week ending 20 April 2012
Community Wind
An innovative investment platform designed to make it easier for communities to raise capital for green energy projects has today invited businesses and individuals to invest as little as £5 in its first wind turbine. Abundance Generation launched its first project today, setting out plans to raise up to £1.3m for Resilient Energy’s Great Dunkilns wind turbine in the Forest of Dean.
Business Green 20th April 2012 more >>
Cumbrian Solar
Two West Cumbria firms have celebrated a milestone in their renewable energy venture after installing their 3,000th solar panel. Renewable Energy Solutions – a joint venture between Workington firm Stobbarts Ltd and Arctic Air Cumbria Ltd – has installed solar panels around the county in the last six months as part of its Free on Roof scheme. This includes around 2,000 panels on public and private buildings, homes and businesses in Allerdale. The panels are installed for free and the energy savings from the electricity generated are passed onto the owner of the building.
Times & Star 19th April 2012 more >>
Solar Future
Well it’s been a rollercoaster ride for the solar industry in the last six months. It has been a very unsettling period for all in the industry with three mini rushes, two court cases, a Supreme Court ruling and a mass of media coverage about our plight. In some ways all the pressure and noise has had a big influence in shaping the debate, and we have some stuff to celebrate – the increase in “ambition” to 2020 and uplift in budget to cover the “overspend” to date, which are both welcome changes. However none of that can get around the fact that the industry has been seriously damaged as a result of all the changes and that the increased ambition is a fig leaf for the July proposals that will see more of the industry going out of business this year.
Our Solar Future 19th April 2012 more >>
The government has been urged to delay another round of deep cuts to the feed-in tariff for solar electricity, after new figures revealed the number of businesses and homes installing photovoltaic panels has crashed following the latest cuts to incentives on 1 April. Weekly government figures revealed that solar firms installed an average of 2MW each week since the start of April, marking a sharp decline from the 4.8MW average capacity installed in the same weeks last year.
Business Green 19th April 2012 more >>
There have been enough domestic solar photovoltaic systems installed over the last 2 years to replace a Nuclear power station. According to the Department of Energy and Climate Change April 2012 recently released figures there have been 300,000 solar photovoltaic installations on homes in the UK over the past 2 years. The figure includes solar PV systems up to a 4kWh capacity but does not include the larger commercial sized installations. With domestic rooftop panels alone this gives the UK a capacity of 846MW which is equal to two Magnox type Nuclear power stations or nearly the equivalent of the UK’s most modern reactor, Sizewell B.
A Shade Greener 19th April 2012 more >>
Green Deal for Businesses
The government has confirmed that many businesses will be unable to take advantage of the Green Deal loan scheme when it launches in October this year, under new plans for a “managed launch” of its flagship energy efficiency policy. A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) told BusinessGreen that the Green Deal for businesses would be delayed because the requirements for commercial properties would be more complex than for domestic buildings.
Business Green 19th April 2012 more >>
Solar Power Portal 19th April 2012 more >>
Solar Farming
An increasing number of farmers are investing in solar particularly poultry producers.
Farmers Weekly 19th April 2012 more >>
The Real Thing
Coca-Cola Enterprises has flicked the switch on a series of UK solar schemes, including one at Europe’s largest soft drinks plant, as part of a £30,000 venture to help reduce its energy bills and environmental impacts. The company yesterday confirmed it contracted Ecofirst to install 50kW solar systems on three of its UK bottling plants, including the giant Wakefield plant, which produces more than 100 million cases per year making it the largest bottling plant by volume in Europe. Panels were also installed at other sites in Sidcup and Edmonton.
Business Green 19th April 2012 more >>
“Conservatory Tax”
A Conservative council in Essex has been running a so-called “conservatory tax” for five years without complaint, the Guardian has learned. On Tuesday, David Cameron ruled out plans to require that anyone adding extensions to their homes also carry out basic energy-efficiency measures at the same time. The prime minister’s move came under severe criticism from industry figures on Wednesday, with Kevin McCloud, presenter of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, saying: “The plans are about as sensible as sensible gets, especially when the homeowner doesn’t have to pay for those improvements”
Business Green 18th April 2012 more >>
Solar Costs
The solar industry has delivered dramatic cost reductions that will continue over the next decade, ensuring the technology is cost competitive with conventional base load power sources such as coal and nuclear by 2020.
