What does the future of renewable energy look like?

The most popular option for renewable energy at the minute is solar power. During this process, photovoltaic cells capture sunlight and turn it into electricity. Solar panels will be placed on your roof and allowing you to generate your own electricity. You can even store any excess energy you generate in a battery to help reduce your reliance on the grid.

If you’ve visited the seaside recently, you’ve probably spotted wind turbines too. In 2022, Britain’s wind farms generated 26% of our electricity. This was the second biggest source of electricity for the UK, just behind gas which contributed to 38%.

If we’re looking to become completely reliant on renewable energy options, we’ll need to focus more on different sources. Everything from wave power to solar power from space is currently being investigated to help us determine the best way to reduce the amount of fossil fuels we’re using.

One of the newest forms of renewable energy beginning to make its mark is wave power. This type of electricity generation occurs using the up and down motion that ocean waves produce. There will be floating turbines placed in oceans that will rise and fall with the moves of the ocean. The first wave power generator was based in Portugal. This produces 2.25 megawatts from three tubes that float along the surface of the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Agucadoura.

There’s also the possibility of utilising geothermal energy as a more prominent source of renewable energy. Power is generated from heat energy from the earth. Geothermal resources are reservoirs of hot water. These are either naturally existing or manmade. This hot water rises to the surface using heating and cooling and then forms electricity. Geothermal energy is a source of low carbon renewable energy throughout the UK but only delivers less than 0.3% of our annual heat demand.