George Kerevan: Forget the virtue signalling and say to hell with bogus state aid rules. The Scottish Government’s powers may be limited but they go far enough not only to save BiFab but also to create a public stake in the offshore wind industry. BATHGATE no more. Linwood no more. Methil no more. Irvine no more. The elegy the Proclaimers sang to a lost industrial Scotland remains as haunting and evocative as ever. It conjures up the anguish and anger we all felt as a heartless, foreign Thatcherism destroyed the Scottish economy. It served as the anthem for those of us who decided to resist, to take back ownership and control of our country and our lives from foreign multinationals. And from governments in London that refused to lift a finger to save jobs, giving the excuse that “free markets” left to themselves were a better way of running the economy than conscious, planned human intervention. BiFab is in the news not because it has won orders but because it hasn’t. BiFab is going the way of the BMC lorry plant at Bathgate, of the Chrysler car plant at Linwood, and of all the other ghosts of Scotland’s industrial past. For despite there being a bonanza of demand on Scotland’s doorstep for the infrastructure to enable this vast new renewables industry, actual manufacturing is being done elsewhere – mostly in China and the Gulf. Soon it will be BiFab no more.

The National 26th Oct 2020 read more »

A SCOTTISH renewables company is launching a crowdfunding campaign to support its commissioned biorefinery in Scotland. Edinburgh-based Celtic Renewables specialises in the Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol fermentation process which converts local low value materials into low-carbon, high-value, sustainable products. The commissioning of Celtic Renewables’ biorefinery in Scotland in Grangemouth – the first of its kind in the UK – is on track for spring 2021 and after £30 million funding already raised, the business is “poised to play a pivotal role in the UK’s transition to a net-zero economy”.

Herald 26th Oct 2020 read more »

Zero Carbon Humber has sent an open letter to energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng, calling on the government to back a major funding bid. This follows on from the 12 organisations behind the project submitting a bid to the second phase of the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund for £75 million of funding. The letter, signed by all partners including the likes of Equinor, Drax, National Grid, and SSE, argues that if the bid was successful it will help unlock a potentially multi-billion pound project, and reduce the UK’s annual emissions by 15%. The carbon capture, hydrogen and infrastructure project would help the UK meet its international legally binding climate target, as well as future-proofing the existing industry, the partnership argued to Kwarteng.

Current 23rd Oct 2020 read more »

The use of hydrogen for motoring or heating on a large scale is problematic for several reasons. First, the production of “green hydrogen” by electrolysis is extremely wasteful compared to using renewable energy directly to run heat pumps or electric vehicles. You need around five times more wind or solar power to heat a house with hydrogen than to heat the same house with an efficient heat pump. Fuel cell cars need almost three times as much electricity compared to electric vehicles. As a result of this inefficiency, the required expansion rates for renewables would be extremely high, a fact pointed out by the UK Committee on Climate Change in its comprehensive report on the future of hydrogen. The expansion of renewable energies is already happening too slowly to even reach the climate targets. It seems highly unlikely that Europe will have the money and the land to build five times as many turbines and solar panels just to keep the old fossil gas pipelines running.

Science AP 23rd Oct 2020 read more »

Tom Baxter: The UK’s Hydrogen Task Force recently published a report that claimed investing in hydrogen could unlock £18bn in Gross Value Added by 2035. On the face of it an impressive number and one that caught the eye of the media and energy commentators including Energy Voice. The contributors to the report included fossil companies, hydrogen boiler manufacturers and gas grid operators. As many Energy Voice readers will be aware I believe hydrogen is being over-sold by vested interests. Fossil companies, hydrogen boiler manufacturers, hydrogen producers and gas grid operators have a business model where pushing hydrogen is an understandable position.

Energy Voice 26th Oct 2020 read more »

News of the stunning growth in generation of wind and solar energy came in a recent report from London-based Ember, a research organization that tracks the globe’s electricity transition “from coal to clean.” In fact, the report’s title gives the plot away: Wind and Solar Now Generate One-Tenth of Global Electricity. According to Ember’s calculations, based on mid-year stats for 48 countries that account for 83% of global electricity production, “wind and solar have quickly increased to become a major source of electricity in most countries in the world, and are successfully reducing coal burn throughout the world.” In fact, wind and solar’s share of global electricity rose from 8.1% in 2019 to a record 9.8% at the end of June 2020. Their share has now more than doubled from 4.6% in 2015, when the Paris Climate Agreement was signed. Wind and solar now generate almost as much carbon-free power as nuclear power plants, which currently produce 10.5% of global electricity.

