The Green Deal launched in UK, despite some criticism

Today was a big day for the solar/renewable industry, after a soft-launch which took more than it should, at last, the Green Deal scheme was officially launched to the general public.

There will be many beneficiaries of the coalition's most important energy scheme, almost all the residences in England and Wales will be allowed to install energy efficiency measures without paying anything in advance.

The costs are to be paid for by the savings resulted on utility bills, and also the cost of repayments will be no bigger than the savings created by the installed measures, a consequence of higher efficiency etc.

Mr. Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, spoke today about the scheme's potential, which is able to help “thousands of homes stay warm for less”. He also stated that:

"The UK green sector is a success story – it is the sixth largest in the world and has a crucial part to play in building a strong economy. The Green Deal will support thousands of jobs – not just over the next few years, but in the long term.”

Not everybody was happy with the Green Deal scheme, actually it came under heavy criticism, there were allegations about the  "rip off interest rates", as they were revealed Friday to the general public.Indeed, the Gren Deal Finance Company (TGDFC) announced that the initial interest rate will start at 6.96 percent and it will be up to 7.96 percent for a ten year loan.

As Luciana Berger, the Labour’s Shadow Climate Change Minister explained:

"The whole point of the Green Deal is that households are meant to save money on their energy bills - but with rip off interest rates, hidden charges and penalty payments the Green Deal could end up costing people more than they save. With sky-high interest rates it’s hard to see how the Green Deal will be anything other than a bad deal for the public." 

The Green Deal launch suffered from a lack of attention from the general public, as a research showed that over 80 percent of the British public has no idea and never heard about the Green Deal scheme.

The United Kingdom Government invested heavily in a communications campaign, in order to combat the issue, over  £2.9 million were spent in this regard, and it is live as I write this article. The whole purpose of the campaign is to convince the population that the Green Deal is there to help them lower  their bills  and also keep their residences warmer.

The Department for Energy And Climate Change (DECC) Minister, Mr. Greg Barker commented about the Green Deal launch:

The Green Deal will transform the energy efficiency market and puts consumers in charge. It’s a fantastic new scheme that will allow people to make their homes warmer and save energy at the same time. And it’s not just consumers who will benefit. The Green Deal is also great for business, creating a new market and new jobs. I’m truly excited about the potential the Green Deal has to transform Britain’s buildings.”

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

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

Countdown to Green Deal launch by the UK Government

Everyone is expecting for the £125 million cash back plan of action  by the United Kingdom's Government, which is expected to restart the investors and the public's interest in the Green Deal energy efficiency programme.

Even if the details of the scheme are not to be announced until next week,  the Energy and Climate Change Minister,  Mr. Greg Barker stated that he hopes for this measure to be the first step towards instituting the "sea change", as he sees the Green Deal to engender in the United Kingdom's energy efficiency standards.

 The Green Deal will officially begin in 28 January, when the investors, both homeowners and companies will begin signing the deals under the new scheme.

 There will be over 45 property improvements for the customers to choose from, all of them designed with energy efficiency in mind. Under the Green Deal project, solar energy and thermal are among the technologies which are qualified  to be implemented and subsidized by the Government.

To make sure that the public is aware by the benefits and opportunities of the new Green Deal project, the United Kingdom's Government hired a specialized PR company, Freud Communications, in order to make waves in the media about the project and raise the awareness of the general public.

 This move is due to a report from last year, the report revealed that the public has limited knowledge about green projects and there are very few potential customers showing an interest in using the Green Deal opportunities for making their properties more energy efficient.

 There were announcements made by the Department for Communities and Local Government, about relaxing the legislation for those who want to install solid wall insulation, making their task easier.

 Before that, there were issues and doubts about such home improvements, as they would require or not planning permission from local authorities, as the wall insulation alters the outside of buildings.

 We will see in the near future how the Green Deal will work in real life starting from next month, including how businesses can become accredited Green Deal installers  and also how can you make/save money with this new project and also protect the environment.

 Also, there are expected from the Department of Energy and Climate Change the latest feed-in-tariff rates, as Mr. Barker will start the roadshows at Sandown Park Racecourse on 7 February, in Surrey, so stay tuned.


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

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

 

 

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/

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/

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/