Gas lobby chief: ‘In 2050, 76% of gas could be renewable’ The excess wind and solar electricity generated at times of oversupply could be used more systematically to produce synthetic gas, providing a convenient way of storing renewable energy that would otherwise be lost. The potential is huge, and can be used to heat homes during winter, argues Beate Raabe. Beate Raabe is Secretary General of Eurogas, the trade association representing the interests of the gas industry in Europe. She spoke to EURACTIV’s energy and environment editor, Frédéric Simon, ahead of Eurogas’s Annual Conference: “Renewable gas: balancing our energy” taking place on 27 October at The Hotel in Brussels. “Renewable gas”: that sounds a bit like an oxymoron. Is this not an attempt to make natural gas look greener than it really is? Our objective is to inform people that gas is not just natural gas but can also be renewable. People are familiar with the term biogas for instance. But not all renewable gas is biogas. And that’s why we are saying “renewable gas” in order to cover the whole range of renewable gases that exist.

Euractiv 25th Sept 2017 read more »

The first solar power farm in the UK to have been built without government subsidy will open on Tuesday in what supporters of renewable energy generation are describing as a “landmark” moment for the industry. A 10 megawatt (MW) solar farm, capable of generating enough power for 2,500 homes, has been developed in Bedfordshire by Anesco, a private company that specialises in designing and building solar and battery storage sites before selling them on. The group, which is backed by Alcentra, an asset management company, has succeeded in building the first solar farm without relying on a government scheme to subsidise the costs, such as “contracts for difference”, which offer developers a guaranteed minimum price for the electricity generated.

FT 25th Sept 2017 read more »

Times 26th Sept 2017 read more »

In rural Bedfordshire today, Claire Perry, the climate change minister, will open the first solar farm in Britain to sell power to the grid without a direct subsidy. It will perform this trick thanks partly to banks of batteries that enable it to transmit electricity even when the sun is not shining, and partly to the plummeting price of both batteries and solar panels in recent years. Clayhill Farm is a landmark achievement. It will provide power for 2,500 homes without pumping out any pollution, making any noise or killing any birds. It will come onstream less than a month after an auction for wholesale energy contracts in which wind power operators underbid even gas-fired energy producers for the first time. And it was built in 12 weeks flat. A renewable energy revolution is gathering steam, so to speak, but Clayhill Farm poses a troubling question for government and the rest of the British solar industry. Why is it, so far, alone? There are three reasons. First, one of the biggest obstacles to setting up a new solar farm is securing a connection to the grid, and Clayhill has been able to piggyback on a neighbouring facility whose connection is already in place. Second, few sites in Britain are so lucky, because solar power installation slumped when subsidies were withdrawn two years ago while still being available for wind. Thirdly, Britain is not very sunny. The Clayhill project shows that solar power has a future here despite everything. Moreover, battery and solar panel prices are expected to keep falling thanks to a global glut created by China. This oversupply is a result of mass Chinese production initially to meet subsidised German demand in the 1990s, and later to meet domestic Chinese demand. Beijing now dreams of building and controlling a global solar-powered grid. If Britain wants its own, the time to build is now.

Times 26th Sept 2017 read more »

ScottishPower has called for political support to develop more onshore windfarms after hitting a record high of power from the sector. After the completion of a £650 million infrastructure project, ScottishPower Renewables has passed the 2,000 megawatt (MW) UK milestone. The company has now called for politicians and regulators to back the development of the industry in Scotland in order to keep up with an anticipated increase in demand. Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower Renewables, said: “It’s now cheaper, easier and faster to build onshore wind. In a little over 18 months we have built over 470 MW of onshore wind, delivering enough power for more than 280,000 homes and with it significant environmental and financial benefits for the UK. If the UK Government is serious about reducing carbon emissions and having enou gh clean power to support the huge expected growth in electric vehicles, then more onshore wind is essential. One new onshore wind turbine could power around 7,000 electric vehicles, but we need to act now to meet growing demand.”

Scotsman 25th Sept 2017 read more »

Britain had its greenest summer yet this year. More than half of its electricity was produced by low-carbon sources for the first time, according to National Grid. Almost 52 per cent of electricity was generated by either nuclear or renewable forms of power between June 21 and September 22, the astronomical summer. That was up from almost 48 per cent in the same period last year and made for four years of consecutive increases since summer 2013, when low-carbon generation stood at only 35 per cent of the mix. The shift towards a greener power mix primarily reflects the construction of more renewable plants, backed by subsidies funded by consumers’ energy bills. Renewables, comprising wind and solar farms, biomass and hydro-electric plants, accounted for 24 per cent of the mix this summer, up from 9 per cent in summer 2013. National Gr id is today launching a new service that it hopes will persuade consumers to use electricity when it is “greenest” and when solar and wind power is plentiful. It is working with the environmental group WWF on an online tool which it said would “point users to the best times to turn on or turn off home appliances to minimise carbon emissions”. In future, energy companies are expected to introduce tariffs that vary prices for electricity throughout the day so giving people a financial as well as an environmental incentive to match usage to plentiful supply.

