week ending 23 March 2012
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has today thrown out the government’s appeal against a previous ruling which deemed its controversial changes to solar feed-in tariff incentives as unlawful. The decision brings to an end a long-running legal saga, and confirms that solar installations completed between 12 December last year and 4 March this year will receive the original 43p/kWh rate, rather than the 21p/kWh rate proposed by the government.
Business Green 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
Bdaily 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
Edie 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
At last, it is over. After four months and three court cases, the Supreme Court has finally confirmed what everyone except the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) always suspected, the government acted unlawfully when it tried to impose cuts to solar incentives before the end of the consultation proposing those cuts. Serious questions will now be asked about the wisdom of ministers’ willingness to impose rapid cuts that were always going to be vulnerable to a court challenge, the deeply flawed legal advice the department received, and the cynical tactic of using repeated appeals to create uncertainty in the market and slow down deployments. The answers to these questions will be argued over for the next few weeks, but the only issue that really matters is where the government and the solar industry goes from here.
Business Green 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
Solar installers are celebrating after the Supreme Court ruled against government plans to rush through deep cuts to feed-in tariffs, arguing the landmark case will improve the long-term prospects of all renewable energy investors.
Business Green 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
Sainsbury’s Solar
Sainsbury’s multi-roof solar panel installation programme has so far generated 7.0 MWp of electricity - enough to power 2,000 homes for a year. The announcement by the retailer follows the installation of solar panels at 115 of its stores across the UK, equating to over 36,600 panels of cylindrical PV.
Edie 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
PV Tech 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Renewable Opera
The music of Mozart will this summer be played to the tune of a wind turbine, after Glyndebourne confirmed plans to host the first opera festival powered by renewable energy.
Business Green 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
Consequential Improvements
Building regulations already require that when households replace their boilers, they do so with energy efficient boilers. But Lord Turner recommended householders are obliged to put in insulation measures at the same time as boiler replacement to “reduce the currently high degree of risk” associated with the Green Deal and ensure demand for insulation does not drop following the end of the current Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) grant scheme in December.
Business Green 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Farming
After a successful launch in the UK solar market last year, REC Solar has furthered its commitment to this country by planning to install approximately 60MW in 2012. The company, which is exhibiting at Ecobuild this week, hopes to continue expanding in the UK market beyond 2012. Last year the company installed more than 30MW of solar across the country in residential, commercial and large-scale solar projects. This year, REC Solar hopes to double its capacity by installing approximately 60MW, a large proportion of which will be ground mounted under the Renewables Obligation Certification scheme (ROCs).
Solar Power Portal 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Solarising Lead Roofs
HISTORIC roofing restoration specialist Martin-Brooks is pioneering an innovation that allows solar panels to be installed on lead roofs. The Sheffield firm was called in by solar panel installers C-Changes on the advice of architects Smith and Roper, to help with a project involving a Grade I listed church near Chesterfield. The Bakewell architects recommended Martin-Brooks after working with the roofers on other sensitive heritage projects. This time, the project posed a new challenge – how to prevent the solar panels from being damaged when the lead expanded and contracted as the temperature changed. The answer turned out to be a system, developed by the Lead Sheet Association, which uses special lead “pods” with expansion gaps to overcome the problem.
Sheffield Star 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Exeter Solar
EXETER-BASED Sun Solar and PV Ltd has been awarded the British environmental standard ISO 14001. It follows the company’s recent move to new purpose-built head office premises in Matford Court as a result of its ongoing expansion.
Exeter Express & Echo 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Flowers
A cut-flower nursery is generating its own green electricity after installing a 50MW solar array just ahead of cuts to the Feed in Tariff. Brian Rickard, partner at family-run Lanoyce Horticultural Nurseries at St Dominic, Saltash, says that the 196-panel photovoltaic array will save the business £10,000 a year on electricity costs. Installed just ahead of the FiT December 12 deadline, the last few panels were connected to the National Grid and began generating electricity this month.
Western Morning News 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Go Wrexham
Wrexham is on the cusp of completing one of Europe’s largest solar projects, after confirming this week that it will have completed the rollout of 3,000 installations by the end of the month.
Business Green 22nd Mar 2012 more >>
Edie 16th Mar 2012 more >>
Budget Disappointment
The Chancellor’s proposals have largely angered the UK renewable industry, most notably the solar industry. The Solar Trade Association (STA) has expressed its disappointment that the world’s largest renewable energy market in 2011 has been overlooked despite delivering dramatic price falls and a 70 percent increase in global installs.
Solar Power Portal 21st Mar 2012 more >>
CHP Blow
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant operators could shut down as much as half of the UK’s 6GW of capacity, after Chancellor George Osborne today confirmed he would scrap an exemption from the Climate Change Levy. That is the stark warning of Tim Rotheray, policy manager at the CHP Association, following the government’s budget announcement.
