Hitachi will buy UK Horizon Nuclear Power for £700 million

The well known Japanese corporation Hitachi just made an announcement that six new nuclear power plants will be developed in the United Kingdom after the recent acquisition of the Horizon Nuclear Power venture, former property of RWE and E.ON, the deal worth  £697 million.

 With this new nuclear capacity project, enough electricity will be generated to provide around 14 million  private residences for the next 6 decades. The Japanese from the Hitachi corporation will continue the former plan of Horizon Nuclear Power, to invest in the construction  of nuclear power plants in Wylfa on Angelsey, Wales and Oldbury, Gloucestershire in the near future.

 Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron was very pleased by Hitachi's project, and mostly by the economic impact of such nuclear investments, he stated:

“This is a decades-long, multi-billion pound vote of confidence in the UK that will contribute vital new infrastructure to power our economy. It will support up to 12,000 jobs during construction and thousands more permanent highly skilled roles once the new power plants are operational, as well as stimulating exciting new industrial investments in the UK’s nuclear supply chain. I warmly welcome Hitachi as a major new player in the UK energy sector.”

This grandiose project will provide about 1 000 permanent jobs in the nuclear facilities from now on, also Hitachi promised to source 60% of the required equipment for building the nuclear plants from within United Kingdom, British manufacturers like Rolls Royce and Babcock International have just signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Hitachi. 

 The UK's Energy Secretary, Mr. Ed Davey, told John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4’s Today show, that  Electricity Market Reform helped in cementing this deal by providing Hitachi and other investors with long term investment clarity. He stated that :

“International investors looking at our energy policy have a huge amount of confidence in it.”

He was cornered by Humprys about the real cost of these projects, both in terms of  money and environmental issues, Mr. Davey replied:

“What would really be expensive for the UK consumer is if we were over-reliant on gas. What’s been pushing up people’s energy bills in recent years has been the increasing price of global gas. We’re having to import far more now as the gas in the North Sea declines in volume and that’s very expensive.”

These comments seem to be rather unorthodox, they actually go against the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) view, that gas related energy production will :

"play an important role in the energy mix well into and beyond 2030...[not] restricted to providing back up to renewables”.

It is mainstream news already that George Osborne convinced the energy department into publicly declare its support for the gas/shale gas industry, actualy  pitting the Liberal Democrat-led Department of Energy and Climate Change  against the Conservative-led Treasury.

 According to Hitachi, their first nuclear power plant in UK will be operational in 8 years, in 2020 to be more precise, when the UK Horizon will begin to feed electricity into the national power grid.

 Renewable UK made a research which indicates that renewable energy will take over nuclear power until 2018, if the current rate of growth is maintained, one in 10 households in UK will draw energy from renewable sources in the next 6 years. Well, that's the theory, let's see what the future brings.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

Solar Energy Under The feed-in Tariff Reach 1.3 GW in the UK

Another good news from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, also known as DECC, with the release of the fourth quarter energy statistics, breaking it reveals that solar powered installations in UK under the feed in tariff just reached 1.3 GW. Let's rejoice folks, we are now almost energy independent. Almost there. Just kidding.

 Moving on with the story, last month, September that is, the solar industry just added 67.969MW of capacity under the FiT mechanism, making the 1.3 GW mark now a reality with an impressive 1,340,868kW total capacity, this means that in 2012 alone, in the United Kingdom were installed 747.586MW of solar panels under the FiT agreement, so far so good.
 If you don't know about the FiT scheme, check this out folks:

If you install an electricity-generating technology from a renewable or low-carbon source such as solar PV or wind turbine, the UK Government's Feed-In Tariffs scheme (FITs) could mean that you get money from your energy supplier.

You can be paid for the electricity you generate, even if you use it yourself, and for any surplus electricity you export to the grid. And of course you'll also save money on your electricity bill, because you'll be using your own electricity.

A similar scheme is being introduced for heat generation: the Renewable Heat Incentive.