Corporate Knights 23rd Oct 2020 read more »

Dave Elliott: The IEA has been relatively conservative in the past, with its projections for green energy often being low, for PV solar especially. But it has now to deal with the changed reality that renewables are cheap and booming. As Carbon Brief says in an excellent review of the IEA report, the IEA confirms that ‘solar is now cheapest electricity in history’ and its main scenario has 43% more solar output by 2040 than it expected in its 2018 review. So now with renewables accelerating, the IEA has them meeting 80% of the growth in global electricity demand by 2030, and maybe then almost catching up with the projections from the International Renewable Energy Agency, which has renewables supplying around 86% of global power by 2050. However these projections are still some way off from the levels in the scenarios emerging from academics at Stanford and elsewhere, who look to renewables supplying 100% of all energy globally by then, with no nuclear or CCS. That assumes a vast acceleration of renewables, but also a big cut in demand and major energy efficiency gains. With renewables currently supplying around 27% of global electricity, but only about 11% of total energy, there is a very long way to go. However, over 60 countries already get 50% or more of their power from renewables and the battle to get beyond that goes on, with the emphasis shifting more to heat and transport energy, and also to wider biodiversity impact issues.

Renew Extra 24th Oct 2020 read more »

The results of a multi-year scientific study in Denmark has concluded that birds are quite good at avoiding wind turbine blades, putting a serious dent in a common argument raised by anti-wind and -renewable activists. The new study, carried out by three relevant consultancies for Swedish power company Vattenfall, investigated the area around 11 turbines every three days for three periods of just over a month in both the first and third years after the erection of the 67.2MW Klim Wind Farm in northern Jutland, Denmark (pictured above). The research was carried out between August 2016 and May 2017 in the first year of operation, and August 2018 and May 2019 in the third year of operation. In an effort to determine an annual collision rate for the pink-footed geese and cranes, 11 selected turbines were inspected during autumn, winter, and spring.

Renew Economy 23rd Oct 2020 read more »

Wind turbine manufacturer GE Renewable Energy has unveiled latest wind turbine prototype, an optimised version of its Halifax-X offshore wind turbine design that can deliver a massive 13MW of output. It is the largest turbine that GE has produced, standing 248 metres tall, with 107 metre long blades and offers around double the generation capacity of most wind turbines currently deployed around the world. GE said that a working version of the wind turbine, optimised for offshore projects, had been deployed and was currently undergoing a series of tests to satisfy the requirements for certification.

Renew Economy 23rd Oct 2020 read more »

The Scottish government looks ready, finally, to pull the plug on struggling Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab). The manufacturer, owned almost a third by taxpayers, has now lost out on contracts to work on two massive offshore wind farms that will be built in Scottish waters. Last week the government warned in a leaked document that it was unlikely “to continue providing ongoing support to BiFab in its current form”. Canadian owner DF Barnes, which responded in 2018 to an invitation from the SNP to take on the business when it was threatened with administration, appears ready to cut its losses too. So much for all that talk of an “energy revolution”, creating 28,000 direct jobs in offshore wind in Scotland and £7.1bn of investment. This should be a lesson to the SNP that throwing taxpayers’ money at something for a quick headline — at least £40m in the case of BiFab — is not a substitute for a proper strategic plan for Scotland’s future industry and economy. In case you missed it, DF Barnes withdrew its bid for work on the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) wind farm project following a refusal by the Scottish government, which has a 32% stake in BiFab, to abide by an earlier commitment to provide financial guarantees for the contract. The abrupt volte-face by the Scottish government, based on an apparent sudden recognition that the guarantee violated European Union state aid rules, doesn’t ring true. The government appears to have belatedly realised this too. It now says that its decision was also based on a consideration of “the prospects and performance” of the business. The government insists it is merely a “minority shareholder” in the business, therefore it is up to BiFab’s majority shareholder, DF Barnes, to invest more.

Times 25th Oct 2020 read more »

MINISTERS stand to lose up to £52.4m of taxpayers money after pulling the rug under state-owned renewables manufacturer Burntisland Fabrication (BiFab) which is now believed to be on the brink of financial collapse. The Herald on Sunday can reveal that ministers signed off on what was a secret £30m guarantee to support Bifab last year before doing a U-turn after the failure of an important contract, leaving fears that the company faces liquidation.

Herald 25th Oct 2020 read more »

EVEN THOUGH Hull and East Yorkshire remain in devolution limbo, their area was enjoying a resurgence thanks to the dynamism of political and business leaders before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. A more constructive and collaborative approach secured the presence of offshore wind turbine manufacturer Siemens. Hull was also the UK’s City of Culture in 2017, a landmark celebration, while prospects for East Yorkshire’s caravan industry look better – in part due to ‘‘staycations’’. But much more needs to be done if the area is to have sufficient jobs – and career opportunities – for young people leaving school and college with enhanced qualifications so they don’t have to leave the area, as others did in the past, to find work and pursue their dreams.

Yorkshire Post 25th Oct 2020 read more »