Renewable energy

• In the 2011 Survey, the South West’s renewable energy production was at 200 MWs. This is a 12.8% increase on capacity production from the 2010 survey.

Energy use is a major contributor to climate change, a fact that is driving the development of renewable energy schemes.

In 2009 DECC estimated that energy use in the home is responsible for 32% of the UK's energy useage. The same report notes renewable energy now contributing to around 7% of the UKs energy production in 2009.

Renewable energy is the term used to describe energy flows that occur naturally and continuously in the environment, such as energy from the wind, waves or tides. The origin of the majority of these sources can be traced back to either the sun (energy from the sun helps to drive the earth’s weather patterns) or the gravitational effects of the sun and the moon. This means that these sources are essentially inexhaustible.

Reducing energy consumption by reducing demand and improving energy efficiency is the cheapest and quickest method of reducing carbon emissions.

The UK has a legally binding renewable energy target. It commits the country to producing 15% of all energy consumed in transport, heat and power generation from renewable sources by 2020.

Analysis by Regen SW indicates that generating 15% and 20% of all energy consumed in the South West from renewables is possible by 2020, but requires rapid changes in national policy and stronger support from decision makers at a local level. Without such changes less than 5% of the region’s energy will come from renewable sources.

The REvision 2020 Report  was an update on the REvision 2010 Report, and looked at establishing targets for 2010 and 2020.

At present only 1.6% of the region’s energy is produced from renewable sources against the target of 1247 MW expected to be required in 2020. Meeting or exceeding the target will require high levels of deployment in all technology areas and a major, successful effort to implement energy efficiency and demand reduction measures

The following information is taken directly from Regen SW's 2011 survey.

There has been a huge increase in the number of installations in the South West between 2009/10 and 2010/11. This has thought to be in part due to the Feed-in Tarrifs which were made available in 2010. In the 2008 Survey, the South West’s renewable energy production was at 191 megawatts (MW), this has risen to 200 MWs. This is a 12.8% increase on capacity production from the 2010 survey.

Regen SW’s Road to 2020 report  was written to review what it would take to reach a 15% target by 2020 (as agreed to by the UK at the EU Renewable Energy Directive in 2009). Targets were agreed for 2010 and were included in the Regional Spatial Strategy. The target for 2010 has been set between 509-611 MW.

Renewable electricity

Total renewable electricity capacity recorded in the region is now 200.233 MW.  This is a 12.8% increase on the previous year.

This year has seen two wind farms in Cornwall being fitted with larger and more efficient turbines. A large PV installation (bringing 200kW) was also installed in Somerset. Over 97% of all projects installed in 2010/11 were solar PV.

There were 2,451 new projects installed in 2010/11. This was over a 50% increase in the number of projects in the South West.

Of all new installations, 97% were domestic.

There were only 8 new installations producing over 50kW in 2010/11. This shows the lack of installations at a community scale.

For County level information on renewable electricity production in 2011, please see the excel document at the top of the page.

Renewable heat

The period 2010/11 saw renewable heat installations increase by 20.99 MW, bring capacity of the South West up to 89.34 MW. This was an increase of 30.7%. The increase was attributable to 919 new installations (30.2% increase), bringing the total in the South West up to 3,966.

The biggest increase in 2010/11 came from new Biomass installations. They made over 80% of new capacity, and equalled 13.5% of all new installations.

The average capacity of each new biomass installation rose from 89 kW to 126 kW.

Solar thermal has continued to grow at a similar rate to the previous year. Heat Pumps have increased 44.1%. New installations in 2010/11 brought total capacity of heat pumps to 2.8MW in the South West.

For County level information on renewable heat production in 2011, please see the excel document at the top of the page.

Regen SW

South West renewable energy survey