5 Breakthrough Innovations for the US Solar Industry. This 20-page report highlights several of the most promising innovations the solar industry has experienced or undertaken in the past several months.

GTM 7th July 2020 read more »

SSE Renewables is renaming its Seagreen 2 and 3 offshore wind projects off Scotland to the Berwick Bank and Marr Bank wind farms, respectively. Both projects are located in the North Sea beyond the Firth of Forth. The proposed installed capacity of Berwick Bank is between 1400MW and 2300MW and Marr Bank is between 900MW and 1850MW. Combined, the projects have potential to “significantly contribute” to Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets. Berwick Bank could be operational as soon as 2027 with Marr Bank following slightly later timescales.

renews 7th July 2020 read more »

Suffolk MP Dr Dan Poulter has added his voice to calls for a reform of the electricity supply market to allow locally-generated power to be bought by communities. The Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP has joined his Waveney colleague Peter Aldous in supporting a new Bill in Parliament that would help rebuild local economies while increasing clean energy generation.

East Anglian Daily Times 7th July 2020 read more »

Exeter City Council has announced plans to build its first solar farm and battery storage project. The plant, which had its preparatory work finished recently, will be built on an inactive landfill site and will comprise of a 1.2MW array of 3,702 solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, two battery storage containers and an electrical switch room. A 1MW/2MWh battery with a separate connection will provide renewable energy supply to the council’s nearby operations facility. The local authority says the renewable supply from the project is also expected to support the future electrification of the council’s operational fleet.

Energy Live News 8th July 2020 read more »

EXPERTS drawing up £8 billion plans to transform Edinburgh into a carbon neutral city in ten years’ time are investigating harnessing hot air trapped under the capital’s parks in a bid to end gas central heating. The Edinburgh Climate Commission has been set up to help co-ordinate a pledge for the city to become carbon net zero by 2030 – 15 years ahead of the Scottish Government’s ambition. The commission has drawn up a list of principles for Edinburgh to prioritise in its mission to eradicate carbon emissions – with the city’s heating system and transport network as key catalysts. The independent commission is calling on city leaders and the Scottish Government to commit to a green recovery from Covid-19 to eliminate carbon emissions and to create jobs as the economy is rebuilt. Sam Gardner, chairman of the commission, has warned that “the climate emergency hasn’t gone away”.

Herald 9th July 2020 read more »

Today, the Edinburgh Climate Commission has published its report ‘Forward, Faster, Together: Recommendations for a Green Economic Recovery in Edinburgh’, which you can download using the link at the end of the page. The Edinburgh Climate Commission is an independent body working to accelerate action on climate change in Edinburgh. The Commission established just as Covid-19 took hold and has produced this, its first report, for all who have a role in how Edinburgh recovers from the pandemic. Our recommendations for a green recovery respond to the compound crisis of Covid-19 and climate change. Covid has challenged our city and shown what is possible when we all align behind the science for a collective, urgent response. As the focus shifts to recovery, we must seize this moment to deliver a better future for Edinburgh. A green recovery is one that delivers for the long term; that catalyses job creation into growth industries, empowers citizens, improves public health and drives innovation while all the time removing our contribution to the climate crisis.

Edinburgh Climate Commission 9th July 2020 read more »

The Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions could bring in 12,000 new jobs and over £20 billion of investment, according to RenewableUK. It found that UK-based companies working in the wind industry have announced contracts and investments in new projects worth over £4 billion since lockdown. This has created over 2,000 jobs at a time when economic activity in other sectors is shrinking, RenewableUK said. It went on to say that if the government took steps to ‘maximise’ the economic benefits of renewables and lifted capacity caps for the 2021 CfD auction, it could facilitate 11GW of new onshore and offshore wind. This would then translate into £20 billion of investment and 12,000 new jobs. This comes as a key recommendation issued as part of a new report offering advice to the government on a green COVID-19 recovery.

