REF correspondence re DECC's use of statistics
Friday, 14 September 2012
In the publication Shortfall, Rebound, Backfire REF raised the issue of misleading statistical information from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, specifically that the headline statements, including those of the then Secretary of State, Mr Huhne, to the House of Commons, were misleading. It was stated that the net effect of the UK's climate change policies would be to reduce the average household energy bill in 2020, whereas close reading of the Department's own models showed clearly that 65% of households were expected to see their bills increase. REF raised this issue in correspondence with the UK Statistics Authority. The correspondence is as follows.
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REF Comments on the Economics of Wind Power
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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Shortfall, Rebound, Backfire
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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A Critique of the IoA Treatment of Background Noise for Wind Farm Noise Assessments
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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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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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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The Probable Cost of UK Renewable Electricity Subsidies 2002-2030
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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FiT Performance in First Year
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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High Rewards for Wind Farms Discarding Electricity 5th-6th April 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
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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REF correspondence with UKSA