Why is renewable energy essential for the future?
Global climate change is likely to entail significant social, environmental and economic costs. The production of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, is contributing to climate change. The effects of climate change include rising sea levels and increased frequency of extreme weather events which can impact on key eco-systems upon which we all depend.
UK Climate Change Policy
The Government is committed to delivering 15% of all energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. To achieve this, a substantial amount of electricity (30%) needs to be generated from renewable sources.
The UK is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to combat climate change. Emissions can be reduced through the more efficient use of energy and by generating electricity from sustainable and renewable sources, such as wind energy and solar.
Renewable Energy
With many nuclear and coal power stations built in the 1970s and 80s coming to the end of their operational lives in the next few years due to age and new restrictions on emissions, there is a need to implement low carbon ways of generating electricity to meet the country's ever growing energy demands.
Providing renewable energy across the UK and Europe
Wind Energy
Onshore wind is the cheapest form of renewable power and an established technology. Wind turbines generate electricity around 80-85% of the time and power is converted to electricity very efficiently, with none of the thermal waste inherent in fossil fuel plants. Since the first commercial wind farm was constructed in Scotland, turbine capacities have increased by over 550%.
This increase in capacity, combined with improvements in technology,
has resulted in a 15-fold increase in the amount of electricity generated by each turbine.
A single, commercial scale 3.4 MW turbine is now capable of generating enough electricity to power almost 2,800 homes on an average Scottish site, and, since 2014, renewable energy has been the main form of energy generation in Scotland.
Onshore Wind supports 5,400 full time jobs in Scotland, and in 2015, community benefit from onshore wind projects paid out over 8.8 million to local communities in Scotland.
Solar Energy
As a continuation of the company’s activities in renewable energy development we have expanded our business to include solar park developments and are currently pursuing a number of solar projects across the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Our recent developments in Europe for example include solar farms in Brandenburg and Berlin.
The energy potential that comes from the sun is practically inexhaustible. The amount of solar energy arriving on Earth exceeds daily global energy consumption by 10,000 to 15,000 fold.
Solar farm installations typically comprise multiple solar panels arranged in rows that are orientated in a southerly direction and tilted at a certain angle to maximise their potential to absorb the sun’s rays.
The rows tend to be around 5m apart and elevated which can allow sheep to still graze. The solar panels are usually mounted on a metal frame which is installed on piles driven into the ground, avoiding the need for concrete foundations and resulting in a short construction period.
