Solar growth holds the key to the UK's energy resilience

As Britain prepares to host a Future of Energy Security conference this week, growth of solar is one route to that goal, an industry insider writes

The British Army's Normandy Barracks has set up the first of 76 planned solar farms to generate electricity for its needs. Getty Images

Announcements of a new British renewable energy record are becoming ever more frequent. These days, barely a month goes by without wind or solar producing a greater proportion of UK energy.

In September, Britain became the first G7 nation to entirely cease using coal to generate electricity, with the closure of Ratcliffe power station. Amid the negativity about Britain’s ability to build large-scale infrastructure, it is easy to overlook the speed of this drive to renewables.

Mark Owen-Lloyd, director of Photovolt Development Partners. Photo: DRD Partnership

Given this record-breaking performance from Britain’s renewables, you would be forgiven for thinking the country’s green energy infrastructure is at an advanced stage. You would be wrong. When looking at installed capacity versus the number of viable projects in the pipeline, the picture in five, 10, 15 years time will be very different.

Ground based

Take my sector of solar. Currently Britain has 18GW of installed capacity, with about 70 per cent of this comprising ground-mounted solar farms. This is before any of the utility-scale projects in the pipeline have come online. The UK’s largest operating solar farm produces 72MW of energy, a number dwarfed by the four projects approved by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband since coming to office last July. These range from 350MW to 600MW. This doesn’t account for the 840MW our own project of Botley West, or the 800MW Great North Solar will produce should it get approval.

These are only six examples of the 32GW of feasible ground-mount solar capacity currently in the pipeline. In onshore wind, there is a pipeline of 42.7GW compared to 15.5GW installed, while offshore has a 77GW pipeline with only 15GW operating. Remarkably, a whopping 127GW of battery storage is in the pipeline. This means Britain is poised to become a clean energy superpower, making the records being broken today seem comparatively minuscule.

What makes this sizeable pipeline more remarkable is that the cost of building these projects in Britain is notably higher than international competitors. According to some figures, the average cost of building a UK solar farm is £1 million ($1.3 million) per MW. This compares to a range of £450,000 to £850,000 per MWH in similar European nations such as France and Spain. The same is true of constructing wind farms.

So why is Britain seemingly leading the way, in Europe at least, in deploying renewables at scale? On the surface, a developer in search of profits should seemingly focus their efforts on the continent. However, the UK has several major advantages that make it one of the world’s most attractive markets for developing and building renewables.

First, our process for determining nationally significant infrastructure takes emotion and variability out of decision-making. This provides certainty of process and therefore outcome should the right boxes be ticked. As we have experienced first-hand with our project Botley West near Oxford, this makes getting a major project off the ground no less challenging, but at least what is required of us is set down in black and white.

Ambitious targets

Second, Britain has clean energy commitments set down in law, with the targets the current government is working towards the same as the previous one. While there has been significant variation in the approach to meeting these targets, they have remained constant. Every developer knows the solar target, the wind target and the battery target the country needs to meet, providing certainty of policy. It is also worth noting that alongside these targets is a considerable wealth of expertise, with Britain having some of the best energy engineers in the world.

UK's Clean Power 2030 plan requires around £40 billion of investment, including in solar capacity, on average per year between 2025 to 2030

UK government

Third, Britain’s contract for difference scheme provides financial certainty to low carbon operators. If you are willing to put money into a renewables scheme, there is potential guarantee of a return. Given the volatility of global energy markets, this is a particularly attractive feature of the UK’s approach.

Revolutionary growth

While Britain’s ability to build major infrastructure has rightly come in for scrutiny, criticism and even ridicule, beneath the lamenting headlines is another story. That story is one which sees a renewables revolution quietly happening before our eyes.

Where the landscape was once dotted with imposing coal-fired power stations, in the years to come it will be marked by solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. This fundamental shift will be visible far sooner than most realise.

The result could be a Britain more in control of its energy than it has been for decades. This will enhance the stability of our energy supplies, delivered at a lower price. We will also have world-class expertise in a futuristic industry.

Amid the doom and gloom, that is something worth shouting about.