Renewables ‘beating shale gas in price drop race’

Renewables will beat shale gas to lower power prices in the UK, according to an analysis from bank Citigroup.

Utility-scale solar panels are on track to compete with combined cycle gas turbines on cost from the middle of this decade, it found, when shale gas exploration will be barely out of the starting blocks. Solar panel costs have fallen by 40 per cent for every doubling of installed capacity since 2008.

Jason Channell, global head of alternative energy for the bank, rubbished the idea that cheap shale gas would undermine the case for renewables. “Renewables actually get there first,” he said.

Sharing a panel with Channell at Scottish Renewables’ annual conference, Enrique Doheijo of Deloitte showed that wind power had cut day-ahead electricity prices in Spain over the past few years.

However, he noted that customer bills had gone up slightly over the same period as network charges and other costs had increased.

Robert Gross, director of the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology at Imperial College London, said the industry must continuously fight a “dialogue of misinformation” perpetuated by anti-wind think tanks and sections of the media.

The costs associated with the intermittency of wind power are well understood but complicated for consumers to grasp, he said, leaving scope for “clever nonsense” to take hold. “We are seeing a much more politicised debate and some of it is quite nasty.”