Main challange facing the Enegry Industry in the next 5-10 years???

[Psycrow]

"In no more than 250 words, summarise what you believe to be the main challenge facing the Energy Industry over the coming 5 – 10 years."


I'm applying for a job and this is one of the questions, anyone suggest some suitable answers? I'd say in the domestic market, switching over to more renewable sources to meet CO2 targets and putting in place more infrastructure as the country expands. Globaly the reducing amount of natural resources, mostly coal and oil would probably be the main problem.

 

[DAVEM]

"In no more than 250 words, summarise what you believe to be the main challenge facing the Energy Industry over the coming 5 – 10 years."


I'm applying for a job and this is one of the questions, anyone suggest some suitable answers? I'd say in the domestic market, switching over to more renewable sources to meet CO2 targets and putting in place more infrastructure as the country expands. Globaly the reducing amount of natural resources, mostly coal and oil would probably be the main problem.

Hmm...
Perhaps the liberlisation of the European engery markets should be one of your main points. From a national point of view, being able to purchase foriegn energy asset in EU countries could have a siginificant impact on the UK's ability to sustain energy usage predictions. You don't necessarily have to panic, if you know you have future production assets coming online somewhere in the EU.

The question isn't "what the biggest challange to the enviroment" but what is the biggest challange to the market. And although things like China and India's emssion regulations are part of that, it's more of a 'green' issue that a market factor.

Also remember that the 'energy' section is diverse and each section is facing different challanges, gas will become more problematic in future years, moreso than any other section IMO.

David

 

[teaboy5]

How about stating that we might not have the energy to power anything, as we run out of cheap oil and gas is heading that way too. Maybe talk about the issues with the pipe lines coming from the east etc. God you could bang on for ages about whats going to happen

 

[Glaucus]

How about stating that we might not have the energy to power anything,

I strongly suggest not writing that, a its sentational and a load of bs and your applying for a job in the energy sector. they don't wont to know they havent got a future. Also 5-10 years this is not going to happen in a couple of decades let alone 5-10 years

I would say the main areas are

Gas - buying from overseas.
green - not the global warming but meeting any new government regulations.
Nuclear - Pretty much the only way for the country to go and yet so many are against it. (although again is planning permision due to the 5-10year question limit)
Redundant capacity - the biggest topic of all is the redundant capacity. The national grid is very fragile and are redundant capacity is shrinking fast (this is the best option due to the 5-10year period, it takes 10years (something like that) to bring a nuclear power plant online.

 

[teaboy5]

I strongly suggest not writing that, a its sentational and a load of bs and your applying for a job in the energy sector. they don't wont to know they havent got a future.

I would say the main areas are

Gas - buying from overseas.
green - not the global warming but meeting any new government regulations.
Nuclear - Pretty much the only way for the country to go and yet so many are against it.
Redundant capacity - the biggest topic of all is the redundant capacity. The national grid is very fragile and are redundant capacity is shrinking fast.

Well its not BS, in 4-5 years i don't think the energy sector will be in good shape at all.

 

[Glaucus]

Well its not BS, in 4-5 years i don't think the energy sector will be in good shape at all.

gas is not going to run out in 5-10years, the cost might go up past what public can spend (but even that's unlikely) but we will STILL be able to power things. You also need to remember the people reading it will have a much better understanding of the situation than the general public. Sprouting of sensational claims is not going not impress.

 

[Psycrow]

Some good ideas here, added a few to what I already had. Wish me luck on getting the job (graduate engineer for Scottish energy).

 

[spike's]

possible terrorist threats to the energy supplies?

 

[iamgud]

It will get worse and worse imo unless we build some Nuke plants. However I remeber reading the go ahead has been given for an experimetal Nuclear Fusion Power plant in France. If that is a success problem sorted TBH.

 

[Pumpkinstew]

I would go with increasing cost of gas and the need to import from a fairly volatile foreign market. At least domestically.

There is also a problem with aging regional distribution infrastructure in many regions.

You can't supply what you can't generate and vice versa.

 

[Messiah Khan]

It will get worse and worse imo unless we build some Nuke plants. However I remeber reading the go ahead has been given for an experimetal Nuclear Fusion Power plant in France. If that is a success problem sorted TBH.

Don't hold your breath. The ITER TOKAMAK reactor isn't going to be finished until 2050, and its unlikely that the technology resulting from it won't appear for another 30 years after that. Nuclear fission is the only viable method to sustain our current power needs at reasonable prices for the forseable future.

 

[Pookie Bear]

Well its not BS, in 4-5 years i don't think the energy sector will be in good shape at all.

What do you base that on?

Don't say a drop in gas levels - look up Langeled, the BBL and the Interconnector. The first two are new, the latter is being/been expanded. We're receiving more than we can use - Rough is basically full - and that other giant storage facility (forgotten its name now ) will be ready 2009 (not to mention there's loads of LNG stuff in the pipeline *groan*). One of the biggest issue at the moment on the gas front is the poor quality of imports, not the lack thereof. If prices (retail, not wholesale as they're already down) don't drop at some point next year I'll be amazed. The Competition Commission has been lobbied by Ofgem and Energywatch to investigate the market and a full-on study can't be far off. Even the Government pulled it's finger out (they're starting to feel the heat, while the rest of us fail to get any) and made a(nother) plea to the rest of Europe to remove its finger and liberalise their markets (to give us a hand).

