As winter approaches it won’t be long
before the National Grid warns about its
capacity to supply electricity this winter
as per last year when it reported that capacity would be at a seven-year low
due to generator closures and breakdowns. Spare electricity capacity, which ran
at about 5% over the winter months in 2012/2013 and that it would be nearer 4% for
2014/2015, four years ago the margin was 17% for 2011/2012.
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Hydro-turbine installed at the National Trust's Hafod y
Llan farm in Snowdonia.
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The loss of generating capacity is actually
symptom of a much bigger more systematic sector wide problem as a result of the model for energy production, distribution and
ownership being fundamentally flawed. Our energy production and distribution
model was restructured to primarily benefit the big 6 energy cartel members, their
interests and their (City) profits.
From
the perspective of energy consumers and smaller scale energy producers, or
anyone who wants things to change the problem is that all the Westminster based
political parties have quietly bought into this cartel dominated model of
energy production and ownership (or perhaps were quietly bought). The reality
is that the UK’s cartel dominated model for energy production and distribution
is not necessarily the norm everywhere in Europe or around the world.
Now
contrary to what you might think, alternatives exist and actually prosper, a
particularly good example of a balanced and healthy energy mix can be found in Germany.
Small may very well be beautiful, even with a geographically sizeable state, especially
in relation to energy, in 2012 some 22% of the countries energy came from small
scale green entrepreneurs.
Community
based co-operatives (both urban and rural), farmers and homeowners are part of
the 1.3 million renewable energy producers and part of the energy mix. In
Germany, citizens’, cooperatives, and communities own
more than half of German renewable capacity. Small-scale electricity generation is having a knock on effect
encouraging change throughout the energy system.
In
Berlin,
a cooperative (Burger Energie Berlin – literally Berlin Citizens Energy) continues to
campaign to take control of the capital's electricity grid with some 35,000km
of underground cables. The cooperative is a free, cross-party coalition of
citizens who are committed to a sustainable, sustainable and democratic energy
policy in Berlin. Members have one vote
regardless of the amount their deposit and anyone who wants the power network to be
in civil hand, is welcome.
Ordinary
Berliners have invested their cash in the venture with the intention of
producing a reliable 100 percent renewable energy supply. The aim is to promote
the integration of renewable energy into the grid and to invest a portion of
the profits from this directly into the transition to renewable energy.
At present the Berlin
electricity grid is run by Vattenfall (whose concession runs out this year) regularly
generates millions in profits, members of the co-operative believe that the profits
from the grid operation should flow to Berlin’s citizens.
This
is grass roots energy generation that has potentially the power to change the
nature of the energy supply system (in Germany and elsewhere). They aim to
build an energy grid that is better handle the rise of green power and allows
local use of locally produced energy. This may well be a case of small being both
beautiful and perhaps deeply disturbing from the perspective of Westminster and
Cardiff Bay something that it is both community beneficial and community owned.
In Germany, there is a deliberate promoted
policy of energy transition (or ‘Energiewende’) – this is a very different
approach to what is practised in these islands (at least south of the Scottish
border). For a start the ‘Energiewende’ is driven by a desire to reduce
and eliminate any dependency on nuclear energy.
The introduction of the
Feed-in-tariff (EEG) in 2008 was an important part of this process, along
with (post Fukushima) the almost unanimous across the board political
commitment to a wide range of targets (in 2011) which included a commitment to
reduce energy demand (with a 50% reduction in primary energy
use by 2050) and the achievement of an 80% renewable electricity
share of total consumption (by 2050). This has resulted in a significant uptake
of renewables in Germany.
It is worth noting that:
- In early 2012, around 25% of Germany’s power was generated from renewable sources;
- Costs for wind generated power have fallen by
around 50% since 1990
- Costs for solar systems has fallen by around 80-90%
since 1990
- In 2011, over 380,000 people were employed in the
renewable energy sources industry
- Only 13% of Germany’s 60 GW of renewable energy
is owned by utilities, with the rest being owned by households,
communities, and farmers among others
- In less than 7 years, an energy market with 4
main suppliers has turned into one with more than a million suppliers
- Solar supply has already met peak lunchtime
demand on several occasions.
Another of the benefits of the Energiewende is more local ownership of the means of energy production,
more jobs, more security of supply and real meaningful action to tackle
climate-changing emissions from energy.
The real striking difference is that the
operation of the grid in Germany means that generated renewable electricity is
used first and that distribution network operators (DNOs) are also seeking to
reduce demand. This is so radically different from the way the energy is
generated, distributed, exported and used here in our country.
A significant difference, aside from the
scale and pattern of investment (in Germany), is that small businesses,
co-operatives, individual households and local authorities benefit from
investment distributed by a network of local banks (something we pretty much
entirely lack in Wales). The whole thing is supported by the KfW (state
investment bank) to the tune of 23.3 billion euro in the area
of environment and climate protection (2012 figures).
These
developments are a million miles away from the so-called ‘Free market’ for
energy that exists in the UK, which is pretty dominated by the ‘Big 6’ energy
cartel members. The fact that some former politicians have found rewarding post
political career employment within the energy sector may be co-incidental but
suggests that there is little desire for improvement within Westminster.
The
way the current set up works, it is difficult to imagine ‘Government’ at most
levels (at least outside of Scotland and perhaps Northern Ireland) in the UK
grasping the concept, the practicalities and real possibilities of genuine
community owned beneficial energy generation projects.
We have a Conservative
government in Westminster which is
hand
in glove with despotic oil producing regimes in the Middle East and has little interest in renewables. This government is also actively
working to pull the rug out from under the renewables sector by cutting the
feed in tariff something that has
cost highly skilled jobs
here in Wales.