 There is a problem actually, solar insiders are worried about the poor performance of the >50 MW solar panels market, in the month of September there were only 8 installations registered above that figure, meaning between 50 kW and 250kW. The experts in the industry consider the actual rates of FiT of 11.5/11p as being much too small in order to motivate and stimulate any real demand.

 The best place for placing solar PV panels are the rooftops, both commercial buildings and individual residences, these provide an ideal platform for cheap sustainable energy production and also lower the carbon foot print. Not to mention slashing the power bill, at least during the day when the power consumption is the highest.

 The fastest and largest growth in the United Kingdom  was realized by  the segment of  the <4kW retrofit market which achieved 13.513MW of solar panels in September alone. The FiT is dominated by solar energy production, with nine out of ten clean/renewable energy projects installed with solar PV, you can see the full statistics from DECC right here.

Reading the statistics from DECC reveals that the market is recovering step by step after the fourth cut to the FiT which took place in August the current year and the figures show some mixed performance across the tariff bands that the solar power market operates within.

 Let's hope that the solar market will continue to grow and develop, especially in the  50-250kW range and that we will assist to a full recovery sooner rather than later. 

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

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IKEA will invest £1.2 billion until 2020 in Green Energy

The well known giant IKEA just announced that it will allocate £1.2 billion for an investment program in renewable energies, i.e. solar panels and wind turbines projects, up to 2015, the final goal is to achieve energy independence until 2020, all green.

 The main target of the company, being quote “energy and resource independent”, is also accompanied by the goal of achieving a better energy efficiency in IKEA group operations until 2020 also. These interesting projects and strategies were made public in  People & Planet Positive, IKEA's own newspaper.

 Let me give you a hint :

“We want to create a better everyday life for the many people. A better life includes living more sustainably. We have been working towards that goal for many years and have already done a lot, and we are now ready to take the next big step. People & Planet Positive will help us to do that; transforming our business and having a positive impact,” said Mikael Ohlsson, President and CEO, IKEA Group.

The industry appears to have welcomed IKEA’s sustainable approach. In response to the new strategy, John Sauven, Executive Director, Greenpeace UK, said “People & Planet Positive puts IKEA at the forefront of leading companies looking at the fundamentals of how to transform their business model in the face of environmental threats ranging from food and energy security issues through to water shortages and loss of biodiversity. On renewable energy IKEA’s vision of getting 100% renewable energy in their own operations by 2020 is the kind of ambition that if other companies followed would provide a huge boost to clean technology globally.”

 As a matter of fact, IKEA's green policies were proven until now, the company has installed 342,000 PV solar panels on various stores and buildings all around the world, recently they made tremendous efforts in US, this month they announced  the completion of its 34th solar project in this country.

Up to date, 75 percent of IKEA's facilities in the United States are Solar Powered, one way or another and soon another 5 stores will benefit from PV power, raising the amount of green stores  to 89% in US, of course. The total solar energy produced by IKEA in US will reach  a PV capacity of 38MW, in UK the company also has solar installations in 10 out of the 14 stores and facilities around the country.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

“Less politics in UK energy policy” dixit CBI

Dr. Neil Bentley has a conference in London with local business leaders in which he warned that the Government must take firm action in providing more certainty in the energy related policies, this will help the business growth and the investors confidence. In his own words :

“Energy investment is as much about growth as it is about secure, low-carbon power. Giving energy policy speeches can sometimes feel like being stuck in a time warp. While we support the Government’s direction of travel, the speed of progress is pretty frustrating.

“The energy bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, to boost our economy as well as head off our energy challenges. To grab that opportunity before it is too late, we need less politics, more policy.”

Mr Ed Davey, the Energy and Climate Change secretary, attended the event also and took a firm position regarding the numerous issues which plague the United Kingdom's energy policy, it was rumored that he had a special meeting  with the four most senior Coalition politicians, they discussed the controversies regarding the decision of Treasury to finance gas over state of the art and renewable green technologies.

Mr. Bentley said about this gas related issue : 

“All the evidence points towards a balanced and diverse energy mix as the most cost effective pathway to decarbonisation. This includes new nuclear, new renewables, new carbon capture and storage and new gas.

