week ending 4 January 2013
Scottish Solar Deal
CAIRNGORM Windows has agreed a deal to supply solar panels to a housebuilder for possible inclusion in properties across Scotland. The window manufacturer will supply panels that will be incorporated in show homes on sites marketed by Springfield Properties, including ones in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Buyers will be able to choose to have the panels installed in properties they buy from Springfield.
Herald 4th Jan 2013 more >>
Scotsman 4th Jan 2013 more >>
Community Turbine
A PARISH could soon be funding its own wind turbine thanks to a community share initiative. The residents of South Brent are being encouraged to invest in a new turbine near Marley Head in a share offer devised by South Brent Community Energy Society. The offer will see residents and local organisations contribute between £200 and £20,000 to make up the £420,000 price of providing enough power for 100 homes – along with a host of other benefits. Planning consent has already been obtained from South Hams Council for the ancillary equipment for the 31m-high turbine and SBCES director Francis Macnaugh-ton said there is much to be gained from the offer.
Ivybridge and South Brent Gazette 4th Jan 2013 more >>
Community Ownership
Local ownership of renewables provides great economic payback to investing communities. Energy efficiency and renewables together give the poor a way around higher prices for fossil fuels. When communities invest in projects themselves, the economic payback is much greater than when large, out-of-town firms invest. According to a study produced by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 2009, the “operations-period impact is on the order of 1.5 to 3.4 times” greater than in absentee-owned projects.
German Energy Transition (accessed) 4th Jan 2013 more >>
Community Turbine (2)
Plans for an exemplar low carbon parish in mid Cornwall moved a step closer after a scheme to build a community wind turbine was submitted for planning. The Low Carbon Ladock co-operative and Green Trust CIC have put forward plans for the proposed installation of the 500-800kW turbine in Ladock Parish. The organisations have spent over a year on site searching, feasibility work, environmental studies and community consultation to get to the stage to submit a planning application.
Business Cornwall 3rd Jan 2013 more >>
Social Housing Solar
TANKERSLEY-based Nationwide Solar has won a contract to install more solar power systems for social housing provider Newark and Sherwood Homes. The deal involves installing 135 cash-generating solar power systems It comes 12 months after Nationwide installed 300 systems on domestic properties for the same organisation.
Sheffield Star 3rd Jan 2013 more >>
Renewables Road Map
The updated UK Renewable Energy Roadmap delivered a welcome boost for the solar industry after it was named as a key technology in the UK’s quest to meet its binding environmental targets. Solar now joins onshore and offshore wind, marine energy, heat pump and renewable transport technologies as key technologies identified by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as integral to achieving the UK’s legally-binding 2020 emission targets.
Solar Portal 3rd Jan 2013 more >>
The Solar Trade Association (STA) has welcomed the publication of government’s updated Renewables Roadmap. The updated strategy lists solar as a key technology for the first time ever. As such, solar is now recognised by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as one of the main technologies that will help the UK meet its 2020 15% renewable energy target. To reflect solar’s new position as a key renewable technology, DECC will be publishing a dedicated solar strategy this year, a move that the STA has long been calling for. Paul Barwell, Chief Executive of the STA, commented: ‘‘The Renewables Roadmap shows that solar PV is now fully recognised as a significant contributor to the UK’s renewables mix.
Solar Portal 2nd Jan 2013 more >>
The last 12 months may have been the wettest on record - but the New Year will see solar power firmly on the UK energy map. In July 2011, the Department of Energy and Climate Change identified eight key technologies in its Renewable Energy Roadmap. Together, bioenergy in all its different forms, wind power, heat pumps and marine energy were expected to deliver more than 90% of the UK’s renewables needs by 2020. But back then, solar power barely merited more than one page of discussion, despite its already apparent potential as a ‘disruptive technology’. A long-awaited update to the roadmap, published over the Christmas and New Year break, finally recognises solar PV – for dramatic increases in deployment and popularity (not least with farmers and growers) matched only by rapidly falling costs.
NFU 2nd Jan 2013 more >>
For the first time ever, solar photovoltaics has been included as a key technology in the government’s Renewables Roadmap. The updated Renewables Roadmap sets out which renewable technologies the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) views as integral to achieving the UK’s 2020 renewable targets. Following a five-fold increase in solar capacity, DECC has recognised that solar in the UK has the potential to form a significant part of the future energy generation mix. As part of the updated roadmap, DECC has modelled that the industry could install between 7-20GW of solar by 2020.
Solar Portal 2nd Jan 2013 more >>
Business Green 2nd Jan 2013 more >>
Green Roofs
A trial is underway to see if planting fruit and vegetables on the roofs of office blocks could cut companies’ energy bills and provide a source of fresh food for their canteens. The six-month pilot of so-called green roofs got underway last month on four London buildings and is expected to realise savings of between three to 10 per cent on heating and ventilation costs.
