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New hope for UK’s energy policy in a fundamental shift in energy systems

This government’s record on energy has been incompetent to the point of
derision or despair, depending on how much you care about it. But suddenly,
a ray of sunshine emerges from Greg Clarke’s Department of Business, Energy
and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Greg wants to unleash the power of the
market on our broken energy system.

But this isn’t just the same old, same old rhetoric exhorting consumers switch from one of the much-maligned big
energy suppliers to another. No, Greg is talking about nothing less than
the coming revolution in energy, one that has become evident to many of us
working in the renewables sector, but has until now been just a little too
far over the horizon for the politicians to ‘get’.

A combination of key technologies – solar, wind, and energy storage coupled with a real-time
energy market driven by information technology are maturing and the impact
will be extraordinary. Solar panels and wind turbines have a complementary
output profile and a combination of both will even out seasonal energy
production in northern climates such as the UK.

Energy will be stored in and released from large batteries – including those in electric vehicles –
to meet shorter term peaks in demand and troughs in supply. Real-time
electricity pricing will allow internet enabled appliances to turn on or
regulate down following pricing signals to smooth out demand to better
match supply.

What we’re looking at is a fundamental shift from an energy
system based on resources to one founded on technology. Our current energy
system has been built on extracting resources (coal, gas, oil) from the
planet’s crust and setting fire to them. The energy system of the near
future will be based on technology that converts the energy derived from
the sun (daylight and wind) into electricity.

The key point is that whereas natural resources get more expensive as you use more of them, technology
becomes ever cheaper and more efficient. The inflexion point is coming and
it’s now no longer a question of whether the oil age will end, but how soon
it will come.

Solar power portal 27th July 2017

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/blogs/the_uk_government_is_suddenly_showing_signs_that_it_gets_it

July 31, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general