“Government is right to encourage safe shale gas extraction as it makes sense to maximise the amount of energy we can produce at home at a reasonable cost. But gas alone isn’t the answer.

“Most modelling shows future European gas prices rising, with or without an influx of unconventional gas, and so from both a cost and a security perspective, a mixed portfolio of generating technologies looks favourable.

“So let’s stop arguing over the energy mix and focus on attracting investment to create jobs and growth as quickly as possible.”

He also underlined the three top business directions for the UK energy bill, first, the CBI has concerns about the confusion in the markets over the total sum of financing available for future incentive payments in green technology starting with 2015, there are rumors about the Treasury planning to heavily reduce subsidies due to a tight budget in 2015.

 Another point in question was how the proposed capacity mechanism will ensure security of supply, Mr Bentley asked for more information and transparency to be sure that companies can make right business decisions on what to do with the existing infrastructure/power plants.

The third point was the reiteration of CBI's approval for introducing tougher carbon taxes in the energy bill, as Mr. Bentley observed:

“Let me be clear: the CBI strongly supports the Climate Change Act and the carbon budgets. The energy bill must deliver the pace of decarbonisation required to achieve them, which means that the levy control framework and the delivery plans must be set with them firmly in mind.

“This link to the existing Climate Change Act targets should be enshrined in the energy bill. But when we ask financiers what they need to help them make investment decisions, they don’t mention more targets. What they’re crying out for is the substantive policy detail I’ve set out.”

Mr. Bentley also declared: “We are seeing UK energy policy get increasingly political. Are you for green or for growth? Are you for renewables or for gas? Fruitless debates over these false choices can seem like they’re just noises off, but they really matter.

“With every new story that adds to the sense of uncertainty, I hear of more phone calls from overseas head offices to UK executives asking whether it is worth putting further work into scoping out possible investments in the UK.”

 Mr. Ed Davey took a stand in which he tried to relax the investors and to diminish the concerns expressed by the CBI, he said that the next energy bill will make billions of pounds available for investments in the green/renewable energy infrastructure, he responded to CBI's worries by the following statement:

“Low carbon is a fast growing sector, where we know there are shovel-ready projects ready to create jobs and inject investment into local economies up and down the UK. This vital infrastructure will power our economy and keep energy affordable for decades to come.

“The coalition is absolutely committed to getting these reforms right, through legislation and through the signals we send.  We have listened to investors and today have set out further measures to provide the certainty they need to make decisions that will benefit us all.” 

There was a clear hint from the Minister that the UK's government will seriously consider a carbon target for the power sector, he said :

“A strong case has been made by many investors in energy infrastructure for a decarbonisation target range for the power sector.  Such a range would make clear our continued commitment to our climate goals”. 

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

The Ark solar powered boat prototype hits Thames

If you never heard of Sanitov Studios, well, it's about time. They are a design team, a think tank actually, their goal is to develop urban designs which are sustainable in the present market/grim economy prospects to be more precise.
 They had a lot of ideas until now, the last one is really something else : how to make a property in London affordable to the average Joe.

 Since the demand for properties in the London area exceeds the construction number of new ones, the Sanitov Studios observed that the huge increase in house prices and the increasingly crowded property market are not cool anymore, at least for their taste.

The brilliant idea was to exploit an area never used before, that is the river Thames, since a 3 bedroom house in the current real estate market costs about 227 000 pounds and a houseboat goes anywhere between 60 000 and 100 000 pounds, they concluded that by building sustainable water-houses will be in the future a normal feature for the urban lifestyle, at least in cities like London.

 You must realize that a house-boat is an off grid device so you need to develop a sustainable form of energy generation for such a home. The residents must be responsible people, capable of a sustainable life style, in terms of energy consumption. So, the Sanitov Studios came with "The Ark", a biblical name with a biblical nature, i.e. an autonomous house boat in terms of energy production and self sustaining, the perfect gizmo for the crowded urban developments.

 Solar photo voltaic technology is nothing new for the house boat community, they used it for a while and it proved efficient and reliable in the long germ, so "The Ark" project, after a technical survey, decided to use for powering their baby a 2kWP solar array located on the upper deck, the project was developed in partnership with Enviko, a well known player in the solar energy market in the UK.

