Wave Hub progress 3 Sept
Engineers working on a £42m wave energy scheme in Cornwall plan to try again to lower an electrical socket on to the sea bed later. The 12-tonne Wave Hub is being laid 180 feet (55m) down about 10 miles (16km) offshore from a ship, the Nordica. An operation to lower it from the ship overnight failed.
Click here for full storyA coalition of green, countryside and housing groups has warned energy secretary Chris Huhne not to cut subsidies for green electricity and heating as part of the government's spending review. The 22 groups, including green energy trade body the Renewable Energy Association, the National Farmers Union and the Federation of Master Builders, said in a letter to Huhne that cutting schemes that subsidise household generation of renewable energy would jeopardise job creation, energy security and greenhouse gas targets.
Click here for full storyCoalition of green, countryside and housing groups warns that cutting schemes that subsidise household generation of renewable energy would jeopardise job creation, energy security and greenhouse gas targets
Click here for full storyScottish Government ministers now have the reporter's recommendation on whether or not to approve the 48 turbine wind farm at Fallago Rig on the western edge of the Lammermuir hills. It took the Government over 18 months to make public the findings of the first public inquiry held in 2008, the reporter recommending refusal on the grounds of objections made by the Ministry of Defence.
Click here for full storyFraser Gillies, a partner in the Renewable Energy team at Wright Johnston & Mackenzie LLP, looks at whether reforms to Scotland's planning system are benefiting the renewables sector.
Click here for full storyAberdeen Offshore Windfarm Ltd has submitted a formal scoping request for an Environmental Impact Assessment to Scottish Ministers.
Click here for full storyA new study has highlighted the appetite for community-led energy projects in Scotland. Over half of Scots (51per cent), particularly those aged between 18 and 34, would be interested in helping to set up and run a social energy project, according to the latest MORI Poll. The poll, commissioned by the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition, also found that the majority of those surveyed (73 per cent) believe that the Government should provide financial support to firms looking to set up their own renewable energy schemes such as wind farms and hydro-electric generation.
Click here for full storyThe gold rush sparked by the launch of the UK's renewable energy feed-in tariff stepped up a notch this week after German solar specialist Centrosolar launched a UK subsidiary and obtained product UK certification for its solar panels…… The company has recruited seven-year solar industry veteran Simon Gerrard, former head of domestic sales for Solarcentury, to run its British subsidiary.
Click here for full storyOffshore Ship Designer's first project in the marine renewable energy field will shortly be commencing on site trials in the UK's Humber estuary. By applying its experience and design knowledge, OSD has helped UK company Neptune Renewable Energy Ltd (NREL) to develop an innovative device to capture the potential of tidal stream energy. The Proteus NP1000 full scale demonstrator will harness tidal currents to produce at least 1000 MWh/year of electrical energy.
Click here for full storyTwo services firms have unveiled a £11.75 million ‘master plan' to revive a fabrication yard at Kishorn in West Scotland and turn it into a major hub for the manufacturing, assembly and construction of offshore renewables. The proposal would see quarry and construction products company Leiths and logistics firm Ferguson Transport develop the Kishorn yard and dry dock. The venture will be known as Kishorn Port Limited and is expected to focus on offshore wind turbine construction and the wave and tidal industry.
Click here for full storyGood Energy, the UK’s leading 100% renewable energy supplier, has launched Personal Allowance Carbon Tracking (PACT) - the world’s first voluntary staff carbon trading scheme – with more than two-thirds of employees signing up.
Click here for full storyLow Carbon Business: article written by Greg Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, published in The Times Low Carbon Business supplement, 1 September 2010.
Click here for full storyOne of the world's leading climate change experts, Sir Nicholas Stern, has warned countries such as Australia will face future trade barriers unless it moves to a low-carbon economy. In a speech to the National Press Club yesterday, Lord Stern said the world should embrace what he called the ''new industrial revolution'' of cleaner technologies and renewable energy.
Click here for full storyEnergy regulator Ofgem has now released the UK installation numbers for the period 1-31st August 2010, revealing a huge spike in figures. The details set out on the company’s website show that August was a record month in terms of solar photovoltaic installations. Back at the beginning of August, the Solar Power Portal announced the installation figures for the period April 1 to July 31, which outlined that PV had significantly overtaken any other renewable energy source in those four months, hitting a total of 11.266MW since the feed-in tariff was introduced. The total figure for solar PV installations for this period was 4,457, 4,429 of which were domestic, six commercial, and one community.
