OCTOBER 2003 BROADSHEET - The Hydrogen Economy – Power to the People
The CE&TC’s 2003/2004 programme got off to a good start on the 25th September, with a large audience hearing two talks on the theme ‘The Hydrogen Economy – Power to the People’
The first speaker, Colin Saunders of the university of Cambridge, was manager of the USHER (Urban Solar Hydrogen Economy Realisation) project planned for the West Cambridge site. The plan was to roof the Colonnade between the East Forum and the West Forum, a length of 350 metres and an area of 3,500 square metres, with photo-voltaic solar cells. The resultant electricity was to be used to generate hydrogen, which would be used to power a fuel-cell bus operating between the West Site and the centre of Cambridge. A large consortium of companies was pulled together and it successfully attracted funding offers of £1.78M towards the £4.14M estimated cost of the project. However, with the University unable to fund the entire balance, the project has had to be abandoned for the foreseeable future.
Colin took us through the outline of the project and the partners. This would have been a ‘world-first’ project and a high profile advertisement for the University and for Cambridge. An annual power production of 260MWh and a saving of 80 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide was forecast. It would have had a wide range of benefits and provided a major research platform for further research on solar cells, renewable energy, hydrogen systems and transport. It is hoped that the issues can be resolved and funding found to revive the project.
Our second speaker was Philip Wolfe, Head of the Renewable Power Association who spoke on ‘Renewables in 2003: The Dream and the Reality’. In 2002 approximately 3.5% of total electricity in the UK was generated by renewable sources. We are a lowly 16th in the world league on this; even the USA generates around 10% of its electricity from renewables.
In 1991 the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) was put in place obliging power companies to start to increase the % sourced from renewables and in 2001 this was superseded by the Renewables Obligation, which has a target of 10% by 2010 and a target of 20% by 2022. Electricity suppliers have the option to provide this % by generation, purchase or have to pay into a buy-out fund which is redistributed amongst the companies meeting the obligation. From a breakdown of the current renewable sources, capacity and capital investment, Philip then projected forward to show the investment needed to reach the 2010 objective. Compared with a current cumulative investment of £4B and an investment of only £200M in the year to last March, an annual spend of a staggering £1.4B is required. Longer term there is a target of 60% reduction in the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation by 2050. Apparently we are not short of options since on-shore wind, offshore wind and offshore wave power could each provide more than 100% of what we need and the Severn Barrage alone could provide 8%.
Philip concluded with a look at the relative costs of options and the kind of regulatory regime that will be needed to ensure that appropriate action is taken. For more information you can access the Renewable Power Association’s route-map on www.r-p-a.org.uk
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