Business Green 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Tower Block Refurb
CITYWest Housing Trust has thrown open the doors to one of the greenest affordable housing apartment blocks in the country as it prepares to welcome residents home following a multi-million pound retro-fit transformation. The West Salford-based social landlord has created the apartment block of the future - a modern residence situated in Barton that is eco-friendly, secure, energy efficient, reduces fuel poverty and helps stop global warming – transforming a 1960’s, concrete built tower block.
24 Dash 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Solar water advance
A new low-cost solar thermal device for pre-heating domestic water could be readily retrofitted to a range of properties and incorporated into new social housing. Researchers at Ulster University’s Centre for Sustainable Technologies have recently tested their prototype SolaCatcher device that heats water and stores it at night.
The Engineer 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Kings X
An ambitious £1.3m project to fit a 240kW solar glazing system to the roof of King’s Cross station is nearing completion, BusinessGreen has learned. While the station’s new roof captured imaginations when it opened last week, the process of installing solar cells along two new barrel-vaulted glass roofs soaring high above the platforms and concourses is in many ways just as impressive. The solar PV cells are integrated into 1,392 glass laminate units that form part of the 2,300 square metre glass roofing structure.
Guardian 21st Mar 2012 more >>
RHI
OgGem announced that their Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) tariffs for the period from 1st April 2012 will be revised upwards in line with the Retail Price Index. Currently the RHI is only available for businesses although it is planned for introduction to households from the end of 2012.
Green Energy.net 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Small-scale Renewables On Farms
A significant change to planning restrictions for smaller scale renewables on farms is going ahead in England. Government is planning an exemption for on-farm small-scale renewable energy generators from planning regulations. But before you phone up your local wind turbine installer, note this new regulation does not include wind turbines! However it does include most of the other renewable technologies including: Anaerobic Digestion (AD); Biomass boilers; Hydro turbines; Solar; Ground Source Heat Pumps.
Green Energy.net 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Lessons
Adding to the growing support network for solar installers in the UK, the Waxman Group has launched a specialist training academy in Elland, West Yorkshire. Located at the company’s head office, the new Waxman Training Academy site will offer a selection of courses designed for solar PV, solar thermal, water regulations, heat pump installation, unvented hot water, biomass and working from heights.
Solar Power Portal 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Community Wind
R J McLeod began the construction of the access roads for the Storas Uibhist 6.9MW windfarm at Loch Carnan on Monday 19 March in a project that is hoped will transform the islands of South Uist, Benbecula and Eriskay. The turbines will be installed later in the year, with Enercon currently arranging the logistics to bring the turbines to site in August. The windfarm revenues will then be reinvested to support the economic and social regeneration of the community.
Stornoway Gazette 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Green Deal Questions
Late changes to the government’s flagship Green Deal energy efficiency scheme following its recent consultation exercise could leave energy companies struggling to deliver the programme when it starts in October. Phil Gilbert, head of new home services at E.ON, told BusinessGreen the company is prepared to start installing measures, such as loft insulation in homes and businesses, under the Green Deal scheme from this autumn.
Business Green 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Eco-School
Henry Boot Construction’s renewables division, Tropo, is helping a council to build its greenest school. The Dronfield-based firm is installing a ground source heat pump and solar cells which will ensure that the Scunthorpe school will generate more than 50 per cent of the energy it consumes. More than 300 solar cells are being installed to provide the power needed by the ground source heat pump, which works like a refrigerator in reverse, making use of the temperature difference between liquid flowing through buried pipes and air temperature to heat radiators and warm air systems, in addition to providing hot water.
Sheffield Star 21st Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Profits
The Government’s feed in tariff (FIT) scheme has been far more successful than expected, with around 176,000 photovoltaic (solar PV) installations between April 2010 and February 2012. It means a tax free, index linked return on investment of up to 10% - even at its lower 21pkWh tariff rate. Solar PV also increases the value of your house, and can half your energy bill. With energy prices rising with no sign of stopping, Solar PV is increasingly being described as the way forward.
AOL 20th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Electricity for 1,000 homes in mid-Devon
Free electricity will be received by 1000 homes in Mid Devon as part of a major new green initiative by Mid Devon District Council.
Anesco 20th Mar 2012 more >>
Green Deal
Climate Minister Greg Barker has today vowed to deliver a “brand new market and opportunities for industry” with the launch this autumn of the government’s Green Deal energy efficiency scheme, promising to remove barriers that stop firms taking part in the innovative scheme.
Business Green 20th Mar 2012 more >>
The Green Deal – which will allow households to borrow private finance to retrofit their home and pay it back through their energy savings – is seen as one of the ways residents can take control of their bills. Architects, builders, activists and businesses – still reeling from the Feed in Tariff (FIT) fiasco – packed out the Platinum suite at Ecobuild to hear Barker confirm there would be “no delay to the Green Deal” launch and brush aside calls to link the Green Deal with the tax system to incentivise take-up. After he finally arrived a little later than billed – and after keeping his father waiting in the audience – Barker announced he was slashing a number of hurdles for organisations, particularly SMEs, wanting to become Green Deal providers, including scrapping: the need to have a surety bond in place prior to authorisation; the need of an Independent Conciliation Service; the need to hold warranties for the length of the plan. He also plans to introduce a Green Deal Ombudsman for consumer complaints.
