Transcript Title Sub title - Living With Environmental Change (LWEC)

Sustainable Pathways to Low
Carbon Energy (SPLiCE):
Supplier workshop
Davinder Lail
Climate Change Team
Defra
Objectives for the day
• Clarify the programme’s objectives to
prospective suppliers.
• Discuss feasibility and delivery options to
inform the specification
• Clarify the commissioning process and next
steps
2
Agenda
• 10:00 Welcome and objectives
• 10:10 Presentation on SPLiCE research
programme
• 10:45 Questions and discussion
• 11:30 Break
• 11:40 Overview of tender process, questions and
next steps
• 12:30 Lunch
• 13:00 Opportunity for 1 to 1 discussions
3
Overview of presentation
• Policy context and the need for SPLiCE
• The research questions to be answered
• The potential scope
• The potential outputs
• Feasibility and delivery challenges
• The potential process
• Next steps
4
Context: UK and EU legislation requires
substantial decarbonisation during next decades
• Climate Change Act – 80% emission cut by
2050
• EU emission reduction targets
• EU Renewable Energy Directive – 15% by
2020
• EU Fuel Quality Directive – 6% cut by 2020
5
Context: meeting climate goals will mean massive
changes in energy generation and use
Dramatic increase
in energy and
resource efficiency
Complete decarbonisation of electricity generation
and substantial decarbonisation of transport and heat
6
Research need: Change of that scale has many
potential impacts, both positive and negative
Onshore
wind
Offshore
wind
Bioenergy
Nuclear
Energy
from
waste
Fossil with
carbon
capture
Conventio
nal gas
Unconvent
ional gas
Unabated
coal
Hydro
Solar
Wave
&
Tidal
Biodiversity
Water
?
Air quality
?
Landscape
Rural
economy
?
Food
production
Marine
environment
Carbon
emissions
?
?
?
Noise
Generally
bad impact
Generally
good impact
Mixed
impact
7
Research need: we need confidence that decarbonisation
needed can actually be delivered acceptably
Are there maximum limits
to particular types of
infrastructure?
8
Research need: that means finding the best balance between
competing tensions
The policy
“trilemma”
Lowest cost
decarbonisation
Where to
position
the energy
mix?
Secure &
reliable supply
An energy mix which
properly balances the points
in the triangle means we
can:
•Reassure the public that
energy policy is acceptable.
•Reduce the risk of sudden
policy change undermining
investor confidence.
Minimise wider
impacts
9
Research questions:
• How can decision makers access digestible and
comprehensive information about the impacts of
energy options to inform decisions about future
policies and measures?
• How can we compare the diverse impacts of
energy options in order to make choices about a
sustainable future energy mix?
• How can the public be a core part of the debate
about future energy choices and potential
compromises?
10
Scope: to answer the questions this needs to be
very wide
• Energy supply options
• Energy demand options
• Realistic technologies / options within 2050
timeframe
• Environmental impacts
• Social impacts
• Economic impacts
• UK footprint – domestically and
internationally
11
Is the impact of offshore
wind on marine mammals
worse than the effect of
biofuels on food prices?
Confusion
Confusion
Confusion
Confusion
Confusion
Confusion
Confusion
Possible outputs: is some sort of comparison
system or framework for impacts feasible?
Clarity
Too many options?
12
Possible outputs: Can we create a repository of
information that is accessible & comprehensive?
13
Feasibility: doing this will be challenging as impacts
are numerous and complex...
Biomass impacts
air quality
market effects
transport
processing
employment
production
combustion
soil & water, flooding, biodiversity
land use
options
food security and cost
14
Feasibility: ... and many impacts are interrelated and
cumulative
Water and energy extraction in a river system
kinetic
Nuclear Power
kinetic
Tidal Barrage
water
Hydropower
Pumped Storage
Fossil Fuel with CCS
energy
15
Feasibility: here are a few more questions to
grapple with
How to present findings in a useable way?
16
Process: how do we broach these challenges?
• SPLiCE Phase 1: scoping and feasibility
• SPLiCE Phase 2: filling research gaps and
presenting outputs, developing a knowledge
gateway, designing a comparison
framework for impacts, investigate how to
engage with the public
• SPLiCE Phase 3: additional on-going
research and maintenance
17
Process: Phase 1 needs to demonstrate a clear
delivery process
Phase 1 objectives include:
• Identify and prioritise research needed to fill data
gaps on impacts – for delivery in Phase 2
• Draw up a prototype for presenting information on
impacts that can be easily accessed and
understood by policy makers and public
• Develop prototype for a framework for comparing
differing impacts to enable choices to be made.
• Draft specification and recommended process for
Phase 2 to deliver the items above.
18
Process: a range of skills is needed
• Multidisciplinary expertise and analysis (energy,
social, economic, environmental, valuation, public
engagement etc.)
• Cross discipline working
• Organisational and project management skills
• Ergonomic software and system design and
presentation
• Knowledge exchange, building networks of
experts to call on and partnership working
19
Next steps:
• Make a judgment on feasibility: need your
input
• Finalise the specification for Phase 1
• Go out to tender before Christmas
• Let the contract in February
• 1 year to complete Phase 1
• Decision on scope and process of future
phases in spring 2015
20
Thank you