Two communities in Wales will receive energy from a hydro scheme using rain water in Snowdonia. The water runs into the River Ogwen and the aim is to capture the power of its flow to produce electrical energy using hydro technology. It would provide power for Bethesda and Llanberis whose communities funded the £700,000 project through shares. Both schemes will be launched on Saturday.

BBC 24th June 2017 read more »

As much as £170bn could be lost from government revenues between now and 2030 because of declines in fuel duty as electric vehicles become more popular. The forecast came in a report that said the government had failed to grasp the fiscal implications of the expected shift from petrol and diesel vehicles in coming decades. Ministers should consider moving from the current taxing of drivers through fuel duty – a sales tax on petrol and diesel – to a system of road tolls and congestion charges to plug the gap, according to the study by centre-right think-tank Policy Exchange.

FT 26th June 2017 read more »

Telegraph 25th June 2017 read more »

The UK solar market is beginning to defy difficult conditions as developers emerge with new, post-subsidy models. Yesterday Solar Media’s head of market research Finlay Colville and analyst Lauren Cook presented a webinar which updated the audience on the UK solar and storage markets, with Colville insisting there was life yet in UK solar. Colville admitted that the UK market was now “very different” to the one which boomed throughout the subsidy-driven years of 2010 – 2016, but said it was now beginning to face the “very real prospect” of subsidy-free developments coming to the fore. “Much of the resurgence of UK solar is being kept below the radar for now, especially on the large-scale side, with a select group of project developers identifying 40-50MW sites for subsidy-free potential in 2018-2020. Indeed, the only limit on the size of sites being scoped today is coming from National Grid legislation relating to >50MW generators,” Colville told SPP. Two sub-sectors in particular have been raised as being of particular interest to the solar sector; new build and council or local authority installs. While a number of installers have enjoyed success in partnering with construction firms like Wilmott Dixon and Taylor Wimpey, public sector solar continues to be of significant interest given reduced expectations for returns and payback periods. The UK market is also seeing interest in new solar business models from housing associations, perhaps best typified by the model launched by Solarplicity which Solar Power Portal reported on earlier this month. These are only likely to be driven further by continually falling module prices, which Colville said were nudging towards the $0.40c/W price across the globe.

Solar Power Portal 22nd June 2017 read more »

Solar is set to play a prominent role in future energy systems, according to the chief executive of French power company Engie. Isabelle Kocher was speaking at yesterday’s SolarPower Dialogues, timed by event organiser and European trade association SolarPower Europe to coincide with the summer solstice. Commenting that the energy revolution was “full of opportunities”, Kocher said that Engie was fully embracing the “fundamental changes” in the energy market in a bid to position itself as a frontrunner. “[The energy revolution] will allow us to modernise our entire energy system, and thus our economy, to tackle the climate change issue, to provide reliable and affordable energy to all including those in the most deprived regions of this world. Solar will play a prominent role in this new energy system,” she added.

Solar Power Portal 22nd June 2017 read more »

Donald Trump has revealed he is thinking of attaching solar panels to his controversial wall along the Mexican border. The embattled president mentioned the possibility of using the barrier to harness solar energy as he defended his record at a raucous political rally in Iowa on Wednesday. “We’re thinking about building the wall as a solar wall,” he said. “Pretty good imagination, right? It’s my ideas.” Solar panels along the wall are among proposals that have been submitted by companies to the Department of Homeland Security, according to media reports.

Telegraph 22nd June 2017 read more »

UK fast food outlet LEON will be powered solely from solar this summer following a new arrangement with energy supplier Opus Energy. From yesterday until the end of summer LEON’s 47 UK-based stores will source all of their electricity from solar generators which Opus – a business supply subsidiary of the Drax Group – has agreements with.

Solar Power Portal 22nd June 2017 read more »

It’s official; this month – June 2017 – the UK set a new renewable energy record as wind and solar power surged. The Telegraph broke the news, saying the blustery start to summer has helped the renewable energy industry to its highest ever output, as wind turbines and solar panels helped to meet more than half of the UK’s electricity demand. It’s a telling reminder you don’t necessarily need the blinding sun of recent days for panels to do their work. Revolutions take place quietly most of the time. Either way, the news is a truly astonishing result, and coupled with last year’s confirmations that the world as a whole has decoupled growth from carbon emissions, looks set to truly confound sceptics of renewable and low carbon technologies. And of course, it makes yet more of a mockery of President Trump’s fossil-based repudiation of Paris. His idiocy now stands proven by the truth of what renewables can do, powering over half of one of the world’s important economies; the UK. In fact, soon we will be calling oil the energy alternative, and renewables the mainstream.

