Staffordshire Moorlands is in a privileged position vis-à-vis renewable energy. since it has the potential to produce a lot more energy than its residents need and is thus well positioned to bring a fresh source of income to the community. Sadly these renewable resources are being blocked by outdated planning policy.
Outside England, the rest of the UK has seriously embraced small-scale community renewable energy projects, with local groups forming cooperatives to produce their own energy locally. However the Government’s withdrawal of the feed-in-tariff in favour of subsidising ‘carbon capture and storage’ has made most new community projects financially unviable, unless they can sell daytime power to local users. Usually this requires an agreement with a significantly-sized local company or small business park. For most individual small businesses it’s a non-starter. However, coming to the rescue is the not-for-profit company Big Solar Co-op, which can help local businesses with large south-facing roofs and can finance, install and maintain solar panels in exchange for a power purchase agreement. Local citizens can then be encouraged to invest in the Big Solar Co-op as part of their personal commitment to lowering their carbon footprint, should they choose to do so; for example if frustrated by the unsuitability of their own roofs.
It’s midwinter of course, the sky is grey, and expectations are low. But by late morning the sixteen solar PV panels facing South-southwest on the low barn roof claim to be producing 289 watts per hour – enough at least to cover some of the background electrical energy drains: fridge, freezer, UV spring water purifier. Heavy rain can be a problem: the circuit trips, and it can be a day or two before we notice. When snow is lying on the panels they stop working completely, as if night had fallen. But when the sun shines brightly, even now in January, we can get 2.5 kw/h, and up to 4 kw/h in high Summer.
Here at Adders Green Farm, high in the Staffordshire Moorlands, we are exposed to the elements. The farmhouse is made of stone, there is no cavity wall, no damp proof course, and very little between us and the wet clay beneath the kitchen and living room. Where to start in getting – and keeping – warm?
Nuclear fusion has long been touted as the answer to all our energy problems but even more so now, given that it has no significant carbon footprint. The latest new STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) is currently being planned by the government, who are looking for a site and have already committed £200 million as the first deposit on the £2 billion project. However, the claim that an as yet unproven nuclear design will be producing cheap power in 2040 is fanciful, since projects of this size and complexity always overrun in time and budget. Some of us even remember the empty promises about power from nuclear fission being ‘too cheap to meter’.
In terms of fission power, the government has already agreed an electricity price of 12 pence a unit for Sizewell C, a much greater cost than a community wind farm with energy storage, so why should we be spending more on an intrinsically more dangerous energy source that can’t be controlled by local communities.
Hydrogen is currently being widely promoted as the conveniently portable and green alternative to fossil fuels. It is also attractive as an alternative to natural gas (methane) in cookers and boilers, since transition from one form of gas to another would be simpler than converting to electric. Whether it is truly green depends on how it is produced. The greenest method (electrolysis, as illustrated in the very simplified image here) passes an electric current through water (H2O) to separate hydrogen (H2) from oxygen (O2). In the existing method ‘grey’ hydrogen is made by reacting methane (CH4) with water, with the by-product CO2 being simply allowed to escape. The idea of capturing this and storing it to produce so-called ‘blue’ hydrogen is what the government is currently promoting. However this has not yet been achieved at an industrial scale.
There is a lot of untapped potential for generating electricity from photovoltaics in the Moorlands and until now it has been very difficult to encourage organisations to make best use of their roofs, especially those facing in the right directions. However, despite the loss of the Feed-in-Tariff, which had previously made such installations economically attractive, there are some heroic organisations trying to ensure that solar installation will continue and expand. One of these is the Big Solar Co-op, funded by Share Energy, who are able to estimate annual generating potential (kWh) from aerial surveillance. MCA has had information from them on the roofs of three SMDC buildings, which we have shared with council officers, and we hope they will take note of them: Brough Park Leisure Centre (55,304 kWh pa), Moorland House (30,320 kWh pa) and offices beside Leek’s recycling centre (19,734 kWh pa).
Solar photo-voltaic (PV) systems to generate electricity are more popular (but see sections on grants and economics) and becoming more affordable. They consist of large panels mounted on frames, either on a roof or near the ground and, for residential properties, generally do not require planning permission. The output from panels can be connected to the mains, via an inverter and control equipment, or can be stored in battery arrays for off grid properties or to even out supply and demand. South facing locations are preferred and shading from trees or other buildings can dramatically reduce output, even if only a small part of the array is shaded. Current regulations permit a maximum of 3.6kW of micro-generated electricity to be connected to a single phase of the grid and installation must be certified by a registered professional installer.
Wind
Wind power is a good energy source in the right location and wind turbines range from small direct drive turbines, typically 5kW maximum output, to large geared