Business Green 18th April 2012 more >>
Solar Power Portal 18th April 2012 more >>
Reading Solar
Reading council staff turned up the heat to get as many solar panels installed in the borough as possible before the feed-in tariffs were cut in half. Altogether 2,126 solar panels across 46 sites in Reading have been installed in a drive to save money on energy and combat climate change. Reading’s solar panel project – thought to be one of the biggest public sector solar projects in the country – is expected to generate more than 436,800kWh of electricity a year.
Get Reading 18th April 2012 more >>
Solar Installs Plummet
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has published the latest solar photovoltaic installation figures for 2012, which show that from April 1-15, just 1,293 solar PV installs were registered for the feed-in tariff scheme. Of the 1,293 installs, just 12 fell between 4-50kW. The rate of installs has plummeted a shocking 94 percent since the introduction of strict EPC requirements, multi-installation tariffs and swingeing cuts to FiT rates across the board were introduced in April.
Solar Power Portal 18th April 2012 more >>
Garden Centre Turbine
A BUSINESS in Redbourn is taking steps to become more environmentally friendly by generating energy through a wind turbine. Lewis Smit, owner of Hertfordshire Garden Centre, had the 15 metre high source of renewable energy installed on its grounds off Dunstable Road yesterday.
St Albans Review 18th April 2012 more >>
Rent-a-roof mortgage problems
UK homeowners are today urged to think twice before allowing rent-a-roof companies to install solar on their home. Both the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) have issued warnings that people could face problems when selling their home, or worse, be refused a mortgage as a result of the ‘free’ panels.
Solar Power Portal 18th April 2012 more >>
Cambridge News 17th April 2012 more >>
Totnes Community Turbines
A planning application is being prepared for two “community” wind turbines in south Devon. Five hundred Totnes people have bought shares in the turbines project at Luscombe Cross, south of the town. The shareholders and turbine firm Infinergy will pay for about 20% of the £6.5m cost of the project. Infinergy hopes to get an application to South Hams District Council “by the start of the summer” and start building in 2014.
BBC 18th April 2012 more >>
Green Deal Survives
The flagship “Green Deal” home insulation programme will proceed unscathed despite an imminent U-turn on separate plans to compel thousands of homeowners to install energy efficiency measures, the government has indicated. The so-called “conservatory tax” was drawn up by Andrew Stunell, a junior Liberal Democrat minister, with backing from senior figures in his own party. It would mean anyone extending their home or building a conservatory having to pay for extra insulation – either from their own pockets or through the Green Deal, which will provide upfront loans for home improvements.
FT 17th April 2012 more >>
Solar Farm
Two renewable energy companies have joined to develop a ’1.2 million solar PV project at a poultry farm, one of the largest of its kind in the UK. The scheme has seen more than 2,300 panels installed in Shropshire and Mid Wales, including a 150 metres-long ground array of 1,200 panels at Comberton Poultry Farm in Ludlow.
Farming UK 17th April 2012 more >>
Solar Pork
A pig farm has turned to solar energy to cut electricity bills and shrink its carbon footprint. The move comes amid suggestions that there is mounting supermarket pressure for suppliers to become more sustainable.
Lincolnshire Echo 17th April 2012 more >>
FiT Debacle
Energy Minister Greg Barker has today confirmed his department has paid out over £83,000 in costs following its failed legal attempts to overturn a High Court ruling that cuts to the Feed-in Tariff were unlawful. The Department of Energy and Climate Change had consistently maintained that the cost to the public purse of launching two appeal attempts was approximately £66,000. But today, Energy Minister Barker admitted that the final cost was still unknown but confirmed that the legal bill so far was now £83,870.
Click Green 17th April 2012 more >>
Consequential Improvements
DCLG maintains no decision has been taken on ‘consequential improvement’ rules, despite reports Prime Minister wants them scrapped.
Business Green 17th April 2012 more >>
All the mandatory elements of the government’s green deal for homes are to be scrapped following an intervention by the prime minister. The decision, which is a blow for the Liberal Democrats, means that the government will reject proposals currently out for consultation by the Department for Communities and Local Government that would have required homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient if they were undertaking home improvements, such as extending a garage or replacing windows.