Current 7th July 2020 read more »

In June, the Local Electricity Bill was introduced to Parliament under the Ten Minute Rule, as its proponents called on the government “to unleash the huge potential for new community-owned clean energy infrastructure” by supporting it. First conceived and drafted by not-for-profit organisation Power for People around 2017, the Bill was first introduced to parliament last session and has continued to grow grass roots public support since then. Speaking to Current± recently, Steve Shaw, director of the group, explained: “If you want to sell energy directly to local customers at a local scale – and local in this context might mean across a town, or a few towns, a handful of villages, countywide or even regional – the costs are so large that it just makes no financial sense. It is not viable financially.” The Local Electricity Bill was put together by Power for People and a coalition of supportive partners including Community Energy England, Community Energy Wales, Community Energy Scotland, WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the RSPB. Additionally, 43 county and local authorities have also pledged their support. It was presented to parliament by the lead sponsor Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney, on 10 June, supported by a cross party coalition of 187 MPs. It successfully passed its first reading without opposition.

Current 7th July 2020 read more »

Exeter City Council has taken a step forward in developing its first solar-plus-storage farm, with work now underway at the site. The project will include a 1.2MW ground-mounted solar array that will be co-located with an 1MW/2MWh battery. This will have a separate connection that will allow it to provide renewable energy straight to the council’s Operations Depot, near the site on Exton Road. It will be built on an inert landfill site at Water Lane as part of a £3.5 million scheme to help Exeter reach net zero by 2030. Of this, almost £1.6 million is coming from a grant from the European Regional Development Fund. Work to clear the land began before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the initial land scrub completed by the council under the supervision of ecologists from the Devon Wildlife Consultancy. Work is now progressing, with 3,702 solar PV modules, two battery storage containers and an electricity switch room set to be installed on the site.

Solar Power Portal 7th July 2020 read more »

The combination of burning biofuels for energy and capturing and storing the resulting CO2 emissions does not yet operate commercially in the UK. Yet BECCS has been identified as a promising option for achieving net-zero emissions and features heavily in most of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios consistent with limiting warming to 1.5C. In our paper, published in Global Change Biology Bioenergy, we explore potential locations for siting BECCS power plants in the UK. And, for the first time, quantify the co-benefits and trade-offs associated with these sites.

Carbon Brief 7th July 2020 read more »

A coalition of trade bodies, including Renewable UK, the UK Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, and the British Hydropower Association have called on the Chancellor to emulate Germany and Canada and “lay the foundations” for a nationwide hydrogen strategy. The groups announced yesterday that they had formed a cross-industry group dedicated to developing a “clear, strategic plan” that could unlock significant private funding in hydrogen technologies and manufacturing across the country, generating “hundreds of thousands” of green jobs in the process.

Business Green 8th July 2020 read more »

Despite Musk’s contention that hydrogen fuel cells are “fool cells” and “staggeringly dumb” due to the inefficiency of turning electricity into a gas then back into electricity again, hydrogen fuel cells are widely acknowledged as one of the best decarbonisation solutions for heavy-duty vehicles, such as aviation, shipping, and freight, that have proven resistant to electrification. Hydrogen fuel cells also have the major benefit of being relatively light and, unlike battery-powered vehicles, able to refuel within minutes – a familiarity Bamford believes will be a hit with customers accustomed to rapid refuelling. “Hydrogen is a wonderful zero emission energy fuel that most mimics how we make fuel today and how we operate with fuel today,” Bamford argues. There is already a steady appetite for hydrogen buses, he adds, regardless of whether the government agrees to his mooted stimulus plans. Wrightbus is waiting for Covid-19 disruptions to ease to allow it to deliver 100 hydrogen buses that are currently on order from different parts of the UK, he says, including 20 double deckers destined for London. Over recent months, hydrogen has risen up the political agenda and reports have suggested the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will publish a hydrogen strategy before the Summer Recess, following calls from gas network operators and energy suppliers – including Ryse – for support for hydrogen to feature in Covid-19 rescue pacakages. The sector is heavily tipped to be a beneficiary of the first phase of the government’s recovery package, set to be revealed this week. Last week the Prime Minister said the government intended to “invest massively in hydrogen”, admitting that he was “a big fan of buses made in Ballymena” – a direct reference to Wrightbus’ factory.

Business Green 7th July 2020 read more »