Scottish Electricity Generation Mix

Scotland generates its electricity from a variety of sources. The non-renewable sources of electricity generation in Scotland are nuclear, coal, oil and natural gas. In 2002, Scotland's total electricity generating capacity was 9.5 GW which was made up mostly by non-renewable generation with around 1.5 GW of hydro.

Scotland has 25% of the European wind resource, 25% of the European tidal resource and 10% of the European wave resource. Scotland has 0.6% of the European population. So, Scotland is a land staggeringly rich in the new renewable energy sources on a per capita basis. The switch to renewable electricity generation began after 2002 and the early stages of this transition are captured in the figure.

Electricity is an energy carrier, not a fuel source. It flows along wires transporting energy from a source (power station, wind turbine etc) to the destination where it is to be used.

Because electricity can be generated from such a range of sources and because electricity can transport energy without using oil, it is more resilient to the likely price shocks due to  peak oil and gas. Natural gas at distressed prices following an imminent oil peak (which will result in distressed oil prices) is exactly what Ian Marchant, CEO of Scottish and Southern Energy, is warning about in the video on this webpage  (starting at 2 minutes 12 seconds).

Electricity generation is not dependent on a single fuel source, nor is it entirely dependent on fossil fuels.  Interestingly, a large installed wind capacity has a moderating effect on electricity price. The Scottish installed on-shore wind capacity, currently 2.1 GW, has been expanding rapidly in recent years and the off-shore wind and marine energy sources are set to follow. Within the next year or so, the installed wind capacity in Scotland will exceed our current nuclear fired electricity generating capacity (2.5 GW) and, not long after exceed our current coal fired  generating capacity (3.5 GW). Looking further ahead, installed wind capacity will exceed our coal and nuclear generating capacity combined.

The rapidly expanding wind capacity in Scotland is shown in the figure up  top. This figure shows operational wind capacity and, in 2011, the addition of the wind capacity  currently under construction and by 201? (a date early in the decade) the further addition of the currently consented wind capacity added. It also shows the planned closure of the Hunterston nuclear power plant and the Cockenzie coal fired power plant, both in 2011. The other coal fired plant, Longannet, is due to close in 2020 and the other nuclear power plant, Torness, in 2023. The only natural gas fired plant in Scotland, Peterhead, is due to close in 2025. There are plans for a new gas fired power station at Cockenzie, but these are at the planning stage.

Scotland has extensive electricity storage capability - effectively giant batteries - to store excess electricity generation. Electricity is used to pump water up hill into huge storage reservoirs in the Highlands of Scotland. The water is later released to power turbines and re-generate electricity when it is required. Plans to increase the pumped storage capacity in Scotland and link the Scottish electricity grid to Norway could dramatically increase the storage capacity in a larger system by connecting Scotland's renewable electricity capacity to Norway's large pumped hydro storage capacity.

The price and availability of electricity is likely to be much more resilient to oil and natural gas price shocks. That is not to say that peak oil won't have an effect on electricity prices, but not to the same extent as the oil price and the natural gas price. Therefore, renewable electricity would seem to me to be the best bet as a fuel source for the future in Scotland. The question then arises, how do we use it?

For heating, I would suggest Eco Cute air source heat pumps were appropriate. See these blogs for more information

Electric Heat 

Heating more efficiently using Carbon Dioxide 

Slash your CO2 emissions from heating by 50%

Chief Scientist at the Department of Energy and Climate Change backs Heat Pumps

Sanyo CO2 Eco air source heat pump in operation

Sanyo CO2 heat pump system installed at medieval priory

but I wouldn't rule out modern electric storage heaters.

16th September 2010 Update: The CBI in their new report  "The Heat is on: Delivering an Integrated heat policy"  published today seem to agree with me on this point. They state that "... There may be advantages in using established technologies such as electrical storage heating to help manage demand-side response and utilise a low-carbon electricity network".

The point about using storage heaters is that there is potential for considerable amounts of renewable electricity to be generated at night and we can increase our effective electricity storage capacity by using this electricity to store heat in an electric storage heater for use during the day. This reduces the peak demand on the grid which requires additional infrastructure to supply.

For cooking, an induction hob, see this blog for details

Now we're cooking with gas ...

For drying clothes, the good old washing line or a Shieling dryer or a heat recovery ventillation system can help get the job done

What is the Shieling Dryer?

But if a tumble dryer is really necessary, why not use a heat pump based tumble dryer that uses 40% less electricity than standard A rated appliances?

Update: 8th October 2010: The Scottish Government has recently increased its target for electricity generated from renewable sources from 50% by 2020 to 80% by 2020. First Minister Alex Salmond claims that Scotland can achieve 100% renewable electricity, but Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of Scottish and Southern Energy implies Alex Salmond has got it wrong. Over the next 20 years, Ian Marchant is quoted as saying, "I calculated that Scotland's potential is roughly 200% for renewables, onshore wind, offshore wind, hydro and biomass."