Content Coms 22nd June 2017 read more »

President Trump laid claim to an idea that could help his promised wall along the Mexico border to turn a profit: solar panels. “I will give you an idea that nobody has heard about yet. The southern border: lots of sun, lots of heat. We are thinking about building a wall as a solar wall. So it creates energy. And pays for itself,” he told a campaign-style rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The scheme would lower the cost to Mexico too, he said, adding: “Pretty good imagination, right? My idea!” Mr Trump has discussed the scheme in private meetings with legislators but floated it publicly for the first time on Wednesday. Contrary to his claim, however, others had already raised the idea. Designs for the wall submitted to the US government in April by Thomas Gleason, a Las Vegas businessman, had solar panels powering lig hting, sensors and border patrol stations. The Department of Homeland Security has been inviting companies to submit plans, although Congress still has not allocated the funds needed to build the wall.

Times 23rd June 2017 read more »

Kite Power Systems (KPS) – the renewable eneergy company developing innovative new kite power technology in Scotland – has secured a £2 million equity investment from the Scottish Investment Bank. The £2 million investment makes SIB the latest investor in Kite Power joining E.ON, Schlumberger and Shell Technology Ventures, who announced a combined £5 million investment last year. This latest investment was confirmed by MSP Keith Brown, Scottish Industry Minister, on a visit to Kellwood Engineering in Dumfries, where Kite Power’s latest 500kW demonstration model is being manufactured and assembled. Earlier this year, Kite Power re-located from Essex and consolidated all of its activities in Scotland, establishing a research and test facility near Stranraer and a head office in Glasgow.

Scottish Energy News 23rd June 2017 read more »

Plans to build a new 30-turbine tidal energy scheme near Islay have been approved by the Scot-Govt. The West Islay Tidal Energy Park will have a generating capacity of up to 30 MW, enough to power around 18,000 homes. The development by Ireland’s DP Marine Energy will create up to 32 full time jobs. Best known for its many malt whisky distilleries, Islay is also known as the place where the world’s first commercial wave-powered electrical generation station was built in 2000 near Portnahaven.

Scottish Energy 22nd June 2017 read more »

Ministers have granted permission for a major tidal energy park off the coast of Islay. The 30-turbine West Islay Tidal Energy Park has been approved at a site about three miles off the south-west coast of the island in Argyll and Bute. The DP Marine Energy Limited development will have a generating capacity of up to 30MWh – enough to power the equivalent of 18,000 homes. It is also expected to create up to 32 jobs.

BBC 21st June 2017 read more »

Scotsman 21st June 2017 read more »

The National 22nd June 2017 read more »

Speaking today (Tuesday 20 June) at the Rushlight Showcase, Minister of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Claire Perry announced funding for 2 innovative clean energy projects which will create local investment opportunities across the country. Rushlight, a leading provider of clean technology events in the UK, hosts the Summer Showcase which is sponsored by BEIS and Innovate UK. At the event, Claire Perry announced that £35 million funding, from the BEIS Energy Innovation Programme, will go towards smart heating systems and innovation in using hydrogen as a potential heat source. Under the new investment, £10 million will sponsor the second phase of work by the Energy Systems Catapult on its Smart Systems and Heat Programme. The programme will help develop local energy plans alongside Local Authorities, and bring down the cost of energy bills, while supporting the development of the UK’s low carbon heating projects. A further £25 million will be invested in potential uses of hydrogen gas for heating, testing the possibility of domestic gas pipes for hydrogen and developing a range of innovative hydrogen appliances such as boilers and cookers.

BEIS 20th June 2017 read more »

Petrol and diesel cars will be priced off the busiest roads in Britain in eight years under plans to promote green vehicles, it was announced yesterday. All traditionally powered vehicles will face penalties of more than £24 a day to drive in central London from 2025 as part of proposals for a zero-emission zone. The plan, which was announced by Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, escalates his war on polluting vehicles, which had focused on the worst diesels. Only electric cars will be exempt from the new charge. The rules, the toughest for any city in the world, would send a signal that London was moving towards a future free of fossil fuels, the mayor said.

Times 22nd June 2017 read more »

London’s entire transport system will become zero emission by 2050 under radical plans outlined by the mayor, Sadiq Khan. Included in the blueprint is a pledge to cut the number of car journeys by three million each day while increasing the number of people walking, cycling or using public transport to 80 per cent by 2041 – up from 64 per cent last year.

Independent 21st June 2017 read more »