week ending 30 March 2012
FiT Changes
As I’m sure most of you are painfully aware, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is introducing a range of changes to the feed-in tariff scheme as of April 1, 2012. In just two days’ time, the feed-in tariff rates for all systems up to 250kW will drop, while a lower multi-installation tariff is introduced and energy performance guidelines are put in place.
Solar Power Portal 30th Mar 2012 more >>
Eco-houses
Blaenau Gwent Council and the United Welsh Housing Association have now completed the construction of two fully energy efficient homes in Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent. Two families, who won a competition to live in the eco properties rent free for a year, will now test the houses to see how well they operate on a day-to-day basis.
Solar Power Portal 30th Mar 2012 more >>
Sunderland Solar
LIFE in the solar energy industry is still sunny for Sunderland’s Sun Spirit, which is planning to add another 40 staff on Wearside. The company hopes to boost its workforce from the current 30 during 2012 as it pursues its new free solar project and launches an operation in Eastern Europe.
The Journal 30th Mar 2012 more >>
Heat Strategy
The Government has set out its vision of how it can cut emissions from heating homes, businesses and industry in the decades ahead. The Heat Strategy sets out the long term challenges and opportunities on the pathway to decarbonisation and asks specific questions, including seeking views about future policy options, which the Government may need to consider. The strategy includes a range of different low carbon heat case studies, including one in Nottingham which is home to one of the largest district heating networks in the UK. The 65km network now serves more than 4,600 homes and over 100 businesses and public sector properties - roughly 3.5% of the city’s entire heat consumption.
DECC 29th Mar 2012 more >>
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is inviting businesses to give their views on how the UK could slash its emissions from heating following the launch of an interactive heatmap designed to help planners identify key areas for district heating networks.
Business Green 30th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Power Portal 29th Mar 2012 more >>
Permitted Development
In news that will make life easier for many UK solar installers, from April 6 this year planning permission will no-longer be required to install solar PV or solar thermal on non-domestic buildings. The new rules will also mean that ground-mounted systems up to 9m2 will be able to go ahead without a planning application.
Solar Power Portal 29th Mar 2012 more >>
Large Solar
juwi Renewable Energies Limited has confirmed its commitment to the UK solar market by opening a new, larger office at Blythe Valley Park, near Birmingham. juwi has invested in excess of £1 million in the UK solar industry in the last 18 months, and is now confirming its presence in this market by expanding its office space. In the UK juwi focuses solely on large and medium scale solar PV projects, which are now viable thanks to the Renewables Obligation.
Solar Power Portal 29th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Trade Assoc
The current Managing Director of Riomay, Alan Aldridge, has been named as the new Chairman of the Solar Trade Association (STA). Aldridge succeeds Howard Johns, who stepped down earlier this month.
Solar Power Portal 29th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Glass
A UK start-up has developed an innovative new form of “solar glass” that could allow glass-fronted commercial buildings such as skyscrapers to generate enough energy to power their lighting and IT systems. Spun out from Oxford University in late 2010, Oxford Photovoltaics (PV) has combined a dye-based thin film solar cell with glass substrates to produce tinted glass that simultaneously acts as a solar generation system
Business Green 29th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Made Easy
Solar Made Easy has launched a new lead generation service designed to benefit both installers and consumers. The new website will offer independent advice to consumers about domestic solar panel installations in order to help them make an informed buying decision.
Solar Power Portal 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Milton Keynes
AN Austrian family firm decided to put its UK headquarters in Milton Keynes because of its key location on the ‘southern arc’ for the sun’s maximum rays. Despite March temperature records being set in Scotland, the place which receives the most solar power in the UK is south of an imaginary looping line across the south of England.
Milton Keynes Citizen 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Small Investors and Small Renewables
Small investors in the UK for the first time are being given the opportunity to back a local renewable energy project ‘from as little as £5’ thanks to a new financial service that aims to make green energy investment accessible to the masses. Abundance Generation, which is backed by innovation body NESTA and authorised by the Financial Services Authority, has been set up to link up communities and individuals with renewable energy projects and make it possible for them to share in the benefits of green energy production directly. It has ambitious aims to ‘democratise’ finance while growing the UK’s renewable energy market. Its first project is a community wind turbine in the Forest of Dean, which is looking to raise £1.3 million.
