Report Summary

With economics of scale the installation and material costs for renewable technologies are set to exceed or match the cost per kWh of conventional fossil and nuclear generation plant over the next ten years. Price volatility, political considerations, environmental aspects will mean higher risks and costs for the conventional solutions.

Features and benefits

• Identify the leading technologies in the renewable energy sector.
• Analyze ROIs for the leading technologies in the renewable energy sector.
• Analyze the core legislation impacting the sector.
• Help to identify the main opportunities and barriers to renewable energy development.
• Identify the different yields – economic, social, environmental – for renewable energy.

Highlights

In terms of economic profit the average range of ROI increases with the scale of the renewable energy project. With capacity above 1,000kW or a 1MW, returns are usually above 10% to 15%. At the smaller scale due to the construction costs and the reduction in efficiency of the resource harvesting, ROIs are typically 2% to 8%.

As a result of the uncertainty and technical risk of many renewable technologies, maintenance costs are high, especially for large-scale projects. Nascent stage Wave energy is estimated to have a maintenance cost of GBP207,605 per MW. In comparison off-shore wind has a maintenance cost of GBP70,000 per MW.

Regarding costs, there is still much debate as to who should pay for the reinforcement costs to the grid of renewable energy. A country such as Denmark, for example, makes TSOs and DSOs cover the costs of reinforcement. In many other markets, the main issue is that there individual countries lack a coherent master-plan for grid reinforcement.

Renewable Energy Developers Guide

Published: January 2012
No.OF Pages: 104
Price: Single User License – US$ 2875      Corporate User License US$ 10781

Table Of Contents

About the author
Disclaimer

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
Renewable energy systems
Legislation for renewable energy development
Renewable energy yields
Infrastructure for renewable energy development
Future outlook

Introduction to renewable energy development
Summary
Scope of the report
Introduction
Case study – United Kingdom
Main renewable technologies in the UK
Historical introduction
Essential basics – technology and main inputs
Main inputs – Solar energy as feedstock
Main inputs – Wind energy, a popular resource option
Main inputs – Water power, the most developed renewable resource
Drivers and resistors of renewable energy development
Drivers
Improving environmental performance
Enhancing corporate reputation
Improving resilience
Creating revenue for stable investments
Resistors
The business case is not compelling
Influence and reputation
Planning objections and negative environmental management
Infrastructure reinforcement

Renewable energy systems
Summary
Introduction
Photovoltaic
Solar thermal
Wind
Hydro
Low head, high flow
Costs
Wave energy
Biomass
Anaerobic digestion
Low carbon technologies
Heat pumps
Leading forms of heat pumps
Combined heat and power
Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV)
Other low carbon “passive” techniques

Legislation for renewable energy development
Summary
Introduction
Background
Feed-in tariffs (FiTs)
Planning bottlenecks
Looking to the future

Renewable energy yields
Summary
Introduction
Economic yields
Carbon yields
Social and environmental yields
Increased community awareness
Education
Families
Renewable technologies
Procurement and design aspects
The design CAPEX stage – DESCAPEX
The construction CAPEX stage – CONSCAPEX
The operation and maintenance OPEX stage – O&MOPEX

Infrastructure for renewable energy development
Summary
Introduction
Installation
Private wire private pipe
Installation costs
Maintenance
Case-study – Solar technology (photovoltaic and solar thermal)
Calculating yields
Lifecycle
Grid infrastructure
Grid reinforcement
Smart grids

Future outlook
Summary
The future of the market
Opportunities for growth
Maximizing potential for developers
Challenges and opportunities
Challenge 1 – Politically-driven reductions in subsidies
Opportunity 1 – Importance of subsidies
Challenge 2 – Remote locations
Opportunity 2 – Multi-tier approach the way forward
Challenge 3 – Technologies under-utilized
Opportunity 3 – Developing the next generation of technology

Appendix
Glossary/Abbreviations

List Of Tables & Figures