Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future? 1 Thursday 24th February, 2005 Week 7 Hydro-Electricity UK Appraisal Until 2020 and 2030

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?2 What is Hydro-Electricity? Electricity Generated by the flow of water past turbines at the base of a dam Here is where pressure is greatest Why the Base? Famous Example: Hoover Dam Colorado river, Nevada USA Creates 4 billion Kilowatt hours per year for 1.3 million people in Nevada Arizona and California

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?3 Hydro in the United Kingdom Requires large upland Lakes Development mostly in Scotland At present Installed capacity of Hydro in UK is 1500MWe

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future? government white paper ‘our energy future – creating a low carbon economy’ United Kingdom Government Policy EU Renewables Directive calls for 22% of energy in Europe to be Renewable by 2010 First annual report reaffirmed that addressing climate change was at the centre of UK energy policy United nations Convention on Climate Change – Kyoto protocol calls for a reduction in CO² emissions to below 1990 levels

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?5 Scottish and Southern Energy Scottish Hydro Electric the UK’s biggest hydro generator with 1350MW capacity representing roughly 40% of whole UK renewable capacity Currently upgrading Hydro equipment turbine rudders guide vanes and generators increasing efficiency 275MW refurbished since 2002 and another 90MW to be completed by this year. This has increased output by 5% from same amount of water Loch Laggan Dam, West Highlands

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?6 Environmental Implications Austin, Texas – April 7 th 1900 Hope Mills, North Carolina– May 26 th 2003 Medford, New Jersey – July 19 th 2004 Dam collapses in the USA Collapses occur more often than you think with another recent event in Pakistan last week! Collapse poses risk to human life from raging currents and debris River Silted Up Miles of Roads Swept Away $6Million Repair Bill

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?7 Environmental Implications Hydro-electricity doesn’t produce greenhouse gases which are a cause of climate change. Unlike fossil fuel generation Nor does it produce any of the controversy of nuclear generation However it still involves changing the natural Environment

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?8 Transport Issues As most Hydro is generated in Scotland the question is how do you get it to south east England? PYLONS!!!

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?9 Planning and Technical Constraints Just how much more can exiting technology be refurbished? What happens if the lake above the dam freezes over? How can hydro progress in areas protected by the Government? Small Scale Hydro only at an early stage in its development

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?10 Storage Dinorwig, North Wales Electricity cannot be stored so it has to be produced at exact levels of demand This makes Hydro the perfect generating method as it can regulate its production levels instantly Also validates use of pump storage schemes, which use excess of peak power to pump water which is then released for generation at peak times

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?11 Storage – Crucial Moments !!! Final of the World Cup At the New Wembley England Expects Referee Blows for Penalty shoot out as freak blizzard descends The whole country switches on their kettles to make hot water bottles….

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?12 AND THE GERMANS WIN AS USUAL

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?13 Pessimistic Outcome Small Scale Hydro: 250 MW Large Scale Hydro: 500 MW Total: 750 MW Small Scale Hydro: 500 MW Large Scale Hydro: 250 MW Total: 750 MW Large Scale Hydro Equipment rapidly reaches life expiry Small Scale Hydro Technology slow to advance and meets strong opposition

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?14 Optimistic Approach Small Scale Hydro: 750 MW Large Scale Hydro: 2000 MW Total: 2750 MW Small Scale Hydro: 3000 MW Large Scale Hydro: 2200 MW Total: 5200 MW Life extension work increases Large Scale Hydro capacity Small Scale technology advances rapidly and becomes commonplace throughout UK and beyond

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?15 Likely Outcome Small Scale Hydro: 500 MW Large Scale Hydro: 1500 MW Total: 2000 MW Small Scale Hydro: 1500 MW Large Scale Hydro: 1800 MW Total: 3300 MW Most Large Scale Hydro will remain on line but capacity will not see large improvements Small Scale Projects will start to appear but will meet opposition and new technical constraints

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?16 Energy Generated (PJ) in the Years Optimistic Pessimistic Likely Varying Predictions of the amount of UK electricity that will be generated by Hydro-Electric generation methods for years up to 2030

Thursday 24th February, Week 7 Dale Turner - A Hydro-Electric Future?17