Based upon estimates from Enviko, the solar powered boat will produce 1,716kWh a year and will offset 1T of CO2/year, also, while a normal on-grid powered house consumes an average of 3,300kWh of electricity a year, "The Ark" will settle for ~1,000kWh annually.

You must realize that designing a photo voltaic farm for a house boat presents some significant problems, normally the solar panels face South for an optimum angle to generate peak electricity but on a boat that is moving, Houston, we have a problem.
So, Enviko decided to use Panasonic’s HIT range of modules which incorporates a mono thin crystalline silicon wafer surrounded by ultra-thin amorphous silicon layers – effectively boosting the solar module’s low-light performance.       

 Finally, "The Ark" prototype was ready to go, one of the first if not the first mission of the solar powered gizmo was to house a few members of  the Danish Olympic team during the Olympics, hosted in the city of London, as you must know if you're from our planet.

London has became a pioneer of the brave new solar powered world, with projects such as  Blackfriars Bridge and the BIPV installation at King’s Cross, now with "The Ark"  let's hope that the future of green energy in the UK is brighter than ever.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

British Gas will rise the Gas and Electricity prices

The greatest and most important energy supllier in the United Kingdom, British Gas that is, just gave us bad news, they announced that, as for November 16 we will pay more for the gas and electricity by an average of 6 percent. For the regular Joe, this will translate in an increase with  £80 on the gas and electricity bill combined.

 Mr. Phil Bentley, the Managing Director of British Gas made the following statement:

“We know that household budgets are under pressure and this rise will be unwelcome.  However, we simply cannot ignore the rising costs that are largely outside our control, but which make up most of the bill.

“Britain’s North Sea gas supplies are running out, and British Gas has to pay the going rate for gas in a competitive global marketplace. Furthermore, the investment needed to maintain and upgrade the national grid to deliver energy to our customers’ homes, and the costs of the Government’s policies for a clean, energy efficient Britain are all going up.

As a green, optimistic conclusion, he also said: “We need an energy efficiency culture in Britain today; rising prices don’t have to mean rising bills.” 

 Put aside the North Sea depletion of resources, there are another problems for British Gas, namely :

“other costs behind energy bills"  which translates into :  “Britain’s national grid requires a major upgrade, which is being funded through energy bills, and the costs of the Government’s policies that will ensure a clean, energy-efficient Britain, are also rising.  Together, these have added around £50 to the cost of supplying the average customer’s home this year, and are expected to add nearly £60 to the cost of supplying the average customer’s home next year.”

These allegations are good news for the solar panel industry, both for producers and installers, in the future we can see a demand for these renewable energies alternatives as the conventional energy prices continue to grow.

 You remember the recent declarations of George Osborne and Owen Paterson, Tories top dogs, they said  that they will  support the exploration/use of Shale gas technology in the near future, regarding the environmental impact of such "dirty" business. 

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

Natalie Bennett, the Leader of the Green Party hails the 47MW solar project

In a recent interview for Portsmouth News, the recently elected leader of the Green Party in Britain, Natalie Bennett declared that the German company ib vogt’s project of installing 47 MW of solar power in the UK is  ‘Britain’s future’
 If they manage to implement it, this project will be the largest solar powered installation in the UK and the second in the European Union.

 During the interview, Bennett stated :

 “This solar farm will put Fareham at the forefront of the green energy revolution that is needed to curb climate change and secure this country’s energy supply.”

 Click here to watch the whole interview.

 In the interview, Bennett also mentioned that big projects in solar energy in the UK will help the country in achieving a clean and renewable source of energy, without big environmental impacts, such as in the exploitation of shale gas, for example, which devastates the area of exploitation and poisons the water and the land. In her own words :

 “We are talking about having wild flowers growing, sheep grazing and the rights of way maintained, not a large-scale housing development.
‘The fact is that we do need more energy and we need to do a lot of work on energy conservation. Even if we do all we can, we still need low and zero carbon energy sources.’
‘The alternative to this is fracking – an extreme form of energy harvesting – basically blowing up the ground under your feet. Faced with destroying the earth or planting wild flowers and allowing sheep to graze, I think the choice is pretty obvious.’