Business Green 17th April 2012 more >>
Solar Cricket
A St Austell-based solar company has won the sponsorship of Cornwall’s first major cricket event, which has now been renamed ‘The Teddington Solar 2012 Cornish Cricket Festival’.
Solar Power Portal 17th April 2012 more >>
Pickles Pickled
Shooting oneself in the foot is dumb enough, but blowing both your legs off with a self-inflicted explosion of stupidity reveals a new level of idiocy. Yet that is what the Eric Pickles has chosen to do by lobbying not only against his own department’s policy - the so-called “conservatory tax” - but attempting to destroy the entire green deal, the government’s policy to increase the energy efficiency of 14m of the nation’s homes. How did it come to this? Mixing climate change scepticism with a terror of anything that smells of the “nanny state” produces a combustible brew, more than capable of incinerating common sense. The result is that Pickles and his Conservative MP conspirators want to discourage people living in cosier homes and paying lower energy bills, just as fuel poverty and energy bills are soaring.
Guardian 16th April 2012 more >>
Huhne Attacks
Chris Huhne, the former energy secretary, has intervened to attack “posturing top Tories” after it emerged a group of senior ministers are staging a last-minute effort to block the green deal, one of his key legacies. Some senior Conservative ministers confirmed on Sunday that they were arguing that the rising cost of living and the recession made it necessary to look again at the green deal, a scheme designed to help millions of households become more energy-efficient by offering them financial incentives to insulate their homes and reduce emissions.
Business Green 16th April 2012 more >>
Coalition Civil War
Latent divisions in the coalition government have broken out into a war of words, as Tories challenge the Green Deal and wind farm plans. Energy minister Greg Barker appeared to signal a shift in policy over the weekend by saying that Britain already has “the wind we need” either being built, developed or in planning. “It’s about being balanced and sensible,” he said. Leading Conservatives have also launched a campaign to kill the Green Deal in the Telegraph, which seems to be running a persistent campaign against the coalition government’s energy policies.
Energy & Environmental Management 16th April 2012 more >>
Some staggering policy illiteracy in the form of an orchestrated attack on the government’s imminent Green Deal scheme based on its “revelation” that the government is planning a “conservatory tax” that will force those undertaking extensions to spend £10,000 improving the energy efficiency of their home. Ignoring the fact the Mail report was so littered with errors as to be laughable (the rules in question do not cover conservatories, they do not constitute a tax, most required improvements will not cost £10,000, the improvements will be available at no upfront cost and will save people money on energy bills) and the fact the Green Deal is in the Coalition agreement, right-wing Conservative MPs piled in over the weekend, with Eric Pickles and Grant Shapps letting the Telegraph know they wanted to see the whole scheme “killed off”. Not wanting to feel left out, the Sunday Times continued its unofficial war on wind farms by sticking a ridiculous headline on a completely reasonable interview with Climate Minister Greg Barker that saw the paper suggest there would be “no more wind farms” – a headline that Barker took to Twitter to denounce as “spurious”. The reason for this escalation is simple: those seeking to deny the green economy are losing. Each ratcheting up of the anti-green policy rhetoric is the result of the continued progress of those self-same policies, just as each desperate attempt to undermine climate science is driven by the continued strengthening of our understanding of manmade global warming. Those attempting to block the development of the green economy are howling at the moon. To quote another great poet, again in a somewhat different context, “it is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. The reason the attacks on flagship green policies such as the Green Deal and renewable energy subsidies are becoming ever more vocal is because the window of opportunity for shaping these policies is closing fast.
Business Green 16th April 2012 more >>
Worcester Bosch on Green Deal
Neil Schofield, head of government and external affairs at Worcester, Bosch Group, welcomed the Government’s commitment to the Green Deal and the announcement, made by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, of an extra £350m a year to deliver heating and insulation measures to 270,000 low income households. He said: “The Green Deal can take the sting out of the cost of home improvements, but I would urge the Government to use the heating supply chain to help deliver success. Installers can become the lead generators for the Green Deal. “Only installers, who are invited into people’s homes, have the ability to upsell and convince consumers of the merits of the Green Deal. The boiler can be the sprat that catches the mackerel. We need installers to be asking the question of homeowners, “Why don’t you do some other work while you are at it, while I’m fitting your new energy efficient boiler?”
