Reconciling Renewable Energy and the Local Impacts of Hydro-Electric Development

2005 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aylwin Pillai ◽  
Colin T. Reid ◽  
Andrew R. Black
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Recent Application ◽  
Protected Species ◽  
Hydroelectric Development ◽  
Approval Procedure ◽  
Local Impacts ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Scottish Executive

The UK and Scottish governments’ policy commitments to renewable energy, driven by recognition of the impacts of global warming and climate change, have led to increasing interest in all aspects of renewable energy. This article is concerned with how the Scottish Executive is able to reconcile new hydro-electric developments as a source of renewable energy with the local impacts of those developments. The outcome of a recent application for consent to construct a hydro-electric scheme at Shieldaig and Slattadale in Wester Ross provides an illustration of the issues involved. The local environmental impacts of hydroelectric development are considerable and the application of environmental impact assessment to the approval procedure for new schemes means that a much broader range of environmental impacts is now considered than ever before. The decision shows the importance of compliance with European Community environmental law, and is particularly interesting for its application of the precautionary principle to prevent impacts on protected species.

scholarly journals A SOLUTIONS APPRAISAL TOOL TO ADDRESS THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF TIDAL LAGOONS

2018 ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Kathryn Mackinnon ◽  
Helen C.M Smith ◽  
Francesca Moore ◽  
Harry Van Der Weijde ◽  
Iraklis Lazakis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Tidal Range ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Swansea Bay ◽  
The Uk ◽  
High Level

The deployment of renewable energy is regarded as a strategy to combat climate change. There have been a number of global agreements aiming to mitigate climate change, the most recent of which was the 2015 Paris Agreement. Often overlooked is the vast amount of marine renewable energy available around the world’s coastlines. In particular tidal range energy is a largely untapped resource which has benefits including reduced uncertainty through use of proven technology, a high level of predictability, the ability to phase shift energy to provide base load supply and a long expected life span (100 years). The key barriers to development of tidal range energy have been environmental concerns and high capital cost. Tidal lagoons are often presented as environmentally friendly alternatives to tidal barrages, but this does not mean their environmental impacts can be overlooked. Recent developments in the UK lagoon industry such as the awarding of a Development Consent Order to Swansea Bay tidal lagoon, mean it is now more important than ever to consider the environmental impacts of tidal lagoons and what solutions are available to address them. This is challenging considering there are no operational tidal lagoons in the world yet. This study aims to: 1. Identify the key impacts through industry engagement 2. Find available solutions through systematic review 3. Select and analyze solutions using Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) and Ecosystem Service Valuation (ESV).

Of Density and Decline: State of the Nation Reflections on the Teaching of Environmental Law in the UK

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Vaughan ◽  
Alexandru Baltag ◽  
Ryan Brun ◽  
Rory Buttle ◽  
Caoimhe Creed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
The Uk

Environmental impacts of increased hydroelectric development at existing dams

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. F. Railsback ◽  
G. F. Cada ◽  
C. H. Petrich ◽  
M. J. Sale ◽  
J. A. Shaakir-Ali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Hydroelectric Development

scholarly journals A Free-Market Environmentalist Transition toward Renewable Energy: The Cases of Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4659
Author(s):  
William Hongsong Wang ◽  
Vicente Moreno-Casas ◽  
Jesús Huerta de Soto
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Free Market ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Market Environmentalism ◽  
The Uk

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.

scholarly journals Optimising the Operation of Tidal Range Schemes

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2870 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Policy-relevant insights for regional renewable energy deployment

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.

The scope for renewable energy in the UK

1986 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-234
Author(s):  
P.N. Hobson
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
The Uk
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