Green Wise 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Future Vision
Jeremy Rifkin: Today, Internet technology and renewable energies are beginning to merge to create a new infrastructure for a Third Industrial Revolution (TIR) that will change the way power is distributed in the 21st century. In the coming era, hundreds of millions of people will produce their own renewable energy in their homes, offices, and factories and share green electricity with each other in an “Energy Internet” just like we now generate and share information online.
Huffington Post 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Local Energy Companies
Scottish Greens are calling on the SNP government and other parties to back the idea of local energy companies in a bid to show that renewables aren’t just for tycoons and big business. For the first time since last May’s election the Greens have been offered debate time at Holyrood on Thursday morning. The party’s two MSPs are concerned that the role of public bodies, charities and community groups is being overlooked in the race to meet Scotland’s energy targets.
Scottish Greens 28th March 2012 more >>
Social Housing Fuel Poverty
The Government has put restrictions on social landlords’ access to Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding - which will top up Green Deal finance. But fuel poverty is rising in social housing and is a significant issue that needs to be addressed, warns Rob Knight, head of utilities at carbon reduction company Sustain.
24 Dash 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Absolute Solar
Glasgow-based Absolute Solar and Wind is expanding its footprint in the north of Scotland by opening new premises in Inverness and Aberdeen. The company has experienced significant growth over the last 12 months and hopes to capitalise on consumer interest by opening two new premises. The new offices will not only provide office-based positions but Absolute are also set to employ more system installers who will be on hand at each new operating base to fit renewable energy solutions such as solar PV panels, micro-wind turbines and solar thermal systems.
Solar Power Portal 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Free Biomass Boilers
Green energy firm Anesco could soon be installing up to 10 free biomass boilers for businesses per month under a new scheme taking advantage of the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive. Anesco yesterday confirmed it is launching a fund designed to provide organisations with a 50-100kW biomass boiler, as well as fuel storage and maintenance, free of charge.
Business Green 28th Mar 2012 more >>
RHI Delay
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has revealed that it will launch a second phase to the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme, while delaying the rollout of the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) until 2013.
Solar Power Portal 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Communities and social landlords to benefit from £10m RHPP boost, but full-scale domestic Renewable Heat Incentive on hold until mid-2013.The government has launched proposals to carefully manage the budget of its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for businesses seeking to install green heating systems such as biomass boilers, but confirmed homeowners would be unable to take advantage of payments for another year. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) yesterday published a short consultation proposing to introduce a temporary measure to prevent the £860m incentive scheme exceeding its budget.
Business Green 27th Mar 2012 more >>
Guardian 27th Mar 2012 more >>
JDS Associates Briefing on RHI Policy.
JDS Assoc 27th Mar 2012 more >>
Renewable Heat Premium Payment
An extra £10m will be available from next month in phase two of the RHPP.
Farmers Weekly 27th Mar 2012 more >>
Homeowners planning to install systems that generate heat from renewable sources will be able to apply for a capital grant to help pay for the cost of qualifying installations (see table below). However, DECC also said that the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which pays people for every unit of heat generated by renewable sources, is not likely to be made available to domestic properties until summer 2013. Commercial installations already qualify for the RHI and it was hoped that homeowners would be able to join the scheme sometime this year.
Farming UK 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Innovation
Renewables company Naked Energy has invented Virtu, a hybrid solar panel that simultaneously heats water and generates electricity.
The Engineer 27th Mar 2012 more >>
Business Green 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Role of Cities
The biggest 20 cities in the UK by population size, for example, are responsible for more than 20% of national carbon emissions and more than 20% of energy consumption, so local action by cities will be vital if we are to meet the UK national target of an 80% reduction on 1990 levels by 2050. Recent research on the top 60 UK cities by population size, funded by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Education Trust, has shown that the majority of them have agreed carbon reduction plans in place, either through climate change plans, explicit low carbon plans or some other kind of plan.
Guardian 27th Mar 2012 more >>
Small Turbines
A LAND development company stands to rake in up to £30 million in public money every year if its plans to dot 250 individual wind turbines across Scotland are approved. Intelligent Land Investment (ILI) is in the process of lodging its final planning applications for its project that takes advantage of generous subsidy payments usually set aside for small-scale renewable schemes. The firm, based in Hamilton, has claimed planning consent for the individual turbines will be achieved “within months, rather than years” given the size of turbines being proposed require less scrutiny than those used in industrial wind farms.
