The capacity of renewable energy has overtaken that of fossil fuels in the UK for the first time, in a milestone that experts said would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
In the past five years, the amount of renewable capacity has tripled while fossil fuels’ has fallen by one-third, as power stations reached the end of their life or became uneconomic.
The result is that between July and September, the capacity of wind, solar, biomass and hydropower reached 41.9 gigawatts, exceeding the 41.2GW capacity of coal, gas and oil-fired power plants.
Imperial College London, which compiled the figures, said the rate at which renewables had been built in the past few years was greater than the “dash for gas” in the 1990s.
Dr Iain Staffell, who undertook the research, said: “Britain’s power system is slowly but surely walking away from fossil fuels, and this quarter saw a major milestone on the journey.”
However, the amount of power from fossil fuels was still greater over the quarter, at about 40% of electricity generation compared with 28% for renewable sources. In total, 57% of electricity generation was low carbon over the period, produced either by renewables or nuclear power stations.
Photo: Bloomberg
照片：彭博社
In terms of installed capacity, wind is the biggest source of renewables at more than 20GW, followed by solar spread across nearly 1m rooftops and in fields. Biomass is third.
In the past year, coal capacity has fallen by one quarter, and there are only six coal-fired plants left in the UK. Coal operators have been affected by the UK’s carbon tax on electricity generation, as well as competition from gas, though they have enjoyed a recent fillip from high gas prices.
Fortunes for new gas power stations are mixed. Last week, the German energy company RWE said it was freezing plans for a new 2.5GW gas plant in Tilbury, Essex. However, UK-listed SSE said it had broken ground last Tuesday on a new 840MW gas power station in Lincolnshire.
The Imperial College London research, which was commissioned by the gas, coal and biomass company Drax, also found the cost of balancing the energy system had risen to a 10-year high of 3.8m pounds (US$4.9m) per day between July and September.
(The Guardian)
在英國，再生能源的發電量首次超過了化石燃料，樹立了一個里程碑，專家說這在幾年前是無法想像的。
過去五年中，再生能源的發電量增加了三倍，而化石燃料則因發電廠達到使用年限或變得不符成本效益，其發電量減少了三分之一。
於是在七月至九月間，風力、太陽能、生質能和水力發電量達到四一‧九百萬瓩（GW），超越了燃煤、燃氣和燃油發電廠的四一‧二GW。
收集這些數據的倫敦帝國學院表示，過去幾年再生能源的建設速度，高於一九九○年代的「改用天然氣」風潮。
進行這項研究的伊恩‧史代佛博士說：「英國的電力系統正與化石燃料漸行漸遠，而在本季跨越了一個重要里程碑。」
然而，本季化石燃料發電量仍較大，約佔發電量的百分之四十，而再生能源則為百分之二十八。在這期間，共有百分之五十七的發電量是低碳排放發電，由再生能源或核電廠產出。
在發電裝置容量方面，風能是再生能源的最大來源，有超過二十GW的裝置容量，其次是太陽能，其裝置遍布近一百萬戶的屋頂以及田野。生質能源則是佔第三位。
在過去一年中，燃煤電廠的發電量下降了四分之一，英國只剩下六座燃煤電廠。雖然煤炭業者最近因高油價而得利，但他們仍受到英國對發電徵收碳稅、油氣發電之競爭等影響。
新建天然氣發電廠的命運則是憂喜參半。德國能源公司萊茵集團上週表示，將凍結在艾賽克斯郡提伯利新建二‧五GW天然氣發電廠的計畫。而英國上市公司蘇格蘭電力則表示，該公司在林肯郡新建的八四○百萬瓦（MW）天然氣發電廠，已於上週二動工。
倫敦帝國學院的這項研究，是由經營天然氣、煤炭及生質能源的Drax公司委託進行，該研究也發現，平衡能源系統的成本，在七月至九月間已升至每日三八○萬英鎊，達到十年新高點。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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1. 他們搭船渡河。 ˇ They crossed the river by boat. χ They crossed the river by the boat. 註︰ 表示交通方式時，交通工具前不加冠詞，如 by car、by train、by bus、by plane、by ship 等。若加了冠詞，則變成特指，意思是「他們搭上了正談論的那班船」，而不是泛指搭船這種交通方式。 2. 他們不再相信社會主 ˇ They no longer believe in socialism. χ They no longer believe in the socialism. 註︰ socialism、capitalism 等以 -ism 結尾的抽象名詞前不加冠詞。 3. 王博士演講介紹量子力學的基本知識。 ˇ Dr. Wang gave a lecture on the basics of quantum mechanics. χ Dr. Wang gave a lecture on the basics of the quantum mechanics. 註︰ 「量子力學」作為一種科目，不需加定冠詞。其他如 political science、Chinese literature、English history 等也是如此。 4. 南方人喜歡吃米，不太吃饅頭。 ˇ The southerners prefer rice to steamed bread. χ The southerners prefer the rice to the steamed bread. 註︰ rice、flour 等物質名稱前面不加冠詞。 5. 他因該戰役的功績晉升為上校。 ˇ He was promoted to the rank of colonel because
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