Opportunity in Renewable
Energy
Alastair Nicol
Element Consultants Ltd
BSc CEng MEI
Is renewable energy real
business opportunity ?
 Some facts and figures
 Market dilemmas
 Some business opportunities
Why is energy so important
 Energy for heating
 Energy for Lighting
 Energy for transport
 Energy for manufacturing
 Energy for food

(fertiliser for 1 acre is the equivalent of driving a car 600miles)
Currently 2-5% of world gas production is used for food .
Existing fossil fuel consumption
Fossil Fuels
Oil
3,081,190,000 gallons/day
Natural gas
8,829,863,013 m3/day
2,042,278,575 gallons of oil equivalent/day
Coal
10,203,561 tonnes of coal/day
2,617,723,739 gallons of oil equivalent/day
Total
7,741,192,314 gallons of oil equivalent/day
Perspective
 Important to have perspective.
 World daily oil consumption is the equivalent of a cube
¼km
 Do you really think that does not have an impact on the
environment ?
Does not stop there
Nuclear
419,510,000 gallons of oil
equivalent/day
Hydro
556,326,917 gallons of oil
equivalent/day
Renewables
136,920,383 gallons of oil
equivalent/day
Total Hydro/Renewables
693,247,300 gallons of oil
equivalent/day
Grand Total
8,853,949,614 gallons of oil
equivalent/day
The UK problem
 Population/km2
– UK = 260
– France = 119
 Food self sufficiency
– UK = 60%
– France = 124%
 UK has not sufficient land to give over to renewable crops or
biomass
The Business opportunities
Every conceivable energy source will be required
thorium!
 Solar
 Wind
 Biomass
 Energy from Waste
 Agricultural residue
 Energy crop
 Hydro
 A/D
 Tidal
from Chicken litter to
The Business opportunities
Primary
Spin Off
Solar
Electrical design, panel design, grid management technology,
Maintenance, Power storage, transmission efficiency, Battery tech, Inverter
and electronics tech
Wind
Electrical design, panel design, grid management technology,
Maintenance, environmental impact,
Biomass
Harvest, Drying Tech, Processing tech, Storage Tech, handling tech,
Combustion tech, Emissions Tech – Ash processing.
Energy from Waste
Waste collection, Processing, Sorting Tech, energy recovery, Storage Tech,
handling tech, Combustion tech, Emissions Tech – Ash processing.
Agricultural residue
Waste collection, Processing, Sorting Tech, energy recovery, Storage Tech,
handling tech, Combustion tech, Emissions Tech – Ash processing.
Energy Crop
Bio Tech, Bio Engineering.
A/D
Bio Tech, Bio Engineering, chp, panel design, grid management
technology, Maintenance, Power storage, transmission efficiency, Battery
tech, Inverter and electronics tech. Gas compression, Gas injection
Second use fuels
 Opportunities for gasification, pyrolysis, combustion
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Forestry waste
Spent grain
Straw
Chicken litter
Waste wood
Significant Barriers to SEAP 2015
 Grid connection
 Inherent grid weakness
 Underinvestment in protection and reinforcement
 Opportunity arises
 £300,000 t/o SME developing WAN based power factor
controllers, Phase balance, line reactors and paralleling
control – leading design and exportable tech.
Opportunity Fuels
Distillers’ dried spent
mash
Coffee grounds
Wood chip
A & B grades wood
mix
Palm oil press residue
Peanut shell
Wheat / rice / barley
straws
Olive wastes
Vine cuttings
Rice husk
Element Consultants
 Solar PV feasibility
 Solar Thermal Installation
 Wind Feasibility
 Wind site and performance monitoring
 Future fuels electrical power generation
 Future fuels combined heat and power
Element Consultants
 Specialist in combustion technology
 Plant and product design
 Future fuels industrial steam
 Future fuels electrical power generation
 Future fuels combined heat and power
Element Consultants
 Design calculation advice
 Product development support
 Health and safety compliance
 PUWER compliance
 CE marking
 Design review
 Expert opinion in contemplation of legal proceedings
Business mentoring
 Design and function briefing
 Design advice
 Marketing support
 Synergistic support
 Funding support
 True strengths are technical
Element Consultants
DETINI - SEAP 2015
Invest NI – Significant contributors
Pleased to be a part of the programme
Around this afternoon for discussion