Severn Wye Energy Agency
Renewable Energy
Context
Renewable energy is derived from sources that are continuously replenished by nature and are therefore inexhaustible in human timescales. These sources include solar, wind, wave, hydro, biomass, tidal and geothermal. Interestingly, all 'deep green' renewable sources except tidal and deep geothermal are, in fact, derivatives of solar energy: the sun is the earth's primary energy source, ultimately driving almost every meteorological and biological process. There are also several 'pale green' anthropogenic renewable sources, such as landfill gas and other more advanced energy-from-waste technologies.
Renewable energy encompasses a lot more than just electricity generation; space and water heating as well as fuels for transport and other uses are all part of the mix. The UK is legally committed to meeting 15% of its total energy needs through renewables by 2020 (our share of the EU's overall 20% target), but presently we remain a long way behind most other European nations, reaching just 3.3% by the end of 2010. The previous Government's Renewable Energy Strategy, published in July 2009, outlines how it proposed to meet this tough target. This has been supplemented by a new Roadmap in July 2011.
Renewable energy exists at large scales: examples include hydro dams rated at many gigawatts, offshore wind farms, biomass power and CHP stations, concentrating solar power and tidal barrages. But it can also be deployed at very small scales - including at the domestic level - and some of Severn Wye's recent work has involved assessing the suitability of renewable energy technologies at the community level. Systems below 50kW in capacity are typically described under the 'microgeneration' umbrella.
Incentives
FITs and RHI
We have produced two simple flyers outlining the latest information on Feed-In Tariffs (or 'clean energy cashback') for green electricity generation, and the brand new Renewable Heat Incentive for green heat generation:
Feed-In Tariffs FLYER (updated Jan 2012)
Renewable Heat Incentive FLYER (updated Nov 2011)
Note - the recent FIT reductions and government legal actions have left the tariff situation unclear for solar PV. We hope this will change by early February, but our information will be updated as soon as an outcome is known.
Fact Sheets
Severn Wye has produced a number of quick 2-page fact sheets explaining the use of renewable energy technologies at small scales. All of these have been recently updated and enhanced, and all are downloadable and printable PDFs:
Case Studies
The following provide illustrations of successful local projects, showing how small-scale renewable energy has benefited homes and communities in Gloucestershire and the region. Note that these case studies may contain residual references to grant schemes under which the installations were part-funded; all of these grant schemes CLOSED during 2010 and are no longer applicable:
Domestic AIR source heat pump on a recent build - case study
Solar thermal retrofit - case study
Solar photovoltaics on a semi in South Glos - case study
Domestic GROUND source heat pump in South Glos - case study
Domestic AIR source heat pump retrofit - case study
Wind turbine on elevated domestic property - case study
Multifuel biomass farm boiler - case study
Solar photovoltaics at Church Farm - case study
Domestic automated pellet boiler at Cleeve Hill - case study
Batsford Estate woodchip heating - case study
See also the information on Severn Wye's photovoltaic system at Highnam.