Herald 27th Mar 2012 more >>
Doncaster Solar
Greenbuy Energy will officially open its Doncaster-based showroom on March 29. The green energy firm hopes that the showroom will help educate the public about the benefits of renewable energy. Examples of solar PV modules and heat pumps will be on display for customers to see and touch in order to demonstrate just how affordable green tech can be implemented at home.
Solar Power Portal 27th Mar 2012 more >>
RHI Consultation
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has published a consultation on a proposed cost control mechanism for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The proposed measure would suspend the RHI scheme once the annual budget is breached until the next financial year.
Solar Power Portal 27th Mar 2012 more >>
Kingspan Wind
Kingspan has strengthened its position as a leading global player in the Renewables sector with the launch of Kingspan Wind and the introduction of two small high yield wind turbines (3kW and 6kW), which have been specifically designed to deliver maximum output, efficiency and reliability. Acquiring some of the assets from former wind turbine manufacturer Proven Energy, Kingspan has combined patented, high performance technology with long-standing expertise in the sector to form Kingspan Wind, delivering the very best in innovation, customer services and results.
IB Times 27th Mar 2012 more >>
Code 6 for Hounslow
A south-east-based housing association has launched a new ‘zero carbon’ affordable homes scheme in Hounslow. Catalyst Housing, which manages over 20,000 homes in London and the South East, says the 18 homes - combining six general needs homes and 12 homes with rents pitched between social and private rents - are among the first in the country to be built to the highest level of the Code for Sustainable Homes, Level 6.
24 Dash 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Community Wind
CONSTRUCTION work on a £15 million wind farm which is the first project of its kind in Scotland will get under way three years after it was first proposed. The Community Wind Farm in Neilston, East Renfrewshire, could earn the local community £10 million over the next 25 years. Four turbines that can create 10 megawatts – about twice Neilston’s consumption of energy a year – will be constructed on the site of the old Drumgrain landfill on the Kingston Road.
Herald 26th Mar 2012 more >>
Paisley Express 28th Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Appeal
The UK government’s doomed case against the challenge to its planned cuts of solar feed-in tariffs has been rejected by the Supreme Court. The last ditch attempt by the government to overthrow previous decisions by the High Court and the Court of Appeal that its action to cut solar feed-in tariffs during the consultation period as “legally flawed” failed on Friday. The Supreme Court’s rejection of the government’s appeal marks the end of the legal wrangle and leaves the thousands of homeowners and businesses who installed solar panels after the 12 December cut-off date and before 3 March better off. The lucky ones will now receive the higher FIT rate of 43.3p per kWh, instead of the lower rate of 21p.
Energy Efficiency News 26th Mar 2012 more >>
This is Money 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
Solid Wall Insulation
BRITAIN’S suburbs are about to get an environmental makeover. Eight million homes from the Victorian, Edwardian and other periods could be clad with up to 8in of insulation under a government scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The thick layer will save householders hundreds of pounds a year in energy bills, but will transform the appearance of homes. The insulation is topped with render that can be painted, sometimes in the style of the original brickwork or in a colour of the householder’s choice. The plan is being promoted by Greg Barker, the climate change minister, under the government’s “green deal” where householders get low- interest loans for energy efficiency measures. The loans are repaid with the money saved. The plan has provoked anger among heritage experts who say it will destroy the unique character and appearance of the country’s older towns and suburbs. Research shows that period homes are worst at retaining warmth and have the highest energy costs, largely because of their uninsulated brick walls. Buildings as a whole contribute 43% of Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Sunday Times 25th Mar 2012 more >>
Tenements can be Efficient
Recently, The Edinburgh Energy Co-operative held an event that focussed on practical attempts for making tenement buildings more energy efficient. Co-op member, Pete Roche wrote this guest post on the Changeworks blog that gives an insight into how expensive it can be to make some of the older properties in Edinburgh more energy efficient.
STV Local 24th Mar 2012 more >>
Changeworks 23rd Mar 2012 more >>
Solar Windows
Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have been working with a company called New Energy Technologies to develop a high performance solar panel that doubles as a transparent glass window, and it looks like all that hard work is beginning to pay off.
Triple Pundit 22nd Mar 2012 more >>