The local community from Portsmouth, where the interview was made reacted with mixed emotions to these proposals from the Green Party leader, a local councilor, Mr Sean Woodward stated, according to Portsmouth News:

 “This is a shocking proposal that I am sure will be of great interest and concern to residents of Stubbington and south Fareham.
“It would represent the loss of a significant area of countryside which forms a strategic gap between South Fareham and Stubbington. There are many issues that the council as the local planning authority will need to take into account if a planning application is submitted next month including, but not limited to, the environmental impact – positive in terms of power generation and negative in terms of the presence of thousands of solar panels, public views across the site and agricultural land that would be lost from cultivation to name just a few.”




For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

Lightsource and Eaton developing 11MW of solar parks in the UK

Lightsource Renewable Energy, the well known  United Kingdom based developer, owner and operator specializing in PV installations, just finished completing the development of three solar parks  located all around the United Kingdom. The biggest park developed until now is located in Cambridgeshire and has an installed capacity of 5MW, the other two solar parks are in Devon and produce 2.5 MW and 3.5 MW.

For these projects to take place, Lightsource Renewable Energy partnered with Solarcentury, also a UK based solar panel designer/manufacturer, which has a very good engineering and project management team, also they teamed up with Eaton’s Electrical Sector. This company, which is a major player on the market for power management systems came with the knowhow and the actual hardware in installing BoS (balance of system) for each of the three solar parks.

In order to get connected to the power grid, Eaton played a significant part by designing/supplying and installing eight substations, all of them custom made for the project.

The solar energy flows from the solar park into Eaton DC junction boxes and from there into some SolarMax TS-SV 330kW inverters(which help in achieving maximum power point (“MPP”) efficiencies of 99%).; these feed into  Eaton’s Memform low-voltage switchboards.  These substations contain some 280V to 11kV transformers and Eaton Xiria 11kV ring main units with integral G59 protection. This technology helps reducing maintenance requirements and also plays a significant part in cutting the environmental impact of the equipment during the time of manufacture and at the end-of-life disposal.

These custom made substations courtesy of Eaton provide a very important connection between the PV panels and the national power distribution grid. With this installation, the company has extended its strong presence is the solar energy sector.

Thanks to the significant progress in solar panel technology, the large scale solar developments in the United Kingdom became more common and cost effective, this was evident in the last 18 months.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

Solar Power project from Campbell and Kennedy

The Scottish based Campbell and Kennedy established in 1953 by Tom Kennedy and Robert Campbell, undertaking domestic TV and radio works in and around the Glasgow area,  now  in a controlled expansion programme, and have made moves into a number of emerging markets including Solar Energy and Fire & Protection services, recently announced a new strategy for developing solar power in the UK.

The company, well known for their CATV and satellite services, now announced a financial scheme addressed both to the private sector and public institutions who want to benefit from the solar power opportunities.

 Campbell and Kennedy realized that there is an untapped market of potential clients who cannot afford to invest in solar power installations, which require a serious initial cost and this constitutes a deal breaker for many of them.

 So they decided to offer a lease option that range between 10 and 20 years, just like a car or a house lease, with monthly payments, custom made on each client’s needs.
 The managing director of Campbell and Kennedy, Mr. Gerry Kennedy, made the following statement:

 “Given the huge financial rewards organizations can reap through solar PV and LED installations - thanks to reduced electricity costs and income generation from the feed-in tariff scheme - we’re delighted to be helping more organizations benefit.”

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime:
http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

UK at risk to lose investments from the Energy Giants

The major players on the energy market are disappointed by George Osborne’s attempts to water down  the Government’s green commitments. The 7 major companies in the game wrote a letter which was obtained by The Times, they warn that these unfortunate policies  are seriously damaging the investment prospects in the UK.