Click here for full storyYouGen welcomes DECC’s clarification on grants and feed-in tariffs. Many schools and community groups have endured a long period of uncertainty, having been told they could not claim the feed-in tariff unless they paid back grants received under the Low Carbon Building Programme. They also did not know what rate of feed-in tariff they would get if they kept the grant.
Click here for full story“Save up to £1,000 per employee by reducing waste and improving resource efficiency” says the Rethink Waste leaflet. Rethink Waste is a free initiative from WRAP, with support from manufacturers’ organisation EEF, to help manufacturers reduce waste, improve resource efficiency and save money. The initiative is delivered in three monthly online training modules, backed up by audiocasts, telephone support and in-depth publications. Register by 15 September.
Click here for full storyStiebel Eltron has completed a raft of installation contracts across the UK. The Wirral-based firm has been working in the domestic and commercial sectors to provide green energy and home comfort products to both retro-fit and new build projects. Commercial projects include the JCB Academy in Rochester, Staffordshire, where installer MG Renewables has installed Stiebel Eltron solar thermal units for hot water, while York Racecourse is currently trialling the company’s instantaneous hot water heaters with a view to installation across the venue.
Click here for full storyRenewable energy developers RES this week announced plans for an 11-turbine windfarm between New Luce, Kirkcowan and Glenluce. The developers say the wind farm would provide "enough clean, green electricity equivalent to the average demand of over 14,000 homes" and they are suggesting donating £50,000 annually to the three villages for the benefit of their community.
Click here for full storyIrish renewable energy firm Kedco has received planning permission to develop a 12MW waste wood biomass-gasification facility at a site in Enfield, North London. Permission for the platn, which the company expects to cost £45 million to develop, was granted earlier this week (August 31) by Enfield council. The planning approval means that Kedco can now begin securing funding for the plant.
Click here for full storyFrench energy service giant Technip has thrown its weight behind plans for an offshore windfarm near Aberdeen. The firm, which has its UK headquarters at Westhill, not far from the Granite City, joins Swedish utility company Vattenfall and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (Areg) in taking the project forward. Technip and Vattenfall said yesterday they were working together to manage development and consenting activities for the new European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre.
Click here for full storyDet Norske Veritas (DNV), the international Marine and Offshore Certification and Classification agency, has issued a Statement of Conformity to certify that the performance of the world’s largest and most powerful tidal turbine, the 1.2MW SeaGen, has been correctly evaluated according to the principles contained in the “Edinburgh Protocol” - the protocol for tidal turbine testing developed by the University of Edinburgh for the UK Government’s Department of Energy & Climate Change, and also EMEC’s own testing protocol.
Click here for full storySpecial supplement featuring articles by Greg Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, Alan Aldridge, Executive Director of ESTA,and several articles about powerPerfector's unique Voltage Power Optimisation (VPO) technology.
Click here for full storyGlobal engineering company Siemens has awarded a multi million pound wind energy contract to Harland & Wolff Heavy Industries Ltd in Belfast. The deal will see Harland & Wolff design and build two substation platforms for the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm approximately ten miles off the coast of North Wales.
Click here for full storyThe Solar Trade Association has today (September 1) welcomed figures published by Ofgem which show a surge in the number of solar photovoltaic panels installed by homeowners in August. However, while the solar energy industry body welcomed the report it stressed that there was a need for further improvement to help the UK to catch up with the rest of Europe.
Click here for full storyAs many as half of Britain's homes could earn around £600 a year from roof top solar panels with some earning as much as £1000... Research carried out by British Gas suggests that over 12 million households have roofs that could benefit from solar panel installations which would produce enough electricity for up to half their household needs.
Click here for full storyPorts in Swansea and Port Talbot are well placed to benefit from a new wave of offshore wind farms. Earlier this year, leading renewable energy firm RWE npower Renewables published a report looking into the potential of developing a wind farm in the Bristol Channel. Yesterday a spokesman for the Welsh Assembly Government said Welsh ports in the Bristol Channel including Swansea and Port Talbot were well placed to benefit.
Click here for full storyIn a UK first, Southampton airport has installed solar-powered LED safety lights across its airfield. Nicknamed 'wig wags' due to their flashing patterns, the lights are being used to direct aircraft and vehicles at intersections between the runway and taxiways. Solar panels charge the batteries and ensure the system operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Click here for full storyAs part of renewable energy month, Greenbuild News has put together a panel of experts to answer your questions. The first question, from a local authority, is answered by Martyn Bridges, director of marketing and technical support at Worcester, Bosch Group.
