By guest columnist Bill
Wright, head of energy
solutions, Electrical
Contractors’ Association
Smart Solar at the NSC
Steve Pester, BRE, gives the
lowdown on recent events at BRE’s
National Solar Centre
S
W
hat do you think of when you see
the word ‘China’? I’m willing to
bet that wind turbines aren’t the
first thing that comes to mind. But it turns
out the Chinese are light years ahead of us
when it comes to embracing wind farms, wind
turbines and all things relating to this source
of renewable energy.
Last year China added 20GW of wind
power to its supply, taking its total to 96GW.
This is more than the entire electricity supply
capacity of the UK. We must not rest on our
laurels and think we are great at producing
wind turbines when figures such as these are
produced by China.
Don’t get me wrong, the UK has done
a sterling job embracing wind power. The
increase in wind farm capacity has meant that
wind turbines provided up to 14 percent of
the UK electricity supply in January 2015. The
recent opening of a factory in Hull has shown
the UK is committed to further expansion
of this renewable source, but the fact that
planning restrictions mean we can only
develop wind farms offshore may hinder our
attempts to catch up with the Chinese.
Hopefully, the recent oil price reduction
will not hinder the progress of renewable
energy systems. The price drop has been
politically motivated and is succeeding in
stifling research and production of oil from
expensive sources. Inevitably the price
will rise again in the future, meaning that
renewable energy is required more than ever
if we are to reduce our total carbon emissions,
cut our costs and try to halt the seemingly
inevitable effects of climate change.
mart Solar
Energy was
the hot topic
at a BRE
National Solar Centre
event at the Eden Project
on 29 January. Over
120 delegates reviewed
Smart Solar technologies,
such as storage, export
limiting, alternative grid
connections, power
diverters and electric
vehicles.
NSC associates Ray
Noble and Martin Cotterell presented the future for storage
in the UK and the work that NSC is doing on guidance
documents for electrical storage and the forthcoming IET
Code of Practice for solar PV systems.
After a brief interlude for a light entertainment video
showing spectacular explosions of mistreated Li-ion batteries
(a BRE experiment filmed by the BBC – some people have the
best jobs!), another NSC associate, James Hoare provided an
excellent modelling demonstration of how grid connections
with export constraint conditions may still be viable when
actual solar performance and building loads are taken into
account. In the same vein, Western Power Distribution
spoke about the possible ‘alternative connection’ procedures
that can enable access to the grid in areas that are near to
capacity.
An interesting off-grid case study combining PV,
batteries and a generator was presented by Cardiff
University, whilst representatives from industry discussed
the commercial realities for export limiting and storage, and
showed some of the technologies available on the market
today.
The day closed with a lively workshop seeking feedback
on a solar yield forecasting tool currently being developed
through an Innovate UK collaboration between the BRE
National Solar Centre, MET Office and the University of Exeter.
As predicted in this column a couple of years ago,
the popularity of the event demonstrates the increasing
commercial appetite for storage technologies, as well as
for export limiting and the possible synergies with electric
vehicles.
The presentations from the event can be viewed at:
http://www.bre.co.uk/page.jsp?id=1346
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