Wind energy in the UK set another record last week, with new figures revealing that more than 15GW of renewable energy was generated by wind technologies on Friday (8 February). National Grid has confirmed that wind energy generation reached 15.32GW late last week, accounting for 36% of Britain’s electricity needs. The new figure surpasses the previous record for wind energy generation of 15.04GW, which was set on 18 December 2018.
Edie 12th Feb 2019 read more »
Business Green 12th Feb 2019 read more »
The UK onshore wind sector faces “almost total shutdown” unless support is increased, according to a Scottish renewable energy trade body.
Energy Voice 13th Feb 2019 read more »
Makani Power, an experimental wind power venture at Alphabet, has taken outside investment from oil group Royal Dutch Shell as part of a move to set it up as a freestanding subsidiary inside the technology sector holding company. The investment comes 13 years after Makani began work on developing kites that generate electricity, and six years after it was acquired by Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Separating Makani from X, Alphabet’s experimental projects lab, echoes the path taken by other “moon shot” projects, including driverless car unit Waymo and Loon, which uses high-altitude balloons to deliver wireless signals. Alphabet turns new projects into freestanding business units when it believes they are ready to move bey ond the prototyping stage and start developing a commercial product, though full commercialisation could still be years away. However, the Makani transition marks a rare decision by Alphabet to stick with a renewable energy project beyond its initial science phase. Two other ventures – Malta, an energy storage system using molten salt, and Dandelion, a geothermal energy project – were spun out of Alphabet entirely, reflecting their distance from Alphabet’s core interests as well as the capital needed to turn them into large-scale businesses. The size of Shell’s minority investment was not disclosed but Alphabet said the arrangement was made to establish a partnership between the businesses, rather than out of a need to attract outside capital. Shell said the deal would help it develop its offshore wind business, which already has stakes in projects in the Netherlands and the US. As the company tries to diversify its business away from fossil fuels and meet its clim ate targets it has stepped up investments in areas such as renewable energy, electric vehicle charging, and low-carbon energy start-ups.
FT 12th Feb 2019 read more »