Electricity-wise, I don't see how you think in 4-5 years we're going to be in trouble. Are you expecting a massive increase in our energy demands in that short a timeframe that will incapacitate our networks?

If we have anything worse than a 1 in 20 winter (the pretty lady on BBC Breakfast said we'd have a warm one), I take back everything I said

Apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread. My advice is to search through all the advice given before my post and pick just one - that seems to be what the question asked. That, or you can just nick something from the DTI's Strategy page on the Energy industry:
http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/policy-strategy/index.html

I work with people who write papers on stuff like this professionally (including one who not long ago left Scottish Power - very clever chap), I can always ask about if you want.

 

[Pookie Bear]

Don't hold your breath. The ITER TOKAMAK reactor isn't going to be finished until 2050

It might go BOOM and take the bottom half of France with it. Oh no...

 

[PlacidCasual]

Psycrow are you applying for a job in the power industry itself?

If so

Large Combustion Plant Directive are the only words you need research for the 5 - 10 year period.

If you are applying for something outside the industry the energy buzz words will fill your niche.

FYI: I joined energy industry as a graudate engineer 5 years ago and work at a conventional cycle fossil fuel plant.

 

[PlacidCasual]

Electricity-wise, I don't see how you think in 4-5 years we're going to be in trouble. Are you expecting a massive increase in our energy demands in that short a timeframe that will incapacitate our networks?

If we have anything worse than a 1 in 20 winter (the pretty lady on BBC Breakfast said we'd have a warm one), I take back everything I said

We'll be in trouble because 5% of our capacity has opted out of the LCPD and will be closing imminently (in 4-5 years that is) and 40+% of our generation will be from gas a large percentage of which will need to be imported from volatile countries.

This summer for instance 3 coal fired stations found a type fault in their boilers associated with their age. This fault was never considered in the design because the boilers have already exceeded their design lives by 10 years.
Now if that fault had been more serious those station could have been forced off by their insurers for months to make repairs. Combined they constitute maybe 8% of our capacity. On a winters day that is the difference between blackout and not.
How many other unrealised defects will be develop as a consequence of ever increasing running lives of stations already beyond their design lives?

 

[Pookie Bear]

While it's hardly my place to argue with an engineer, as my work in the industry is obviously far removed from your own, and the technical side is beyond me, but your assertion that a large percentage of our gas will come from volatile countries is, in my opinion, flawed (depending on your definition of the word "large", of course).

However, I cannot comment on the power stations you mentioned, as I have absolutely no idea about them (but I do on the importation of gas).

Having read the job title you're going for, OP, I think listening to someone who works in a power station might be a good idea All I know about LCPD is that it's all about acid and fumes and everyone getting along with Mother Nature

 

[PlacidCasual]

As I understand it talking to traders and performance guys at work. We are already a net importer of gas ie we import more than we export. At present 90+% of our gas is domestically produced and used. The Langeled line can provide 20% of our demand as can the euro link to Zebrugge. Nonetheless we are building LNG terminals in Pembroke and Kent to import liquified gas. The Republic of Ireland is also building a large LNG terminal in Cork. Some recent reporting I have seen, reported in such places as the BBC website, put predictions fo UK gas supplies as being 80% imported by 2020 (I would want to check those numbers though). Now the largest gas reserves in the World belong to Russia who have been very bullish recently about the political use of gas. The second largest reserves belong to Iran, nuff said. Now we are looking to import from Nigeria, Khazakstan, Saudia Arabia and Norway. Apart from our skiing friends I'm not totally confident in any of those countries as long term strategic energy partners.


Now if I were a betting man I'd say waste to energy will be back on the agenda big time in the next 5 years.

 

[Pookie Bear]

As I understand it talking to traders and performance guys at work. We are already a net importer of gas ie we import more than we export. At present 90+% of our gas is domestically produced and used. The Langeled line can provide 20% of our demand as can the euro link to Zebrugge. Nonetheless we are building LNG terminals in Pembroke and Kent to import liquified gas. The Republic of Ireland is also building a large LNG terminal in Cork. Some recent reporting I have seen, reported in such places as the BBC website, put predictions fo UK gas supplies as being 80% imported by 2020 (I would want to check those numbers though). Now the largest gas reserves in the World belong to Russia who have been very bullish recently about the political use of gas. The second largest reserves belong to Iran, nuff said. Now we are looking to import from Nigeria, Khazakstan, Saudia Arabia and Norway. Apart from our skiing friends I'm not totally confident in any of those countries as long term strategic energy partners.

Long-term? No doubt things are a little more hazy - and if we sat here and talked about 20% of what could happen we'd be here all week. Short-term, I stand by what I said. I saw a DTI schedule for what was due to come online in the next 5 years and there's a lot of things coming (on the gas front) - whether they'll make a big enough difference in 15 years or not is up for debate (or not), but for the next 6-8, I think (and let's face, it's not often I do that) we'll be ok-ish. Kind of. Perhaps.

All comments subject to change with no notice.

 

[Fusion]

Don't hold your breath. The ITER TOKAMAK reactor isn't going to be finished until 2050

ITER is scheduled to be producing its first plasma by 2016. It is anticipated, all going to plan, that a full scale power plant would be operational by 2050, a different physical reactor to ITER.