International supergrid could supply UK with 100% renewable power
18 June 2009
An international supergrid linking the UK with Europe, Scandanavia and north Africa could meet all the UK's power needs from renewable sources at prices comparable with today's largely fossil fuel generation, according to Gregor Czisch of the University of Kassel in Germany.
Speaking at a meeting of the Claverton Energy Research Group in London, Czisch claimed the high voltage DC supergrid could be built for £125 billion - the same cost as importing fossil fuels into Europe for the next 25 years - and deliver power to the National Grid for 4.6 Eurocents per kWh.
The plan is based on extensive theoretical modelling of renewable energy sources and allows renewable energy to be sourced where it is available and delivered where it is needed.
"If you make the grid big enough, there is always wind somewhere," said Claverton secretary Dave Andrews. "The capital cost would be paid for by avoiding importing fossil fuels into Europe. This is technically and financially do-able."
The Czisch plan foresees 70 per cent of the energy coming from wind, with the balance made up from solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal sources. In summer, when the winds are light in northern Europe, wind energy from Africa would take the load, for example. Biomass and hydro would provide power reserves when wind resources were too low to meet demand.
Andrews acknowledged that the supergrid would require government intervention and coordination to get off the ground.
"It is unlikely the market alone can deliver," he said. "Markets will deliver incremental improvements but there will not be this step change without governments changing the market structure."
Source:
Utility Week
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