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Author Archives: Admin
Low levels of FIT activity in London
March 2012: Energy regulator Ofgem have just issued their latest quarterly report on the progress of Feed in Tariff (FIT) installations across the UK, providing details up to the end of 2011. As reported in a previous post, the last few months of 2011 has seen tremendous activity in relation to photovoltaics, due to the reduction in the support tariff levels from Government. The newsletter highlights that as at 31 December 2011, a total of 147,112 renewable installations have been registered under the scheme since 1 April 2010 (when the scheme started) of which, more than 65,000 installations were registered within the last three months.
Continuing from previous quarters, Ofgem report that photovoltaic (PV) installations continue to represent the vast majority of newly registered installations at over 99 percent of all installations registered between 1 October and 31 December 2011.
Ofgem fortunately also provides a regional breakdown of installations, which highlights a disappointing level of activity in London. In terms of the number of FIT installations, London appears to come at the bottom – just equal or below to the North East – with around 4,000 installations – significantly below all other regions (apart from the North East) – and only 1/6th as much as the best performing region. This number of installations in London represents less than 3% of the total as at December 2011.
Ofgem also helpfully provide the following regional generation capacity breakdown:
Of the total 661.07MW of of generation capacity registered under the FITs scheme since 1 April 2010, London has the second lowest level of installed capacity at 17.78MW – just 2.7% of the total (only the North East is lower – a region which does after all have lower levels of insolation).
No analysis has been undertaken as yet to why some regions have been more successful than others, or what have been the key factors to the uptake of PVs. London certainly seems to have an active number of solar companies working within the capital and would have significant roof space, both domestic and non-domestic, that would be suitable for the installation of PVs. The high density of rented accommodation (as opposed to owner-occupiers) in London and typically higher costs associated with scaffolding may have been contributing factors. However, it is unlikely that they are the key determining factors in relation to identifying London’s poor performance.
The Community Generation Fund
March 2012: A new fund by a fund management organisation called the FSE Group, has been launched to support communities seeking to develop renewable energy generation infrastructure.
The website for the Community Generation Fund states that the fund “will provide commercial but creative loan funding for communities at the pre-planning (“development”) stage of their projects, as well as the construction (post-planning) stage:
- Development Loans: Contingently-repayable loans for design, environmental and other external costs involved in achieving the required planning and other consents/licenses
- Construction Loans: Long-term loans for equipment, construction & commissioning costs (post planning consent) either stand-alone or alongside bank finance.
The Fund will consider project sizes from 25kWp capacity upwards, subject to assessment of technical viability, financial viability and social impact. The level of project typically is likely to involve total feasibility/pre-planning costs of £20,000-£150,000 maximum (depending on technology and scale) and construction costs of £250,000-£2,000,000 maximum.” The invitation for communities to submit “pre-applications” has a closing date of 16 April 2012.
This fund follows on from the recent announcement by the Co-operative’s Community Energy Challenge which has recently closed (29 February – and has received 123 applications) and also the next round of the energyshare fund (which has a deadline by the end of March for applicants), as well as recent Government-funded community energy grant schemes, CSEP and LEAF.
Community Consultation on proposed energy from waste plant
6 March 2012: The Croydon Guardian reports that: “The company that wants to build a major incinerator in Beddington has announced its programme of community consultation on its plans.
Waste company Viridor has revealed details of the facility on its landfill and waste management site in Beddington Lane, which will create energy from burning 275,000 tonnes of waste each year.
The £200m project, which will handle not only waste from Sutton, Croydon, Kingston, and Merton, but also large amounts of business waste.
By burning non-recyclable waste to create steam to power turbines, the incinerator is expected to produce about 30 megawatts of electricity and heat energy, estimated to be enough to power 30,000 homes.” Read the full story here. Previous Croydon Guardian stories can be seen here and here and here.
Solar panels fitted by Islington Council criticised
3 March 2012: “Solar panels fitted to homes have been criticised for potentially harming property values and saving residents less than 1p a year on their electricity.” Read the full Islington Gazette story here.
Planning and London’s energy infrastructure
March 2012: The GLA have just issued for consultation the London Plan Implementation Plan which appears to be a new initiative seeking to “set out how the policies of the London Plan will be translated into practical action.” The effectiveness of the London Plan’s climate and energy policies are reviewed in regular monitoring reports, the latest of which was published in January 2012. This report contains a specific section (page 34 onwards) considering some key challenges of London’s energy infrastructure, with a focus on London’s gas and electricity distribution networks, over the coming years and the role that decentralised energy has to play.
Update on Brixton Solar Project
1 March 2012: BusinessGreen have provided a short update on Brixton’s Repowering South London solar scheme, stating that the project has “raised £10,000 from investors towards a £75,000 target since launching a share offering earlier this month.” The full article can be read here.
