Renewable Energy and Combined Heat and Power Resources in the UK

The aim of this paper is to construct a comprehensive picture of the renewable energy and CHP resource base in the UK. It provides a synthesis of existing studies assessing the scope for the deployment of different renewable energy technologies and combined heat and power facilities. Drawing on regional assessments and resource maps, it gives an indication of the geographical location of these energy resources. Most of the report was completed in July 2001. Further material on the regional renewable energy resource studies was added later in early 2002.

Overall, the report is concerned with what is possible rather than with what is likely. However, for most technologies the assessment of purely physical potentials will not provide a realistic view of what is possible. Studies address this problem through distinction between, for example, 'accessible', 'practicable' and 'cost-effective resources'. This report addresses this problem in two ways:

* It focuses on 'practicable resources', considering costs and other constraints only where this is inevitable (e.g. because costs are the dominant factor in the assessment or because the available sources make assumptions about constraints); and
* It gives details, where possible, about the assumptions made by the different studies regarding physical, technical, economic, and political restrictions.