It has been reported that energy projects in remote waters off the coast of Scotland face paying as much as £50 million a year to connect to the National Grid.
According to a report filed by scotsman.com, Scottish Renewables has projected that under the UK’s current transmission charging system, which is calculated according to location, projects in remote areas such as Orkney face paying as much as £42.13 per kilowatt (kW) for the privilege of connecting to the grid while others in the south-west of England could be subsidised to the tune of £6.98 per kW.
Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said that the National Grid’s location-based model is inconsistent with the government’s drive to source a greater share of the UK’s energy from renewable sources.
The same report, quoting Martin McAdam, chief executive of Edinburgh-based marine energy company Aquamarine Power, underlined that the charging structure “fundamentally makes no sense” if the UK government wants to encourage renewable energy projects.
Marine renewables-ready UK grid system
In its list of recommendations, the recently released Marine Energy Action Plan mentioned that although the Electricity Networks Strategy Group (a network industry group co-chaired by DECC and Ofgem) concluded in its report in 2009 that no additional reinforcements would be required on the main transmission system (beyond those already identified to meet the potential extra demand from wave and tidal), it is necessary for the relevant stakeholders to continue to outline concerns and to exchange information relating to grid systems through the existing communications channels and the Marine Energy Action Plan working groups. It was also stated that a marine renewables-ready UK grid system is essential for the level of deployment required to help meet climate change targets.
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National Grid: http://social.waveenergytoday.com/search/node/%22National+Grid%22
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