 The companies I am talking about are global corporations,  electricity and nuclear  technology related, between the 7 I have to mention Siemens, the German engineering giant, Alstom UK, Mitsubishi Power Systems and four other companies, which together employ 17,500 people in the British energy sector.
They  told The Times that they will have to cut their investment plans in the future, millions of pounds in the next years because of the scale back in the green energy sector by the Government.

They said that they will have to “to re-assess the level of political risk in the UK.”  And their future business plans and investments are ““critically dependent on a long-term policy framework.”

The letter was addressed to Ed Davey, signed by Siemens, Vestas, Gamesa, Alstom UK, Mitsubishi Power Systems, Doosan and Areva, states that :

“Historically the UK has benefitted from being known as a country with low political risk for energy investments. Undermining that reputation would have damaging consequences for the scale of future investments in the UK energy sector.”

They also ask for “a binding 2030 target for power sector decarbonisation.” Also, the industry giants propose a target that “would help reduce the political risk currently associated with long-term industrial investment.”  

The future investments in the United Kingdom’s infrastructure from these industry giants  were threatened by the Chancellor’s support for gas development and also by the disregard of environmental policies which were altered by the cuts  to the feed-in tariff scheme of the solar industry.

It’s true that Mr. Osborne, at a Conservative Party Conference, engaged himself in “opening up the shale gas reserves” underneath the UK by offering “a generous new tax regime for shale gas in the UK.”

 Mr. Gaynor Hartnell,  Chief Executive of the REA, made the following statement  regarding this new policy :

 “It is now or never for the Coalition Government. We have the resource potential and engineering and financial expertise to be a global leader in renewables – but a lack of clarity from Government risks leaving us stuck at the back of the pack.
“Mainstream businesses, from our supermarkets to the big blue chip tech firms, know that renewables are the way forward for UK plc. This is not about saving the planet, it’s about businesses planning for the future and maintaining their competitiveness in the 21st century.”

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime:

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

New High Efficiency Modules from LG Electronics

The well known South Korean manufacturer just announced its new range of solar panels with high efficiency in producing renewable solar energy.

 Their new line of products now it is capable of achieving   an average of 20.6 percent and a 20.7 percent of maximum efficiency, this means that the huge LG Corporation is now a player in the big boys league, with some of the best technology on the solar panel market today.

 These announcements were made after in-house testing, they were made in LG’s labs, which are state of the art and certified by TUV and UL, under strict requirements and standard testing conditions.

Of course, these great results were made possible by huge investments in developing solar technology, the company has spent some hundreds of millions of pounds in their solar panel division but now there are results and the company hopes they will pay off in the end.

Mr. Michael Harre, the Vice President of the EU solar business Group of LG Electronics made the following statement:

"With our new G3 modules, we have recently introduced ultra-modern and extremely efficient modules which, thanks to their high performance and attractive design, will be well received by customers.

 He also mentioned: “With its recent progress, LG demonstrates that we have gotten even closer to the maximum capacity of solar cells and solar modules. We will continue to intensify our efforts in research and development in order to increase these achieved peak values and to strengthen our position as a pioneer in the solar industry. With our innovative solar modules, we want to serve the increasing demand for quality products for renewable energy as best as possible. "

 At the moment, LG Electronics is producing the 156x156 mm panels with monocrystalline p-type wafers, the current industry standard but starting with 2013 they intend to include in the line of production the new high efficiency solar panels I mentioned before.

 Let’s wish them luck and hope for a better world.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime:

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/

REW Solar and RDCM will become partners in the UK market

 The UK based solar panel installers from REW Solar UK ltd,  which has established  on the international solar market with the exclusive production of high-quality silicone modules, with their headquarters in Hertfordshire made public their partnership with Renewables Distribution Centre Midlands which provides an extensive range of products to various markets, such as councils, building merchants and shopping centres amongst many others, with very competitive prices.

This sweet deal makes possible for  Renewables Distribution Centre Midlands to offer the full  range of solar panel produced by REW Solar and also benefit from their assistance and know how in this domain.

The managing director from REW Solar UK ltd made the following statement :

“We are delighted to have Renewables Distribution Centre Midlands as part of our growing distributor network and we very much look forward growing the business with them in the coming year.”

