The Power of Scotland Renewed

Power of Scotland

As a Transition movement, we need to set our sails to take advantage of the prevailing wind, waves and tide and the renewable electricity that will flow from them. That requires us to be energy efficient and to continue to make changes in transport in the light of peak oil, and in heating in the light of peak gas so that we move to a renewable electric economy.

A recent report suggests that by 2030 Scotland could obtain between 60% and 143% of its annual projected electricity demand depending on the investment in energy saving and new renewables.

The report demonstrates that it is entirely plausible that no large scale fossil fuel fired generating capacity would remain on line after 2030.

The total electricity generating capacity in Scotland is around 10 GW. Until recently, most of this has been fossil fired plant and nuclear with 1.5 GW of established hydro.

We are in the ealy stages of a boom in renewable electricity generation in Scotland. From a standing start a few years ago, we now have over 1.8 GW of on shore wind capacity. This new capacity, combined with Scotland's hydro capacity means we now get over 20% of our electricity from renewable sources. The Scottish Governement plans to get this figure to 31% by 2011 by developing more on shore wind.

On shore wind will easliy provide 6 GW of capacity in Scotland. In fact, when all the capacity currently under construction and consented is built, we will have 4.6 GW of installed on shore wind. And there is a further 4.2 GW of capacity in the planning process awaiting consent. So if a third of this gets through the planning process and is built, we will get to 6GW of installed on shore wind capacity.

This will allow the Scottish Government to meet its target of 50% of electricity from renewables by 2020 and I suspect it will do this with a few years to spare.

Then, of course, there is off shore wind. There is very little off shore wind capacity operational in Scotland (around 10 MW), but there is a large farm nearing completion off Kippford in the Solway Firth. Most UK off shore capacity is being installed in England at present as shown in this map from the Crown Estate.

http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/round_1_2_windfarm_sites.pdf

The next round of leasing from the Crown Estate should see more off shore sites in Scotland in the Firth of Forth and the Moray Firth.

And then of course, there is marine energy, wave and tidal. Again the potential here is enormous, but the technology is at an early stage with prototype devices in test in a marine power test centre in Orkney. It is possible that several GW of capacity could be installed in the Pentland Firth within the next decade. The Pentland Firth is the area of sea between the north of mainland Scotland and the Orkney Isles where currents from the Atlantic and North Sea are funnelled into a narrow stretch of sea providing very rich potential for marine energy devices.

In conclusion, the future of renewable electricity generation in Scotland is extremely bright and we should recognise that we are in the early stages of a renewable electricity revolution that will, more than likely, see Scotland self sufficient in renewable electricity and more than likely a net exporter.

As a Transition movement, we need to set our sails to take advantage of the prevailing wind, waves and tide and the renewable electricity that will flow from them. That requires us to be not only energy efficient but to electrify transport (in the light of peak oil), and heating (in the light of peak gas) so that we transition to a renewable electric economy.

This can be done and I hope to show how in this blog.