Posted in News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Community Initiatives, Lambeth, Photovoltaics
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Westminster targets 10 housing estates for solar roll out
1 March 2012: Westminster council is planning to roll out solar panels across 10 of its estates in partnership with its ALMO CityWest Homes. Roofs on the Amberley Estate in West London is the first of the schemes to benefit and now features 114 solar panels, capable of generating up to 21.6 kilowatts of power. The £1.5 million project is funded by Westminster City Council in partnership with CityWest Homes and is set to be rolled out across ten Westminster estates by March 2012. Full details here.
Olympics Carbon Offset Scheme
March 2012: London2012 announced a few months ago that ticketholders to the games would be able to participate in the Olympics carbon offsetting programme, BP Target Neutral, for free. The initiative states that the “more people who sign up, the more Target Neutral can support low-carbon development projects worldwide.” Further information about the offsetting programme, and how to sign up, can be viewed at bptargetneutral.com and spectatorneutral.bp.com.
Olympic Park – Cutting carbon
March 2012: A briefing event by the IET (Institution of Engineering & Technology) onthe ODA’s approach to “delivering this energy strategy for the Olympic Park, including energy efficient design, the combined cooling heat and power system and renewable energy” with a focus on the district heating network across the site. The event is to take place on 12 March 2012 at the IET London HQ at Savoy Place. Further details and link to book a place here.
Details of the Olympic Park Energy Centre here.
Posted in Events, News
Tagged CHP, Community Heating, Decentralised Energy, Olympics
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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor
February 2012: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:
money saved through RE:FIT; grants available to tackle Fuel Poverty; the budget available to the RE:NEW energy efficiency programme; Carbon savings of ten easy measures from RE:NEW; Borough roll-out of home energy efficiency scheme RE:NEW; an Update on home energy efficiency scheme RE:NEW; the Mayor’s work with energy companies to eradicate Fuel Poverty; the number of homes in Greenwich under the RE:NEW programme; the number of homes in Lewisham under the RE:NEW programme; the number of homes under the RE:NEW programme receiving benefits; the age profiles of householders being treated under the RE:NEW programme; fuel poor homes treated under the RE:NEW programme; the number of public sector buildings treated under RE:FIT; the London 2012 Olympics – carbon reduction target; progress on Decentralised Energy; monitoring of renewable energy; the quantity of London’s Renewable Energy; RE:NEW cost and carbon savings; progress against London’s 2020 CO2 reduction target; and Climate change budgets.
Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.
Posted in News, Uncategorized
Tagged Fuel Poverty, Greenwich, Lewisham, Olympics, RE:FIT, RE:NEW, Renewable Energy
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Embodied Carbon Footprints Survey for the GLA
February 2012: The Greater London Authority (GLA) has commissioned Best Foot Forward to develop a Guide to encourage the wider and more consistent measurement and reporting of embodied (scope 3) carbon from the construction sector. A survey to help inform the study can be undertaken here.
The issue of quantifying indirect – or scope 3 emissions – are discussed in the GLA Climate Change and Mitigation Energy Strategy (CCMES) – released in late 2011. The Strategy sets out that:
“Scope 1 emissions refer to CO2 emissions from the combustionof energy sources within London. Scope 2 emissions refer to CO2 emissions associated with London’s consumption of purchased electricity, irrespective of whether this electricity isgenerated inside or outside of Greater London’s geographic boundaries. CO2 emissions are therefore accounted for at the point of energy use. This avoids double counting of emissions, and savings achieved on them. Scope 3 emissions are not included. Scope 3 emissions refer to all other indirect emissions not covered by scope 2. Examples of scope 3 emissions include those associated with London’s consumption of goods and services, its production of waste, and travel to and from the capital.”
There have been a number of estimates of London’s indirect CO2 emissions. In 2009, a Bioregional and London Sustainable Development Commission report, Capital Consumption, estimated London’s combined Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to be 90 million tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) per year based on 2004 data. This compares to 47 MtCO2 per year in 2004 for London’s scope 1 and 2 emissions.
The new study will help inform a specific action in the CCMES which is to expand the number of suppliers included in future measurements of the GLA group’s scope 3 emissions (Action 16.1).
Update on LEEF
February 2012: A quick update on the London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF)
- The Fund has £100m to invest in energy efficiency retrofit to public sector-owned / occupied buildings
- LEEF is also able to invest through private / joint venture entities (such as ESCOs or landlords) delivering energy efficiency works
- Loan rates and terms are extremely flexible and competitive
You can benefit from LEEF if:
- You are undertaking a refurbishment programme / retrofit project in a London-located public / voluntary sector building (such as a university, museum, hospital, school, local authority, social housing provider, etc)
- Your works will deliver in the region of 20% energy saving / carbon benefits
- Your funding requirement is at least £1m; ideally between £3m and £20m
Further information at www.leef.co.uk