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/  

The Chinese Company Sunergy expands its UK business

The Chinese based company China Sunergy just signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) in which it states its desire to expand the business in UK, we are talking about a 50MW MOU, that's not small business folks.

 Sunergy is present at Solar Power UK 2012 at booth P19, you can pay them a visit anytime between 2 and 4 of October, also they are showcasing their QSAR modules and the standard poly-silicon ones in the solar park demonstration area. Yolanda Qin, the country manager for China Sunergy will made daily presentation at the tech exhibition in which will explain how important for your solar park are the module's specs, in terms of energy production efficiency and reliability in the long run.

 The 50MW project mentioned in the Memorandum of Understanding will take place in Cornwall and Devon and each project will have a maximum of 10 MW photo voltaic (PV) capacity.

Mr. William Sheng, the CEO of China Sunergy Europe division made the following statement:

“CSUN is expanding its activities in the UK and preparing for large scale employment of its technology in solar park project realization hence the sponsorship request matched perfectly with our activities We are very pleased to have found the right partners from the investment community, with whom we have signed a 50MW Memorandum of Understanding as first step of our UK extension plans.”

China Sunergy is a very large company with significant activity and a big market share in Southern and Eastern Europe and also are developing business relations in Germany and developing regions such as South America and Africa.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/  

One school in Cornwall uses solar PV for heating Gym and Swimming Pool

The Truro school located in Cornwall is one of the pioneers walking towards the brave new world of green energy, they invested in one of the largest installations of solar panels in the UK, a roof hosted solar PV array capable of delivering 85kWp. 

The solar panels are hosted on the roofs of the Gym class and the swimming pool and the system consists of over 330 ReneSolar modules, working together with Power One Aurora inverters.

 The project will help the school to reduce the costs of the electricity bill every year and also will contribute to a greener environment, at least that's the theory with the carbon footprint.

Renewable Energy Co-operative took care of the installation, they are of course, part of the Co-operatives UK, I don’t know about you folks but that sounds a little bit like USSR and socialism, they were obsessed with co-operativisation.

 Anyway, 2012 was the international year of Co-Operatives, again, sounds like international socialism to me, but maybe I am a little bit paranoid, I just don't like the rhetoric.

 The idea behind this concept was to grow the Gross Domestic Product from the co-operative sector to 20 percent, from the 2 percent in the present.

 Mr. Abe Cambridge, the Technical Director of Renewable Energy Co-operative stated that:

"As a co-operative we abide by the co-op principles that emphasize the importance of working in the education sector. R-ECO has now installed over a quarter of a MW on schools alone and we hope to do many more!"

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/  

Bradford Cathedral, the first in UK powered by Solar Energy

Have you heard about the Bradford Cathedral? Probably not. Well, now they are making breaking news, being the first Cathedral in the UK which generates its own electricity via solar panels. The solar PV system was installed by a specialized company, Sundog Energy located in Cumbria. Of course, these actions required permission from the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, the English Heritage and of course, from the local authorities, the Bradford Council.

 The project consisted in the installation of 42 Trina Solar modules on the roof of the buildings in a way which would not affect the beauty of the architecture. Obviously, the constructor and the project first had to convince the authorities of these things, then they begun to work on the project.

  Reverend. Andrew Williams, who is a Canon Pastor at the Bradford Cathedral made the following statement:

"As the person driving the project forward from this end I wanted to express our total satisfaction with the professional manner in which Sundog Energy undertook this installation. As this was a pioneer project (with no other cathedrals having installed PV) the preparations had to be thorough. This meant a wide gap between the original quotation and commissioning the work, but your company agreed to honour the quotation.

“The team who installed the system was thoroughly professional in their approach; they were patient, cooperative and flexible, willing to have their work interrupted by the arrival of newspaper and TV reporters. I would like to pay special tribute to the site manager for Sundog Energy. He was courteous, efficient and totally professional at all times and ensured that the installation was completed on time, as promised.

