6th March 2008

The Renewable Energy Association (REA) say that if the UK is to tackle climate change, and help meet the EU target of 20% of all our energy to come from renewables by 2020, we desperately need more renewable energy generation. Apparently the UK is at the bottom of the EU renewables league table and needs to achieve a 10 fold increase in renewable energy deployment over the next decade, say the REA.

The REA, together with Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and others including the Mayor of London, is promoting the establishment of a UK feed-in tariff scheme. It believes this could work alongside the Renewables Obligation on large suppliers, and would enable many citizens, businesses and public sector bodies outside the traditional energy industry to invest in renewables. The REA say that the Feed-In Tariff has proven to be successful at doing exactly this for renewables in Europe, and has enabled Germany to achieve a real breakthrough for renewable electricity. According to the REA the scheme is simple to understand and relatively easy to administer.

Meanwhile a plan to supply the whole of Europe with clean solar power from desert regions in North Africa and the Middle East has now been debated in the House of Commons.

Dr Howard Stoate, MP for Dartford, described how, every year, each square kilometre of hot desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts worldwide, this is several hundred times the entire energy consumption of the world. The key technology for tapping in to this cornucopia is the simple proven technique of "concentrating solar power" (CSP): using mirrors to concentrate sunlight to create heat and then using the heat to raise steam to drive turbines and generate electricity, just like a conventional power station. Solar heat can be stored so that electricity generation can continue at night.

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