Click here for full storyA retired road safety engineer is using Southampton Water to test what he claims could become the future of offshore renewable energy. Slade Penoyre has spent years developing a floating wind turbine, millions of which could one day be dotted around the coastline. He believes using small moored floating generators rather than seabed mounted monsters could slash the cost of offshore electricity generation by at least half.
Click here for full storySocial networking website Facebook is coming under unprecedented pressure from its users to switch to renewable energy. In one of the web's fastest-growing environmental campaigns, Greenpeace international says at least 500,000 people have now protested at the organisation's intention to run its giant new data centre mainly on electricity produced by burning coal power.
Click here for full storyA study by a computer scientist at the University of Toronto suggests that the computer models used to predict climate change may be undermined due to a lack of programming expertise. Steve Easterbrook at the University's Department of Computer Science, has had his paper, Climate Change: A Grand Software Challenge, accepted by the 2010 FSE/SDP Workshop on the Future of Software Engineering Research. In the paper, he suggests that because many climate prediction software modelling tools are built by climate scientists rather than software engineers some of the resulting software has room for improvement.
Click here for full storyA 200-turbine offshore wind farm has been proposed for a site off the Caithness coast. Consortium Moray Offshore Renewables is to hold a series of studies on the project's potential economic and environmental impact. Public meetings will also be held in communities along the coasts of the Moray Firth.
Click here for full storyPlans to increase the height of three wind turbines which will be built near a north-east town have been approved by councillors. Aberdeenshire Council planners had recommended the application for refusal but councillors on the Kincardine and Mearns area committee voted in favour of letting the development go ahead.
Click here for full storyResidents have backed plans for a major windfarm in central Buchan which would generate enough electricity to power 4,000 homes. The three-turbine development is earmarked for a peat field known as St Fergus Moss, about six miles north of Peterhead. A total of 20 letters supporting the scheme have been sent to planners, who have yet to receive any objections over the project.
Click here for full storyYorkshire's bid to become a multi-billion pound player in the offshore wind and energy generation will take a step forward this week as a Danish wind farm delegation visits the region. The mission, which is taking place from today (1 September) until Friday, will showcase the growing offshore wind energy sector in Yorkshire and Humber and help develop partnerships between regional businesses and their Danish counterparts.
Click here for full storyElectricity output from the wind farms in the north of Scotland exceeded the demand for electricity from the homes and workplaces in the area for the first time yesterday morning (Sunday 29 August 2010). Between 0800 and 0900 electricity output from wind farms of just over 700MW (megawatts) exceeded demand from customers of just under 700MW in the area served by SSE Power Distribution (SSEPD). Other electricity generation plant continued to operate throughout the period, and the surplus electricity was distributed to meet demand in other parts of Great Britain’s electricity network.
Click here for full storyThe £27bn tax on heavy industry to fund "green boilers" for 1m British homes is expected to be radically overhauled, amid claims that the devices are expensive and unreliable at keeping houses warm. The hefty subsidy, called the Renewable Heat Incentive, is likely to raise gas bills by up to £104 for domestic consumers and £321 for industrial customers by the end of the decade. The scheme – which gives around £1,000 per year to households that generate their own green heat – was due to be introduced in spring next year.
Click here for full storyGreater Gabbard, one of the largest offshore wind farms under construction in the world, has moved a step closer to generating 500MW of renewable electricity. The installation of all the 140 turbine foundations is now complete and thirty wind turbines are now in place. Located approximately 25km off the Suffolk Coast, the wind farm development is a joint venture partnership between SSE and RWE npower renewables. The first offshore turbines are expected to start producing renewable energy later this year and the wind farm will become fully operational in 2012 when it is expected to generate enough renewable electricity for over 500,000 homes*.
Click here for full storyGlobal solar photovoltaics project developer, juwi Solar, is to extend its international business activities by entering new photovoltaics markets and creating 500 new jobs worldwide by 2012. As well as continuing to focus on experienced markets, the company has also outlined plans to set up a new branch based in the UK, creating 'green' jobs for UK residents. /
Click here for full storyEnel, Europe's most indebted utility, would have to sell shares in its renewable arm at a big discount to win over investors disappointed with underperforming green energy stocks, an investment manager said.
Click here for full story
Home
Industry headlines
RSS News Feed
