Renewable Energy in the UK: A Slow Transition

Renewable energy (RE) is one of the most popular public policy orientations worldwide. Compared to some other countries and continents, Europe has gained an early awareness of energy and environmental problems in general. At the theoretical level, free-market environmentalism indicates that based on the principle of private property rights, with fewer state interventionist and regulation policies, entrepreneurs, as the driving force of the market economy, can provide better services to meet the necessity of offering RE to protect the environment more effectively. Previous studies have revealed that Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom have made some progress in using the market to develop RE. However, this research did not analyze the three countries’ RE conditions from the perspective of free-market environmentalism. Based on our review of the principles of free-market environmentalism, this paper originally provides an empirical study of how Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom have partly conducted free-market-oriented policies to successfully achieve their policy goal of RE since the 1990s on a practical level. In particular, compared with Germany and Denmark, the UK has maintained a relatively low energy tax rate and opted for more pro-market measures since the Hayekian-Thatcherism free-market reform of 1979. The paper also discovers that Fredrich A. Hayek’s theories have strongly impacted its energy liberalization reform agenda since then. Low taxes on the energy industry and electricity have alleviated the burden on the electricity enterprises and consumers in the UK. Moreover, the empirical results above show that the energy enterprises play essential roles in providing better and more affordable RE for household and industrial users in the three sampled countries. Based on the above results, the paper also warns that state intervention policies such as taxation, state subsidies, and industrial access restrictions can impede these three countries’ RE targets. Additionally, our research provides reform agendas and policy suggestions to policymakers on the importance of implementing free-market environmentalism to provide more efficient RE in the post-COVID-19 era.

Download Full-text

Optimising the Operation of Tidal Range Schemes

Energies ◽

10.3390/en12152870 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (15) ◽

pp. 2870 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Jingjing Xue ◽

Reza Ahmadian ◽

Roger Falconer

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Maximum Energy ◽

Energy Output ◽

Tidal Range ◽

Marine Renewable Energy ◽

Modelling Methodology ◽

Similar Operation ◽

Swansea Bay ◽

The Uk

Marine renewable energy, including tidal renewable energy, is one of the less exploited sources of energy that could contribute to energy demand, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Amongst several proposals to build tidal range structure (TRS), a tidal lagoon has been proposed for construction in Swansea Bay, in the South West of the UK, but this scheme was recently rejected by the UK government due to the high electricity costs. This decision makes the optimisation of such schemes more important for the future. This study proposes various novel approaches by breaking the operation into small components to optimise the operation of TRS using a widely used 0-D modelling methodology. The approach results in a minimum 10% increase in energy output, without the inclusion of pumping, in comparison to the maximum energy output using a similar operation for all tides. This increase in energy will be approximately 25% more when pumping is included. The optimised operation schemes are used to simulate the lagoon operation using a 2-D model and the differences between the results are highlighted.

Download Full-text

Policy-relevant insights for regional renewable energy deployment

Energy Sustainability and Society ◽

10.1186/s13705-021-00295-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Carla De Laurentis ◽

Peter J. G. Pearson

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Policy Design ◽

Comparative Case Study ◽

Geographical Differences ◽

Governance Capacity ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Case Study Analysis ◽

Documentary Analysis ◽

The Uk

Abstract Background The paper explores how regional actors engage with energy systems, flows and infrastructures in order to meet particular goals and offers a fine-tuned analysis of how differences arise, highlighting the policy-relevant insights that emerge. Methods Using a novel framework, the research performs a comparative case study analysis of three regions in Italy and two of the devolved territories of the UK, Wales and Scotland, drawing on interviews and documentary analysis. Results The paper shows that acknowledging the socio-materialities of renewable energy allows a fine-tuned analysis of how institutions, governance and infrastructure can enable/constrain energy transitions and policy effectiveness at local and regional levels. The heuristic adopted highlights (i) the institutions that matter for renewable energy and their varied effects on regional renewable energy deployment; (ii) the range of agencies involved in strategically establishing, contesting and reproducing institutions, expectations, visions and infrastructure as renewable energy deployment unfolds at the regional level and (iii) the nature and extent of infrastructure requirements for and constraints on renewable energy delivery and how they affect the regional capacity to shape infrastructure networks and facilitate renewable energy deployment. The paper shows how the regions investigated developed their institutional and governance capacity and made use of targets, energy visions and spatial planning to promote renewable energy deployment. It shows that several mediating factors emerge from examining the interactions between regional physical resource endowments and energy infrastructure renewal and expansion. The analysis leads to policy-relevant insights into what makes for renewable energy deployment. Conclusion The paper contributes to research that demonstrates the role of institutional variations and governance as foundations for geographical differences in the adoption of renewable energy, and carries significant implications for policy thinking and implementation. It shows why and how policy-makers need to be more effective in balancing the range of goals/interests for renewable energy deployment with the peculiarities and specificities of the regional contexts and their infrastructures. The insights presented help to explain how energy choices and outcomes are shaped in particular places, how differences arise and operate in practice, and how they need to be taken into account in policy design, policy-making and implementation.

Download Full-text

The scope for renewable energy in the UK

Agricultural Wastes ◽

10.1016/0141-4607(86)90021-1 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 233-234

Author(s):

P.N. Hobson

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

The Uk

Download Full-text

Comparing Market-Based Renewable Energy Regimes: The Cases of the UK and Japan

International Journal of Green Energy ◽

10.1080/15435070701465748 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 409-425 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Dave Toke ◽

Kenichi Oshima

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

The Uk

Download Full-text

Community Energy Companies in the UK: A Potential Model for Sustainable Development in “Local” Energy?

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su9081325 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 1325 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Séverine Saintier

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Local Community ◽

Renewable Energy Sources ◽

Self Regulation ◽

Energy Sector ◽

Community Initiatives ◽

Community Interest ◽

Local Actors ◽

Energy Community ◽

The Uk

The rise of renewable energy sources (RES) comes with a shift in attention from government and market energy governance to local community initiatives and self-regulation. Although this shift is generally welcome at domestic and EU level, the regulatory dimension, at both levels, is nevertheless not adapted to this multi-actor market since prosumers are not empowered and energy justice is far from achieved. The rise, in the UK, of Community Interest Companies (consumers and local actors’ collectives) in the energy sector provides an interesting perspective as it allows a whole system’s view. Research was conducted with six energy community organizations in the South West of England in order to evaluate their role and identity and assess whether this exemplar of “the rise of a social sphere in regulation” could be used as a model for a more sustainable social approach to the governance of economic relations. Findings illustrate that such organizations undoubtedly play an important role in the renewable energy sector and they also help to alleviate some aspects of “energy injustice”. Yet, the failure to recognize, in terms of energy policy, at domestic and EU level, the importance of such actors undermines their role. The need to embed and support such organizations in policy is necessary if one is to succeed to put justice at the core of the changing energy landscape.

Download Full-text