Energy and Climate Change written question – answered at on 6 September 2010.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the efficiency and effectiveness of on-shore wind turbines in the last 10 years; how much electricity was generated by wind turbines in the last 12 months; and what the average cost per unit of electricity generated by each generating technology was in 2009.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change, and two of its predecessor departments (the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and the Department of Trade and Industry) commissioned the following pieces of research containing information on the generation costs and efficiencies of electricity generation technologies, including onshore wind:
ETSU (2002) New and Renewable Energy: Prospects in the UK for the 21st century: Supporting Analysis, available at:
Oxera/ DTT (2004) Results of Renewable Energy Modelling, available at:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/tna/+/http://www.dti.gov.uk/renewables/policy/oxeraresults.pdf
Enviros (2005) The costs of supplying renewable energy, available at:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file21118.pdf
Energy Strategies and Redpoint (2006), Dynamics of GB Generation Investment, available at:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file31799.pdf
Ernst & Young (2007), Impact of banding the Renewables Obligation - Costs of electricity production, available at:
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file39038.pdf
Redpoint and Trilemma (2008), Implementation of the EU2020 Renewable Target in the UK Electricity Sector - Renewable Support Schemes, available here:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/cons_res/rescon_support/rescon_support.aspx
Redpoint and Trilemma (2009), Implementation of the EU2020 Renewable Target in the UK Electricity Sector - RO Reform, available here:
http://decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/energy_mix/renewable/res/res.aspx
Mott Macdonald (2010), UK Electricity Generation Costs Update, available at:
The Department does not formally evaluate the research of other organisations.
The Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2010 reports that in 2009 7.6 TWh of electricity was generated by onshore wind and 1.7 TWh by offshore wind.
The following tables are taken from Mott Macdonald (2010) and give levelised cost estimates (average generation cost per megawatt-hour) for new build plants in the main large-scale electricity generation technologies in the UK, at current engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract prices.
It should be noted that for the purposes of presentation, the table only gives either 'FOAK' (first-of-a-kind) prices or 'NOAK' (nth-of-a-kind) prices for each technology. On offshore wind, for example, it shows offshore wind 'FOAK' prices, whereas the round 2 technology may be considered to have progressed towards 'NOAK' prices. Mott Macdonald estimate 'NOAK' offshore wind costs at £125/MWh (10% discount rate, 2009 project start at today's EPC prices).
Case 1: 10% discount rate, 2009 project start at today's EPC prices, with mixed FOAK/NOAK | ||||||||||
Levelised cost | Gas CC GT | Gas CCGT with CCS FOAK | ASC coal | ASC c oal with CCS FOAK | Coal IGCC FOAK | Coal IGCC with CCS FOAK | Onshore wind | Offshore wind FOAK | Offshore wind R3 FOAK | Nuclear PWR. FOAK |
Capital Costs | 12.4 | 29.8 | 33.4 | 74.1 | 61.7 | 82.0 | 79.2 | 124.1 | 144.6 | 77.3 |
Fixed operating Coals | 3.7 | 7.7 | 8.6 | 18.6 | 9.7 | 17.7 | 14.6 | 36.7 | 45.8 | 12.25 |
Variable Operating Costs | 2.3 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 4.7 | 3.4 | 4.6 | __ | __ | __ | 2.1 |
Fuel Costs | 46.9 | 65.0. | 19.9 | 28.7 | 20.3 | 28.3 | __ | __ | __ | 5.3 |
Carbon Costs | 15.1 | 2.1 | 40.3 | 6.5 | 39.6 | 5.5 | __ | __ | __ | __ |
Decomm and waste fund | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | 2.1 |
CO2 transport and storage | __ | 4.3 | __ | 9.6 | __ | 9.5 | __ | __ | __ | __ |
Steam Revenue | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ |
Total levelised cost | 80.3 | 112.5 | 104.5 | 142.1 | 134.6 | 147.6 | 93.9 | 160.9 | 190.5. | 99.0 |
Case 1: 10% discount rate, 2009 project start at today's EPC prices, with mixed FOAK/NOAK | |||||||
Levelised Cost | Small business power only. FOAK | Large biomass power only. FOAK | OCGT | AD on wasted | Landfill gas | Sewage gas | Small biomass CHP. FOAK |
Capital Costs | 55.8 | 46.1 | 7.1 | 63.8 | 25.8 | 42.0 | 91.3 |
Fixed operating Coals | 21.0 | 13.4 | 3.0 | 21.0 | 13.1 | 8.9 | 23.9 |
Variable Operating Costs | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 18.6 | 21.1 | 2.1 | 2.8 |
Fuel Costs | 36.7 | 31.2 | 60.6 | __ | __ | __ | 54.9 |
Carbon Costs | __ | __ | 18.2 | __ | __ | __ | __ |
Decomm and waste fund | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ |
CO2 transport and storage | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ |
Steam Revenue | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | 148.5 |
Total levelised cost | 116.0 | 93.2 | 90.5 | 103.3 | 60.0 | 54.0 | 172.9 |
Net levelised cost | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | __ | 24.4 |
Levelised Cost | Large biomass CHP. FOAK | 10MW gas. CHP | Small GT based CHP | CCGT. CHP | Energy from waste | Hydro reservoir |
Capital Costs | 86.8 | 17.2 | 15.1 | 14.3 | 94.9 | 74.2 |
Fixed operating Coals | 22.0 | 4.8 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 15.2 | 9.0 |
Variable Operating Costs | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 56.7 | - |
Fuel Costs | 48.7 | 83.4 | 76.8 | 57.1 | - | - |
Carbon Costs | - | 25.5 | 23.5 | 18.5 | - | - |
Decomm and waste fund | - | - | - | - | - | - |
CO2 transport and storage | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Steam Revenue | 135.0 | 56.6 | 45.2 | 27.2 | - | - |
Total levelised cost | 160.0 | 133.4 | 122.1 | 96.7 | 166.8 | 83.2 |
Net levelised cost | 24.9 | 76.8 | 76.8 | 69.4 | - | - |
Yes2 people think so
No3 people think not
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