“I know that this particular project has generated considerable interest; indeed, we are getting regular requests for advice from churches and individuals. I am always happy to name our suppliers and believe that Sundog has had several approaches following the publicity here. When we initiated this project we knew it was essential to select a contractor with a sound track record, whose experience and expertise we could trust; we are delighted that this trust has been vindicated." 

 The total power installed is a 9.9 kWp array and will be a real money earner for the cathedral administration, it is expected to save thousands of pounds/year  off the electricity bill and of course, it will play a significant role in reducing carbon emissions.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/ 

Additional electricity storing facilities problems, predicted by Ofgem

Recently, a report from the Ofgem raised some interesting questions about the level of electricity storing facilities in the UK market, in their own words is "“set to end quite rapidly over the next few years.”  The margins of spare electricity are possible to be reduced from the present 14 percent on average to only 4 percent by 2016. Sounds pretty scary, huh?

 Things get scarier, the analysis predicts that there will be dark, I mean that in the future some of the power grid customers will experience blackouts, Ofgem also said that : "The risk of electricity disconnections will appreciably increase from near zero levels.”

 We all remember the 2009 predictions, now revised, in the Project Discovery, which stated that old technology  , like coal and oil power stations, will be history until 2015 (when is the deadline for these major polluters) .

 The major risk factors to energy supplies are the global economic crisis, the environmental program and the old and aging energy infrastructure, all summed up can trigger unpleasant events in the near future.

 Mr. Alistair Buchanan, Chief Executive of Ofgem made the following comment:

 “The unprecedented challenges facing Britain’s energy industry, identified in Ofgem’s Project Discovery, to attract the investment to deliver secure, sustainable and affordable energy supplies for consumers, still remain. Ofgem is working with Government on its plans to reform the electricity market to tackle these issues.

“Ofgem is playing its part by helping Britain to attract nearly £30 billion of network investment thorough its RIIO price controls. Ofgem is also seeking sweeping reforms to the retail market to ensure a simpler, clearer and fairer energy market for consumers. This is vital as if consumers are going to be expected to pay for this investment, it is only right that they see a complete change in the way suppliers treat them. Encouragingly, we are increasingly seeing evidence that suppliers have got the message and we will be publishing our next reforms proposals shortly.”

 Mr. Edward Davey, secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) made a declaration following the Ofgem report:

“I am grateful to Ofgem for providing to Government their first annual Electricity Capacity Assessment. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the security outlook and Government will consider carefully the implications. We will respond formally before the end of the year.

“Security of electricity supply is of critical importance to the health of the economy and the smooth functioning of our daily lives. That is why the Government is reforming the electricity market to deliver secure, clean and affordable electricity.”

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/ 

Rexel UK addresses the need for educating Britain about renewable heat

  

I hope you all know about Rexel UK Limited, a business-to-business distributor of electrical installation supplies, also focused on Environmental and Health & Safety products. They recently made a survey that reveals that 56% of customers have not heard of combined heat and power units, while nearly half (46% and 42% respectively) are unaware of air-source and ground-source heat pumps. 

They emphasize the necessity of educating the British consumers about the benefits of renewable heat, this issue was recently addressed by the Public Attitudes Tracker, the wave 2 from  DECC, also they stated that the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme for summer 2013 is in the works by the government of the UK.

 The Renewable Heat Incentive scheme will function in the same way the FiT scheme for solar panels worked in 2010, as introduced by the Government.

 The survey from 2011 carried out by Rexel showed that a mere 13 percent of the UK people had any idea and basic notions about the PV feed-in-tariffs. After only a year, thanks to the media campaign, the latest DECC Tracker reveals that 82 percent of the people are in support for using the Solar Panel technology in their homes and businesses.

Mr.  Brian Smithers, director of Rexel UK stated:

“Legislation to encourage the adoption of these technologies, such as the RHI for renewable heat, can only take us so far,”

“It’s crucial that the industry comes together to share knowledge and educate, not only the consumer but also the developers, specifiers and installers who play such a key role in helping the UK to meet its carbon emission reduction targets,”  pointed Mr. Smithers.

For more information and news about solar energies in the UK, you may visit here anytime: 

http://www.solar-energy.co.uk/