If fossil fuel stakeholders hoped for the COVID-19 crisis to give them a little breathing room, they may have to do some re-hoping. The US Energy Department dropped yet another one of its renewable energy truth bombs earlier this week, and now a coalition of economically powerful US states has followed up with a new initiative aimed at accelerating 100% clean energy goals across the country. That’s not just a state-level thing, either. The new initiative aims at municipalities, corporations, utilities, and other stakeholders, too. Called the “100% Clean Energy Collaborative,” the initiative comes under the umbrella of the organization Clean Energy States Alliance. As a group, CESA members pack an economic punch, and the new collaboration is spearheaded by an advisory committee that picks from the top. Two members of the advisory committee, for example, are California — aka the world’s 5th-largest economy — and New York State, which weights in as the world’s 11th-largest economy.

Clean Technica 3rd April 2020 read more »

Spanish power group Iberdrola, one of the world’s largest investors in clean-energy projects, pledged to ramp up its investments in spite of the coronavirus pandemic. Iberdrola’s total investments in 2020 will hit €10 billion ($10.7 billion), up from €8.15 billion last year, as it barrels ahead with its 9-gigawatt portfolio of projects under construction, half of that capacity due for completion before the year’s end. Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday (held remotely), CEO Ignacio Galán offered a glimpse of Iberdrola’s post-pandemic strategy. “As soon as possible, we will speed up our investments in order to contribute to economic activity and prevent…jobs from being lost,” Galán said.

GTM 2nd April 2020 read more »

Scottish marine energy firm Simec Atlantis Energy has scooped a £1.5 million grant from the Scottish Government to develop its Meygen tidal turbine project. The funding, part of a £10m Saltire tidal energy pot supporting the commercial deployment of tidal energy, will be used to design, install, connect and commission the subsea hub and associated subsea connection infrastructure. The Highland MeyGen tidal power array, based in the Pentland Firth, is currently the world’s largest tidal stream power project. The subsea hub, which will be assembled and tested in Scotland, will be installed in late 2020. Tim Cornelius, chief executive of Atlantis, said: “We are very grateful and appreciative of the Scottish Government’s continued support for tidal stream energy by awarding this grant to help fund MeyGen’s ongoing expansion.

Energy Voice 25th March 2020 read more »

Scottish based tidal energy developer Orbital Marine Power (Orbital — orbitalmarine.com) have signed up to a second berth at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, which will pave the way for the company to deliver its first floating tidal turbine farm. Orbital are currently in the process of manufacturing their first commercial O2 turbine; at 2MW and with a swept area of over 600m2 the O2 will be the world’s most powerful tidal turbine and will be capable of meeting the annual electricity demand of over 1,700 UK homes. The company was successful in raising £7 million in crowd-funding to deliver the first O2 turbine and received a £3.4 million award by the Scottish government through the Saltire Tidal Energy Challenge Fund. The O2 project is also being supported with European funding via the Horizon 2020 FloTEC project and Interreg NWE ITEG project.

Machinery Market 3rd April 2020 read more »

Isle of Wight council defer decision on tidal centre. The Isle of Wight council were set to approve the further investment to assist with renewal of licences and leases for the tidal energy scheme off the coast of St Catherine’s Point.

On the Wight 3rd April 2020 read more »

The pipeline of large-scale, ground-mount, utility-based solar farms in the UK reached 7.31GW at the end of March 2020, consisting of 357 sites of 250kW and above. Of this, 245 sites are rated 5MW and above, adding up to 7.17GW. Over 1GW of new projects were added to the pipeline during the first three months of 2020. This article summarises the breakdown of the 7.31GW of pipeline capacity in the UK, and looks at how the current changes impacting the domestic and global economy are offering a window for potential site suppliers (EPCs, sub-contractors, and module, inverter and mounting/tracking) to get a full overview of site stakeholders leading into the expected rebound in build activity later in 2020 and especially during 2021.All data is taken directly from the April 2020 release of the UK Large-Scale Solar Farms: The Post-Subsidy Prospect List report from our in-house research team at Solar Media Ltd. Details on how to access the monthly-updated list of projects in the database can be found using the link here.

Solar Power Portal 3rd April 2020 read more »

There is a reason the North Sea is the world’s capital for offshore wind farms. The sea is unusually shallow, particularly in the lost fertile plain of Doggerland. Coupled with a relatively smooth seabed, it is perfect for fixing the bases on which thousands of wind turbines now sit in a crescent off the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. But what about off Japan, the US west coast and many other parts of the world, where the seabed quickly becomes deep? That, Fix the Planet readers, is where floating wind farms come in. I first came across these wonders of modern engineering three years ago on a boat in Åmøy Fjord in Norway. This week is all about how they have come along, and what the future holds.

Fix the Planet 2nd April 2020 read more »

Hackney Council has this week revealed that it is now sourcing all of its electricity from wind and solar sources. The clean energy milestone places it among a small number of councils that are fully powered by renewables, according to Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville. A new publicly-owned energy services company, Hackney Light and Power, was launched by the council in November and is charged with the borough’s decarbonisation initiatives, including the installation of rooftop panels on council buildings and a programme to provide residents with free insulation and trial renewable heating upgrades. In addition, Hackney intends to roll out 182 electric vehicle (EV) charging points this year and intends to equip all street lamps with energy-efficient LED bulbs by 2022. A feasibility study into delivering EV chargers on every street in the borough is also underway, according to the Council. The local council’s clean energy milestone comes just weeks after it unveiled plans to open a new object lending library that aims to reduce household waste by promoting borrowing over buying.

Business Green 3rd April 2020 read more »

UK tech start-up Gravitricity has unveiled plans to explore the energy storage potential of South Africa’s former mine shafts, thanks to a £300,000 funding boost from government agency Innovate UK. The company’s energy storage technology works by raising multiple heavy weights, weighing up to 21,000 tonnes in total, in a deep shaft and releasing them again to power a generator when the energy is required.

Business Green 2nd April 2020 read more »