Abstract
The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) recently undertook a major cross-disciplinary research project, Energy 2050, to examine the means by which the UK can move towards a low-carbon energy system over the next forty years. As part of this, UKERC’s Energy Supply Working Group examined the prospects for accelerated technological development of a range of low carbon energy supply technologies, and the potential impact of this on UK energy system decarbonisation pathways. A series of scenarios were developed to represent the prospects for accelerated technological development. Then, using the Markal energy systems model, the impact of this acceleration on the decarbonisation of UK energy system was examined.
The results indicate that there are significant prospects for accelerated development for a range of renewable and other low carbon energy supply technologies, and that this acceleration could make a substantial impact on decarbonisation of the UK energy system from now to 2050. Accelerated technological development offers substantial benefit, in reducing the overall costs of decarbonisation over the longer term. However, because most of this impact is manifested after 2030, rather than over the next decade, the results suggest a disparity between technology performance and cost, and political aspirations for low carbon technology deployment from now to 2020.
The results indicate that there are significant prospects for accelerated development for a range of renewable and other low carbon energy supply technologies, and that this acceleration could make a substantial impact on decarbonisation of the UK energy system from now to 2050. Accelerated technological development offers substantial benefit, in reducing the overall costs of decarbonisation over the longer term. However, because most of this impact is manifested after 2030, rather than over the next decade, the results suggest a disparity between technology performance and cost, and political aspirations for low carbon technology deployment from now to 2020.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Energy solutions for CO2 emission peak and subsequent decline. Proceedings, Risø International Energy Conference 2009 |
| Editors | Leif Sønderberg Petersen , Hans Larsen |
| Place of Publication | Denmark |
| Publisher | Riso DTU, National Laboratory of Sustainable Energy, Technical University of Denmark |
| Pages | 268 |
| Number of pages | 276 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | ISBN 978-87-550-3783-0 |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Sept 2009 |