numbers of lpas likely to adopt such

policies and underestimating the length of time required to develop and implement them inlocal plans.

(iv) Changes to Part L building regulations

Announce now that the next revision of Part L of the Building regulations expected in2009/10 will require PV and other renewable technologies to deliver 10% carbon emission

savings in all new buildings over 1000m2 and in large residential developments. The marginalcost to developers now of doing this in todays tiny UK market is already less than 1% anddepending on the renewable technology used less than 0.5%

The ODPMs 2005 Part L consultation commented that in future there will be an increasing


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amount of building integrated renewable energy systems. Building designs will therefore

need to adapt so that they can readily integrate such systems in efficient and cost effectiveways (eg PV panels as a cladding material). The ODPM 22 February 2006 press releaseobserved that the revisions to Part L will raise performance standards to a level that will

provide a strong incentive to consider low and zero carbon systems.

In our view, the experience of the gas condensing boiler market in the UK suggests that

leaving it to the market is not enough. Defras decision to pre-empt the current Part L process, by requiring SEDBUK A and B boilers from 2005 sets a prescriptive technologyprecedent that should be extended to renewable energy technologies from 2010 onwards.

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what do we want from the energy review

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