Renewable Energy Foundation

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Publications

REF Comments on the Economics of Wind Power

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

REF has responded to the call for evidence on the Economics of Wind Power from the Energy and Climate Change Committee.
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Attachments:
Download this file (ref.to.ecc.22.06.12.pdf)REF Evidence to ECC 22.06.12

Shortfall, Rebound, Backfire

Monday, 21 May 2012

This study, which can be downloaded below, discusses the government’s apparent assumption that the costs of the UK’s energy and climate change policies will be offset by energy efficiency measures, both in domestic households and in businesses, leading to a reduction in energy consumption (i.e. energy conservation).
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Attachments:
Download this file (ref.shortfall.21.05.12.pdf)Shortfall, Rebound, Backfire

A Critique of the IoA Treatment of Background Noise for Wind Farm Noise Assessments

Thursday, 12 April 2012

This information note examines the revision to the ETSU-R-97 method of deriving noise conditions for wind farm planning permissions from background noise measurements, as proposed in an article in the Acoustics Bulletin of the Institute of Acoustics (IoA).[1] We have used actual wind speed data to model the impact of the revision on noise conditions and likelihood of noise complaints from neighbours. 

The revision is designed to correct for site-specific wind shear that was erroneously assumed to be constant between two heights in the ETSU-R-97 guidance. The impact of this assumption is shown graphically in Appendix 1. However, in this note we show that the Acoustics Bulletin revision increases the uncertainty of the background noise curves and reduces confidence in the reliability of noise conditions based on them.
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Attachments:
Download this file (ref info note 120403 IoA Shear Methodology.pdf)REF Critique of IoA Noise Methodology

Energy Policy and Consumer Hardship

Saturday, 03 December 2011

REFs study of the likely impact of climate change policies on the affordability of energy concludes:

1.  Current renewable electricity policies intended to meet the EU Renewables Directive in 2020, will impose extra consumer costs of approximately £15bn per annum, which is roughly equivalent to 1% of current GDP. This annual total is comprised of approximately £8bn in subsidy, £5bn in grid integration, and a further £2bn in VAT charged on these extra costs.
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Attachments:
Access this URL (attachments/article/243/REF%20on%20Fuel%20Poverty.pdf)REF on Fuel Poverty

The Den Brook Amplitude Modulation Noise Condition

Tuesday, 01 November 2011

The noise most commonly associated with wind farms, and frequently complained of, is the repetitive swishing beat occurring at turbine blade rotation frequency, which is known as Amplitude Modulation (AM) of the aerodynamic turbine noise.
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Attachments:
Download this file (ref info note 111031 AM Noise.pdf)AM Noise Inf Note

The Probable Cost of UK Renewable Electricity Subsidies 2002-2030

Monday, 20 June 2011

As part of its research program, REF has carried out a study of the costs and implied oncosts of the UK Renewable Electricity subsidies, the results of which indicate that the total cost of the subsidies to renewable electricity generators would be in the region of £100bn by 2030.1
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Attachments:
Download this file (ref info note 20 06 11 .pdf)Cost Estimates to 2030

FiT Performance in First Year

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

REF has assessed the UK Feed-in-Tariff for Renewable Electricity in the light of its performance in the first year, April 2010 to March 2011
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Attachments:
Download this file (ref.info.note.17.05.11.pdf)FiT Year 1 Info Note

High Rewards for Wind Farms Discarding Electricity 5th-6th April 2011

Sunday, 01 May 2011

In the recent April Operational Forum, National Grid revealed that substantial “constraint” payments were made to a number of Scottish wind farms in the first week of April1.  A constraint occurs when the grid system or a section of the system is unable to absorb all the electricity being generated, and some generators that are contracted to generate must be asked to stand down.

The April event occurred because the Scottish grid network could not absorb all the energy being generated, and chose to constrain wind power off the system, paying very high prices to compensate wind generators for the lost income, in some cases as high as 20 times the value of the electricity which would otherwise have been generated. In total approximately £890,000 pounds was paid over a few hours to six wind farms, these costs being ultimately destined to pass on to the consumer.
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Renewables Output in 2010

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Summary

• The United Kingdom failed to reach its 10% renewable electricity target for 2010, producing only 6.5% of electricity from renewable sources.

• This shortfall occurred in spite of a subsidy to renewable generators amounting to approximately £5 billion in the period 2002 to 2010.
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Attachments:
Download this file (info note re 2010 13 04 11.pdf)Ren Energy 2010 Info Note

New Study Confirms REF Intermittency Findings

Friday, 01 April 2011

A new report from Pöyry1, available to the public in summary form as The Challenges of Intermittency in North West European Power Markets, crystallizes the current state of discussion of the degree to which a geographically distributed wind fleet connected by a European Supergrid could resolve the impact of wind intermittency on the electricity system and its markets.
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Attachments:
Download this file (info note ref poyry 31 03 11.pdf)REF Note on Poyry Report