洞察力 2024年3月4日

Wind power sceptics are full of hot air

Alan Whitefield, Head of Energy Markets Research

The UK boasts a well-established wind power market, 还有道格滩, which will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm. So why does wind power generation here have so many vocal critics? Mitie能源市场研究主管艾伦·怀特菲尔德(Alan Whitefield)对最常见的说法做出了回应.

那些质疑脱碳价值的人将注意力转向英国风力发电只是时间问题.

他们已经 它对太阳能有意见吗但最近，可再生风能一直受到怀疑的关注.

Negative headlines in the national press have included:

  • When it’s too windy for wind turbines: the downside of eco-power
  • 对于风力涡轮机来说，风太大了!
  • 英国人花费数亿美元关闭风力涡轮机，因为在风力最大的日子里，电网无法处理它们产生的电力
  • 海上风力的暴风雨时期

我也注意到网上的能源文章——甚至是那些经过充分研究的文章, balanced and uncontentious – are attracting more anti-wind, 反对环保的评论.

Let’s take a look at some of the claims to see if they stand up to scrutiny…

A row of white wind turbines with a sunset background

‘Wind power is a waste of time because conditions need to be just right’

一位有影响力的英国报纸专栏作家在意识到风力涡轮机只能在特定参数下运行后，采取了这一立场. They don’t generate when there isn’t enough wind. And likewise, they shut down when winds are too strong. 据恩德萨说.com, that’s when wind speeds reach over 90kph. 但是——这是一个很大的但是——风力涡轮机完美运行的可操作范围确实非常大.

Let’s face it, in the UK winds are going to vary. But the data shows wind has never produced more power for us. 事实上, 2023 has become the record year for total wind generation in the UK, with the country exceeding 63 TWh of wind 能源. This is double the wind power generated in 2017 (BM Reports). 事实上, 2023年12月21日, 早上8点到8点半, wind briefly provided over 62% of the UK’s 能源 generation mix.

因此，我们甚至还没有接近关闭涡轮机，而我们每年都在生产更多的风能, despite the variation in what’s generated each day.

‘The cost of creating wind power is too high’

的确，成本在上升. But they’re rising across all sectors for a range of reasons, 包括因新冠肺炎和天然气和石油危机导致的供应链中断. None of these factors solely relate to wind power in the UK. On the bright side, inflation can’t keep going up forever. Eventually we’ll see costs coming down across the board. It’s also likely that as wind 能源 spreads, 制造涡轮机所需的技术和部件的价格也将下降.

值得记住的是，即使成本很高，许多公司仍在投资. Scotland’s largest wind farm, Seagreen, was commissioned in October last year. The windfarm is a joint venture between France’s global multi-能源 company, TotalEnergies, 以及英国的SSE 可再生s. segreen将能够为1供电.并将取代化石燃料发电产生的约200万吨二氧化碳排放. 简而言之，这是风能的一大胜利.

“国家电网无法吸收在风力最大的日子里产生的所有风力。”

While this is true, it doesn’t make sense to lay the blame on wind power. 不幸的是，这是历届政府都未能解决的电网容量问题. It’s a shame that when we’re generating the most wind power, it can’t always be absorbed into the National Grid. Ultimately the consumer pays; the Carbon Tracker thinktank calculated 2023年，由于风力发电的浪费，英国家庭额外支付了40英镑的电费.

实现这一目标是政府、公用事业公司和企业的责任. 电网的发展应充分支持向风力发电和其他形式的可再生能源发电的转变. 令人鼓舞的是，政府计划在秋季声明中纠正这一问题, 随着宣布 连接行动计划.

Regardless of inefficiencies, it’s worth nothing that in 2022, a record 40% of UK 能源 came from renewable sources. 在过去的六年里，可再生能源发电量的增加大大降低了发电组合中对天然气的需求. Coal generation has also reduced significantly over this period, with UK coal use almost halving between 2021 and 2023 (2.8太瓦时，而5太瓦时.2021年为0太瓦时). 如果国家电网的问题得到解决，这些数字将更加令人印象深刻. 来源:BM Reports

‘Wind power companies are struggling’

的确，风力发电公司一直面临着暴风雨时期——很少有公司获得了意外之财. 德国政府已经介入帮助西门子能源在其风力涡轮机部门陷入困境. 去年这家瑞典公司, Vattenfall, 由于成本上升，该公司宣布停止诺福克Boreas风电场的建设. 与此同时失去, one of the world’s leading offshore wind developers, has been downgraded by credit rating agency, S&P.

所以，是的，时局艰难. 但西门子和奥斯特德只是两个例子，这些公司直面可持续发展这头牛，并投资实现了脱碳. Without such initiative there is no way net zero will be reached by 2050.

有理由认为，政府应该介入，帮助这些公司度过难关. 在最近的一项积极举措中，英国政府将风能的价格提高了66%，以鼓励投资. Wind is also an established part of renewable 能源 generation. 如果它被抛弃, 在英国，没有其他形式的可再生能源可以弥补这一缺口.

在英国，所有政党都感受到了脱碳的挑战. 最近，他们似乎更努力地通过提供更多的支持，看到我们到2050年实现净零排放.

鸟瞰图，汽车行驶在弯曲的道路上，穿过周围的绿色森林

例如, 保守党和工党都承诺加快国家重大基础设施项目, 或NSIPs. 这是必要的，因为我们需要实现净零排放的大型项目正因繁文缛节而被拖延. 在德国和其他地方, planning for renewables infrastructure has been relaxed, so it would be helpful if the UK followed suit.

But there is more that could be done. 提高容量将解决上述国家电网的问题. At the Labour Party conference in October, Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero, 埃德•米利班德(Ed Miliband), announced plans for the Energy Independence Act. This would rapidly increase the UK’s renewable 能源 capacity. 类似的, 总理, 圣人Sunak, pledged to bring forward reforms to 能源 infrastructure, 哪些将提高电网容量. 然而, there has been widespread criticism of less progressive decisions, such as delaying the UK ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.

It’s important we don’t lose momentum. 这关系到英国 已从最具可再生能源投资吸引力的前五大国家中滑落. We’re now ranked seventh, yet in 2022 we were third. To keep to the UK’s decarbonisation commitments, as well as maintain our positive investment potential, we really need to see more support from government. Collaborating with the private sector will ultimately benefit everyone. Wind’s place in the 能源 mix isn’t going to blow over, so there’s no reason for wind power companies to be struggling.

你同意艾伦的观点吗? 通过电子邮件分享你的想法 (电子邮件保护).

读下

参见参考资料档案