Solar, wind micro generation could trump nuclear

Well unfortunately I was way too busy last week to blog. But it has been a very interesting week with lots in the news. The biggest event was the eagerly awaited arrival of report on the potential for micro generation in the UK.

The report which actual has the title “The Growth Potential for Micro generation in England, Wales and Scotland” had been commissioned by the UK government department for business, energy and regulatory reform duly arrived and according to some elements of the press suggests that the use of solar and wind and other forms of micro generation could generate as much electricity as five nuclear power stations! The report did get a lot of press mostly just echoing or at least headlining similar claims.

As you know we are a supporter of micro generation here and have often talked about the need for the UK to develop more effective policies that would support a grater uptake of micro generation. The report largely echoes this view saying that supporting a wider adoption of micro generation will require sustained policy support. In other words the government is going to have to create the environment in which the uptake of micro generation technologies becomes attractive to the public and allows them to overcome the initial up front cost. The report looks at a lot of technologies including Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units and not just home wind and solar.

One thing is clear it is going to cost and cost a lot. But then as I see it all solutions at this point are going to cost and we need to find the right approach to spending that money without wasting money. It is also equally clear, to me at least, that micro generation is not the complete solution, just like nuclear isn’t either, but it is certainly one which has the potential to provide a significant contribution to the solution. It is one approach for which the economics are all going in the right direction and with significant uptake is only going to develop more effective technologies and innovations and reduced cost to the consumer.

Technorati Tags: micro-generation, solar, wind.

Written by ashleys on June 7th, 2008 with 2 comments.
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