Business Green 2nd Jan 2013 more >>
Peterborough Council
Peterborough City Council in England has submitted a formal planning application to construct a solar and wind farm, expected to cost £331m. The City Council proposes to set up 500,000 solar power panels and nine large wind turbines as part of the project that will be spread across 900 acres of agricultural land. The council will provide three blocks of land to install the solar and wind farms, specified under ‘renewable energy parks’ with the project expected to generate £30m in revenues for the local authority. Local residents have, however, opposed the proposal highlighting that the land on which the solar farm is proposed to be constructed is prime agricultural land.
Energy Business Review 31st Dec 2012 more >>
Daily Mail 29th Dec 2012 more >>
Solar Farm
EIGHTY solar panels will provide a farm with renewable energy after plans were approved.
Michael and Rosemary Thompstone, of Mayfields Farm, in Bushton Lane, Tutbury, whose agent is Bowler Energy, applied to East Staffordshire Borough Council for permission to install 80 ground mounted photovoltaic solar panels on their property.
Burton Mail 31st Dec 2012 more >>
Solar Aid
Ian McEwan Solar Aid Appeal: SolarAid confronts one of humanity’s greatest injustices – fuel poverty - by harnessing the extraordinary power of the sun. Instead of giving aid, they are using aid to create sustainable, viable markets for small solar lights in Africa. By capturing the sun by day and beaming out clean free light at night – children are able to study, parents can work and families feel safe. With your help, SolarAid are using brilliant ideas to help families in rural, off-grid communities to invest in their own future and change their lives by doing something simple – buying a solar light. Huge strides are being made and lights are selling fast. So fast that they are struggling to keep up with demand. Which is why they need more funds, to replenish stock and fund their field teams who work to get solar lights into the hands of those who need them most. To date, SolarAid have sold over 200,000 solar lights, meaning the world’s poorest can study, work and socialise after dark without burning expensive and toxic kerosene lamps. By sharing the cost of a light you’ll be helping SolarAid achieve their audacious goal – to eradicate all kerosene lamps from Africa by 2020.
Radio 4 30th Dec 2012 more >>
NHS going renewable
Hospitals are to be encouraged to install wind turbines and solar panels to cut the NHS’s energy costs and help save the planet. Ministers are to establish a £50m fund to improve energy efficiency across the NHS which emits one million tons of carbon a year and is among the largest and most resource hungry organisations in the world.
Independent 28th Dec 2012 more >>
Insulation Jobs
More than 800 jobs have already been lost in the insulation industry as a direct result of the government’s flagship energy efficiency policy, a business group has claimed.
Business Green 28th Dec 2012 more >>
Mali
An Italian architect has transformed life in the Mali village of Sanogola by designing a portable, locally manufactured solar-powered light.
Guardian 28th Dec 2012 more >>
Fridge Doors
Supermarkets are replacing the open refrigerators in their stores, which chill milk, meat and shoppers alike and which waste huge amounts of energy. The Co-operative, which already has 100 stores with doors on its fridges, is saving £50m a year in energy bills and cutting its environmental impact.
Business Green 27th Dec 2012 more >>
Africa
New solar power installations are helping communities in some of Africa’s poorest countries to build businesses and develop local economies, thanks to a social enterprise. Sunlabob has fitted 10 new systems across Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Mozambique in recent months with support from the UN aimed at providing power for the 75 per cent of the sub-Saharan population currently without access to grid electricity.
Business Green 27th Dec 2012 more >>
Co-operative Solar
A COMMUNITY is helping to raise £390,000 to instal solar panels on hundreds of houses. A community share issue, supported by the Co-operative Enterprise Hub, has been launched so that the first phase of the solar power scheme can start in Newport, South Wales.
Scotsman 26th Dec 2012 more >>
Bath Rugby
Bath Rugby Club has become the latest sports club to beef up its green credentials, after this weekend launching a new initiative with green energy supplier Good Energy designed to slash the carbon footprint of its own facilities and supporters. The Club announced last week that it will source energy for its Recreation Ground stadium and Farleigh House training facility from Good Energy, which guarantees that 100 per cent of the power it provides comes from renewable sources.
Business Green 24th Dec 2012 more >>
Solar Coal
The Big Pit coal museum in Cardiff has embraced green technology by installing 200 solar PV modules on its roof. The solar installation is expected to provide around 6% of the museum’s annual electricity consumption. The installation was financed by Amgueddfa Cymru at a cost of around £70,000. The National Collection Centre in Nantgarw has also benefitted from another 200 solar panels as part of the green energy scheme.
Solar Portal 24th Dec 2012 more >>