Times 26th Sept 2017 read more »

Independent 26th Sept 2017 read more »

Telegraph 26th Sept 2017 read more »

Guardian 26th Sept 2017 read more »

Emerging markets are set to eclipse developed nations next year in their capacity to generate wind and solar power as equipment costs fall and the energy market approaches “peak coal”, according to Moody’s, the credit rating agency. While developed countries have long been leaders in renewable power generation, emerging economies are close to overtaking them, bringing their total installed capacity of wind and solar to 307GW and 272GW – respectively 51 per cent and 53 per cent of global capacity, according to Moody’s calculations. China accounts for the lion’s share of the upsurge. But Middle East and north African countries are scheduled to have installed 14GW in solar plants by the end of 2018 – a seven-fold increase from 2015. Central and South America are also expected to reach 14GW, nearly five times more than in 2015, while India is set to hit 28GW, a jump of nearly six times. “Everyone knows the cost of installing solar and wind energy has been coming down, but recently we have seen prices hitting extreme lows in places such as Mexico, Chile, India and Abu Dhabi,” said Swami Venkataraman, senior vice-president at Moody’s Investors Service. “This fall in costs is definitely changing the calculus of [emerging market] governments, allowing them to pursue renewables much more aggressively,” he added. Another factor is the onset of “peak coal” in the energy market. In 2013, the US Energy Information Administration projected that world coal demand would rise 39 per cent by 2040. Now it is expecting growth of just 1 per cent.

FT 25th Sept 2017 read more »

The backers of Swansea’s tidal lagoon power project have warned the Government that it risks ruining its reputation among investors by continuing to ¬delay a decision on the £1.3bn scheme. In a letter to the Treasury, seen by The Daily Telegraph, 28 high-profile shareholders accused ministers of sending a “terrible signal” to entrepreneurs that could prove “extremely damaging” to their reputation. The letter was signed by City figures and veteran energy industry players as well as serial entrepreneurs including Adam Bolan and Richard Reed, the co-founders of Innocent drinks. The Conservatives gave their blessing to the project in the 2015 election manifesto but have yet to make a decision on whether to support it. Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, said the Treasury was carefully considering the strategic rationale for the project.

Telegraph 24th Sept 2017 read more »

Most studies do not yet point to projects breaking even at £57.50. According to a recent review by the UK’s Offshore Wind Programme Board, so-called levelised costs for new wind projects at the point of commitment (ie not yet built, but button decisively pressed) declined by 7 per cent annually from £142/MWh in 2010-11 to just £97 in 2015-16, driven by factors such as the use of larger turbines and better siting. But while these are impressive figures even they cannot explain a further £40 drop in such a short space of time. What’s more, by far the biggest component of those costs is capital expenditure, and another study suggests that progress here is much more nuanced. A new report led by Gordon Hughes, a former professor of economics at Edinburgh University, and published by the sceptical Global Warming Policy Foundation, has analysed the reported capital costs of 86 projects across Europe. These show that while technological advances are driving down costs by 4 per cent annually, this gain is being offset as the industry moves out into deeper and more challenging waters. So, depending on where future projects are sited, there may even be no clear downward trend at all. It may be possible that the auction-winning projects have specific reasons for being able to deliver low prices. For instance, the Hornsea II project sponsored by Denmark’s Dong Energy sits next to a first farm that is also being built by the same company (at far higher rates of subsidy), offering the opportunity to share support infrastructure, as well as the link between the turbines and the grid. But it is also possible that the promoters view the CFD contract as a pretty loose commitment. “Potentially these bids could be seen as more of an option on future capacity,” said Allan Baker, Société Générale’s global head of power advisory and project finance at Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance Summit last week.

FT 24th Sept 2017 read more »

ScottishPower has called for political support to develop more onshore windfarms after hitting a record high of power from the sector. Following completion of a £650million infrastructure project, ScottishPower Renewables has passed the 2,000 megawatt (MW) UK milestone. The company has now called for politicians and regulators to back the development of the industry in Scotland in order to keep up with an anticipated increase in demand. Chief executive Keith Anderson said it was now “cheaper, easier and faster” to build onshore windfarms. He added: “If the UK Government is serious about reducing carbon emissions and having enough clean power to support the huge expected growth in electric vehicles, then more onshore wind is essential. One new onshore wind turbine could power around 7,000 electric vehicles, but we need to act now to meet growing demand.”

Energy Voice 25th Sept 2017 read more »

Britain will need to boost its generation of electricity by about a quarter, Scottish Power has estimated. The energy firm said electric cars and a shift to electric heating could send demand for power soaring. Its chief executive also said there would have to be a major investment in the wiring necessary to handle rapid charging of car batteries. Keith Anderson was speaking as the firm reached the milestone of 2,000 megawatts of wind power capacity. That equates to about an eighth of the British total. The figure includes Whitelee wind farm, on Eaglesham Moor, south of Glasgow, which has more than 200 turbines. Believed to be Europe’s biggest wind farm, it is capable of generating enough power for all of Glasgow’s homes. In the past 18 months, the Spanish-owned company has been installing nearly a quar ter of the British total, but the pipeline of work is coming to an end. Attention is turning to offshore wind. But Mr Anderson told BBC Scotland there would have to be a renewed surge in the building of onshore wind turbines if consumer demand was to be met.

BBC 25th Sept 2017 read more »

The first housing association in Wales to install a fuel cell combined heat and power system to cut energy bills, carbon emissions and allow for electricity to be produced on site for use by tenants has been supplied by a Scottish renewables provider. This new technology has been installed at Alltwen in Newydd, an independent living scheme for people aged 55 and above, using BlueGEN, a system where heat and electricity is provided using the same product. This has meant that gas is used to produce energy at the housing scheme providing financial as well as environmental benefits. BlueGEN is the first product to apply this technology in the UK and receive feed in tariff. It generates electricity as efficiently as a large modern gas-fired power station but unlike a power station transmission losses are avoided and the heat that is generated can also be used, providing the most efficient method of using gas to create usable energy.

Scottish Energy News 25th Sept 2017 read more »