The Green Party believe that energy policy is very important, and it is the first policy detail section in our national manifesto.
The burning of fossil fuels for energy is at the root of the most serious problem facing us, but in the UK there is cause for optimism.
The national picture
This chart shows something this country can be proud of. Data is from Gridwatch.
Halving our CO2 emissions from electricity has been achieved mainly through adding renewables and eliminating coal. A million other changes such as better appliances and more efficient lightbulbs also help.
In 2008, coal provided 36% of the UK’s electricity. Since 2019, it has been 1 or 2%, only being switched on at peak times in winter. Gas is less bad than coal from both a CO2 and local pollution perspective, but needs to be the next target for elimination.
Despite government policy, the UK electricity grid has progressed with renewables because they are cheaper (and getting even cheaper). Regardless, we need to place policy support behind this transition to accelerate it, while ensuring that the benefits of these profitable new energy resources flow back to the people of the country.
Current government policy still provides various back-door subsidies to fossil fuel extraction and burning. This is patently ridiculous. The country recently wasted millions backing fracking, including within Derbyshire, which was always known by independent experts to have a dubious economic case.
Below is a chart I made based on energy cost data from Wikipedia. There is no reason to believe these trends will slow down.
Does nuclear have a place?
This is not particularly relevant to Derbyshire County Council, but I’d like to address it because it comes up in any conversation about electrical generation.
I’m not as anti-nuclear as some of my Green colleagues; I would prefer it to any form of fossil generation as I believe it can be done safely with the latest technology, however that technology is very expensive.
I sum it up as: Nuclear can be safe OR economical. Pick one.
This chart above clearly shows that new nuclear is not economic. The red line is the agreed ‘strike price’ for Hinckley, which is the price that the contract requires they are paid for their generation throughout the life of the plant. Without renewables, it would be justifiable to pay more for it than gas for climate change reasons, but cost of renewables is plummeting. The red line on the chart is based on the presumption that the power station can run 24/7. If cheap renewables outcompete it when it is windy or sunny, it is no longer profitable at that price at other times. If the price of nuclear on a windless winter evening becomes much higher, it starts to lose out to energy storage, which is also plummeting in price.
Storage can be in batteries, pumped hydro or various other less mature methods. The development of electric cars and mobile phones is driving a rapid fall in battery cost, also the first high-capacity undersea electrical link to Norway’s huge and cheap pumped-hydro resource is already built and is due to start operation in months. Further links to Norway’s hydro and Iceland’s vast geothermal resources may follow, and it is Green Party policy to support such schemes. It is hard to imagine nuclear energy being anything other than a costly white elephant a few years from now.
Microgeneration in Derbyshire Dales
Derbyshire Dales has a lot of resources. Some of us have got into microgeneration by putting solar panels on our roofs, and they’re surprisingly effective even in rainy Derbyshire. In 2011 I had a well-paid job (sadly no longer, but that’s for another post), so I paid up front to have some installed. Since then they have generated 26.6 MWh of electricity with zero maintenance. They paid out my initial outlay in 2016. The cost of the same system now would be far lower.
Rooftop solar is probably the best possible option for energy generation from an environmental perspective and the government should reinstate incentives for installation. This is a type of energy that can be deployed by small local roofing and electrical businesses, and brings cash to householders, so it is a great example of the type of localism we support. However installing rooftop solar is tricky and dangerous work, so can’t be rolled out at anything like the speed we need to tackle the climate emergency on its own.
Rooftop solar is generally a permitted development. Where planning decisions are necessary, there should be a strong presumption in favour. These decisions are District and Town Council matters, not at the County level which I am standing for.
For new housing, it is past time that we mandate rooftop solar on all new developments. It is far easier for a developer to fit solar while building a roof than it is for a homeowner to install them later. Similar can be said for heat pumps. County Council does have influence over some of these decisions. I plan to discuss housing-related things such as heating and insulation in another post.
Ground-based solar farms are popping up all around. On a small scale, these are relatively cheap, quick to set up and can have low environmental impact, depending on where they are placed. Larger sites can bring problems so need to be looked at carefully. Council should consider directing business support grants and other policies to supporting businesses and farmers to install medium-sized installations on barns and warehouses.
Small wind turbines have fallen out of favour because they are relatively expensive and hard to maintain, so they are unlikely to play much part in the future unless there is a technology breakthrough.
Wind turbines become economic at larger sizes, and we have seen big turbines appear just outside Ashbourne division near Carsington Water. I lived near a similar (750kW) one for a while near Lichfield and it didn’t bother me, but we obviously need to make sure the rights of nearby householders are protected, and that they don’t dominate all of our hills. Ashbourne division is relatively low lying so is not likely to be high on the list for wind development.
Micro-hydro is not intermittent like wind and solar and is good for providing baseload power. It will be a small player nationally, but Derbyshire has more resource than most places. Not only that, but some of the work has already been done by the mill-owners of the 19th century. The western border of the division is made up of the Dove, which is managed by weirs along its length. There may be proposals to exploit some of the energy available at these weirs, if so we need to assess environmental impacts carefully. River habitats are delicate and not improved by excavations and concrete. Restoration of old mill buildings would be a bonus. There are already working schemes just outside our division near Okeover Hall, Ashbourne and at JCB Academy, Rocester.
The Green Party supports the idea of community owned energy and we should look to supporting any such schemes in Derbyshire.
I endorse this campaign to bring in a Local Electricity Bill to make it easier for community groups to sell electricity to the grid.
Please do sign up – it will help bring sustainable, small-scale, profitable and community-owned energy to Derbyshire. The bill already has cross-party support, including (of course) Green MP Caroline Lucas.
Promoted by JOHN HILL, 103 MAYFIELD ROAD, ASHBOURNE, DE6 1AS on behalf of the GREEN PARTY, The Biscuit Factory A Block (201), 100 Clements Road, London, SE16 4DG