24 Dash 20th Mar 2012 more >>
The UK Government’s ‘green deal’, aimed at persuading householders to insulate their homes then pay later through installments added to electricity bills, could be threatened by a manpower shortage.
Renewable Focus 20th Mar 2012 more >>
Renewable Resources
A Scottish solar company has become one of the largest rooftop installers in the UK after fitting over 36,500 PV panels across 115 Sainsbury’s stores in a matter of months. Renewable Resources started deploying the 50kWp and 150kWp systems at Sainsbury’s stores in the south of the country on November 17 and completed the job last week, delivering a total of 6.9MW of installed capacity for the supermarket giant.
Business Green 20th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Trade Association
By his own admission, Howard Johns is conflicted over his four-year stint as chairman of the Solar Trade Association (STA), the position from which he last week announced his resignation. On the one hand, the managing director of Southern Solar has seen the industry enjoy four years of rapid growth, doubled the membership and income of the STA, and helped secure commitments from government that solar represents a strategic part of the UK’s energy mix.
Business Green 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Wind Farming
Four out of 10 farmers surveyed by Lloyds TSB Scotland are disappointed with the performance of their wind power investments which they say are producing less income than expected.
Edie 19th Mar 2012 more >>
No D: No Solar
With the Green Deal and new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) requirements just around the corner, Leads2Trade has partnered with EPC House to provide a complete service for solar photovoltaics installers throughout the UK. Under the terms of the agreement, the company will provide EPC assessments throughout the UK from this month forward. From April 1 this year, all buildings installing solar photovoltaics will have to produce an EPC level D before they become eligible for the higher feed-in tariff (FiT) levels. If the building does not meet this requirement, the FiT payment will revert to 9p per kilowatt hour. To ensure its network members can equip homeowners with the required level of certificate to benefit from the higher rates, Leads2Trade is offering solar installers a ‘no D no fee’ assessment package.
Solar Power Portal 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Improved Insulation
The designers of Styrofoam insulation, Dow Building Solutions, are now set to launch Xenergy SL at Ecobuild 2012. The new product, made from extruded polystyrene (XPS) has been specifically developed for insulating inverter flat roofs. With the upcoming Green Deal and new energy efficiency requirements under the solar feed-in tariff, the need for improved insulation will become more important as 2012 gets further under way.
Solar power portal 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Deal similar to 2011
A combination of a dramatic drop in installation figures and a lower feed-in tariff rate have painted a bleak picture for the future of solar in the UK. CompareMySolar’s Company Director, Gertjan Van der Goot, digs a little deeper to see if returns at the lower feed-in tariff rate are as bad as they seem. The price of residential solar panel installations has dropped by 50 percent since early 2011, according to research of over 1,500 consumer quotes by CompareMySolar. Therefore, consumers can achieve a similar financial return as before – despite cuts in the feed-in-tariff from 43p to 21p. Building more awareness around this can help drive demand, following recent negative news about subsidy cuts and court cases.
Solar Power Portal 19th Mar 2012 more >>
CHP Plight
The carbon-saving potential of industrial combined heat and power (CHP) systems is the rallying point for an unlikely alliance forged between five UK manufacturing associations and campaign group Greenpeace. The groups have written open letters to the Chancellor, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey, Business Secretary Vince Cable and several other ministers calling for the government to restore support for the technology after it was “stripped away” in 2011.
Business Green 19th Mar 2012 more >>
Green Buildings
Despite the economic gloom, the green way of building has never been more popular. And soon, it seems, all building work could be green. The Government is consulting on tightening building regulations so that homeowners undertaking major improvements would have to carry out energy-saving measures at the same time. The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (Breeam), a leading green rating system, assessed 7,000 projects last year, a number that has more than doubled since 2009. More buildings were awarded an “Outstanding” rating than any year previously.
Independent 18th Mar 2012 more >>
Sunlight
Sun Central, a start-up based in Vancouver, has invented a wall-mounted box packed with high-powered lenses that follow the sun, concentrate its beams and disperse it indoors. The “sunlighting” boxes fit flush to the side of a building and can provide illumination through bulb-like outlets up to 60ft inside a building. Geoff Cowan, vice-president of Sun Central, said: “Workers enjoy having natural light. It’s healthier and it makes them more productive. A couple of years from now, people will look back and say, ‘How did we ever miss the importance of sunlight?’.”
Sunday Times 18th Mar 2012 more >>
Bleak days for northern solar
CONTROVERSIAL cuts to green subsidies for solar panel installations have created a growing North-South divide.
Express 18th Mar 2012 more >>
FiT reductions
The Government recently produced its consultation document which includes details of the possible future of the Feed in Tariff (FiT) for wind turbines. The consultation closes on April 26, 2012 and Southern Wind Power has already been involved in discussions on the proposals. The good news is that the Feed in Tariff is here to stay. For wind turbines the most important proposition in the document is to reduce the FiTs for wind turbines from October 1, 2012.
South West Farmer 17th Mar 2012 more >>