Energy from renewable sources

The UK’s use of renewable energy has skyrocketed, but is still relatively low. We get 5.7% of our energy from renewables compared with 0.2% in 1990. How will this change in the future? And how can we provide reliable base load capacity?

Increased awareness of climate change has driven a push by many countries towards clean, sustainable energy sources. Since the turn of the century, countries such as the UK and Germany have seen a sharp increase in the proportion of national energy supply derived from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Some countries, such as Norway and Iceland, have natural resources which make it easier to increase their dependence on renewable sources. 

The challenge for the UK is to attain a base load capacity from renewable sources, so that a consistent, reliable energy supply can be provided to the national grid. With this aim, the government recently announced a major package of green energy policies with indictions that £100 billion of capital spending will be rebadged as a “clean energy and infrastructure growth package.” In addition to the construction of more wind farms, the package is likely to include hydrogen fuel and carbon capture project to help the government meet ambitious climate climate targets.