Builders Merchant Journal 16th April 2012 more >>
Solar Horse Power
As a director of the Clydesdale Horse Society and active breeder, with five Clydesdale mares on the farm, Captain Jim Anderson is accustomed to utilising horse power. But the 67-year-old decided to branch out into renewable energy in order to reduce his electricity bills and supplement his income. Capt. Anderson, who, with his wife Jean, owns West Glen Farm just outside Kilmacolm in Inverclyde, has had a 40 solar PV panel system installed at his 200 acre farm, adjacent to the steading.
Farming UK 16th April 2012 more >>
Gaia Wind
Gaia-Wind Ltd, The UK’s leading small wind turbine manufacturer today set out an international expansion programme including: A record export order to supply TALCO Electronics in the US with up to 50 of the unique large bladed Gaia-Wind 133-11 kW turbines; Opening an office in Milan and the appointment of two dealers for Italy; The erection of the first Gaia-Wind turbine in France and the appointment of two French distribution partners; Strengthening of the established Denmark office with the appointment of a European Operations Manager. The US order is worth almost £1.5m and comes after the turbines helped Gaia-Wind sweep the board in the annual survey of US small wind turbine industry professionals. The company beat off opposition from the States as well as further afield to win the order which will more than double their sales in this market.
Gaia Wind 16th April 2012 more >>
Micro-CHP
Few people realize that Micro CHP systems can also be run on renewable energy sources, making them the best of both worlds – using alternative fuels in an incredibly efficient manner. Thus a micro CHP system could be run on any one of: biomass or woodgas; rooftop solar arrays; biodiesel; rooftop or larger wind turbine power. Micro CHP is already becoming popular as a green home energy possibility, even on traditional fuel sources, but as the cost of renewable technologies goes down and alternative energy technologies become more efficient, the popularity of home micro chp systems could rise even further.
Green Home Energy Today 16th April 2012 more >>
Bristol Energy Co-op
The group behind a solar energy scheme in Bristol is aiming to raise £90,000 by launching a community share issue later this week. The not-for-profit Bristol Energy Co-operative is aiming to realise its plans of installing solar panels on community buildings in the city. With the support of The Co-operative Enterprise Hub, the scheme is calculated to generate 700,000kWh of energy and save 400 tonnes of carbon dioxide over a 25-year lifetime.
Bristol 24-7 16th April 2012 more >>
Solar Power Portal 16th April 2012 more >>
Wire or Pipe
The UK’s current energy plan envisages electricity being the main focus, with excess power from offshore wind and nuclear being used to run heat pumps and to charge batteries in electric vehicles. Natural Gas takes a back seat as a heat source, but is used in CCGT plants to supply some electricity, and these gas turbines also act as back-up plants to balance the variable renewables, although gradually some may become biomass fired. All of this will require new grid links, possibly also to the rest of the EU. So that’s the ‘wire’ view. The rival ‘pipe’ view is that electricity is a poor energy vector, since its transmission is lossy and it can’t easily be stored, except via pumped hydro. Also domestic scale heat pumps are not that reliable, especially in cold weather. By contrast, gas can be easily stored and transmitted: we actually already have an extensive low loss, high transmission efficiency gas grid, which handles around four times more energy than the electricity grid. Moreover, the gas grid acts as an energy store helping us to cope with variable demand. And we can produce biogas from municipal and farm wastes to provide a carbon neutral replacement for natural gas. In addition to its use for heating, some of this green gas could be used for local electricity generation, where needed, in CCGT or fuel cells. Some could even be used for vehicles, as a better option than mostly imported biofuels.
Environmental Research Web 14th April 2012 more >>
Solar Subsidies
So, we’ve had subsidies for solar power. The argument being that they need a boost to get the prices down and then, eventually, solar will be cost competitive with other forms of power generation and we can abolish the subsidies. Which allows me to bring you tidings of great joy. The day to abolish those subsidies is today. Right now, immediately: Two German solar energy developers are planning to build photovoltaic plants in southern Spain that will earn a return without government subsidies.
Adam Smith Institute 14th April 2012 more >>
Green Deal Explained
We’re now just six months away from the launch of Government’s flagship energy policy: the Green Deal, yet questions still remain. “What is it?” “How will it work?” and “Can I trust it?” are just a few of the most frequently asked. On the face of it, the Green Deal looks fairly straightforward, yet many areas remain confusing and could do with explaining. So here goes.
Solar Power Portal 13th April 2012 more >>