News

Mayor pulls no punches in FIT consultation response

23 October 2015: The Mayor has posted his submission to DECC’s Feed in Tariff (FIT) consultation online today (the deadline for the response) alongside a letter to Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom, from Deputy Mayor for Energy & the Environment, Matthew Pencharz.

The letter pulls no punches, stating “Unfortunately, the proposals that have been consulted on, with little or no prior warning, to come into force, in the new year has created great uncertainty in the solar PV industry, potentially putting at threat thousands of jobs across the UK. The Mayor is concerned about the potential impact on the 3,100 jobs, mainly in SMEs, which make up the solar PV industry in London.”

“The Mayor’s view is that in order to ensure an orderly transition to subsidy-free solar PV industry, there should be a gradual tapering of the FIT over a two-three year period.”

The Mayor has voiced his concerns over DECC’s proposals for some months now (see previous statement here) and his sentiments for a ‘gradual tapering’ echo calls from industry organisations, such as the Solar Trade Association, who have strongly campaigned against the proposed ‘cliff edge’ withdrawal of support for solar, setting out their own recommendations in a ‘£1 plan‘ to 2019.

The Mayor’s response to the FIT consultation goes on to raise a number of highly relevant issues for London, including:

  • the proposed cuts to the FIT could significantly hamper solar PV deployment rates in London, which already face major rollout challenges, including negatively impacting upon the delivery of Mayor’s retrofit programmes, RE:NEW and RE:FIT
  • the proposed tightening of the energy efficiency criteria would prevent a large number of properties in London from installing solar PV without significant investment in energy efficiency improvements, for which there is no longer support available following the termination of the Green Deal
  • whilst a move towards smart metering with net metering functionality is welcome, making it a requirement for receipt of the export tariff would require a commitment or obligation on the energy suppliers to install a smart meter in a timely manner, as well as ensuring that the property was currently suitable for installation of a smart meter – an issue which arises frequently in London.

The Mayor’s response also raise concerns about the impact of the proposals on community energy projects in London. All in all, this is a significant intervention by the Mayor in what has become a highly politicised consultation.

At a recent DECC FIT workshop, officials have said they are looking to respond to the consultation by late November/early December (this is needed as the consultation proposes to introduce changes to the FIT programme as early as January 2016!). With the number of responses predicted to be in the thousands (the shorter-run FIT pre-accreditation consultation had over 2,000 responses), and with the threat of major job cuts in the department, it looks like it’s going to be a busy few weeks over at 3 Whitehall Place…

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UK’s most sustainable historic building in London’s West End

22 October 2015: The Guardian reports: “Hailed as the UK’s most sustainable historic building, the Regent Street office scheme, 7 Air Street, comes with an ecological roof incorporating flowers, vegetation, grasses and habitats for insects, birds and bats.  The building has received BREEAM outstanding rating, the highest award possible from the industry body which judges best practice for sustainability in the built environment.

“It features solar panels, low energy air conditioning, LED lighting and a unique central energy centre, powered by fuel cell technology, which saves around 350 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year, while providing power to 500,000 sq ft of commercial and residential accommodation on Regent Street, including the Cafe Royal Hotel and the 20 Air Street office building.

A previous post provides some additional details behind the fuel cell technology used.

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London Power Tunnels latest

October 2015: On Sunday 25 October an electricity transformer, the size of a large truck will be delivered to National Grid’s new Highbury Substation, on Seven Sisters Road, Islington – all part of the major London Power Tunnels Project. More here on this new piece of infrastructure. And more on the London Power Tunnels project here.

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Carbon Neutral Arcola

22 October 2015: “The Arcola Theatre in Dalston is a step closer to becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral theatre after it won funding for a new heating system”. Full story on Arcola’s plans to use a “biomass boiler, which generates heat from waste and scrap wood that would otherwise go to landfill”, following their recent funding award from Marks & Spencer’s Community Energy Fund, in the Hackney Citizen.

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London and the Electric Double Decker

21 October 2015: Building on announcements made earlier this year at the world’s first Clean Bus Summit at City Hall, that electric double decker buses were to be trialled in London, comes news that a deal has been signed between the Chinese bus company BYD and Scotland based, Alexander Dennis Ltd, to manufacture “200, 12-metre (40ft) single deck buses a year, representing turnover of around £660 million over the next 10 years. They are also in discussions to extend their alliance to include double decker buses which could triple the deal to almost £2 billion.”

A number of cities around the UK already have single decker electric buses in operation – including London (see below) – however, there have always been significant challenges in bringing forward an all-electric double decker bus due to the bus load and distance travelled.  A TfL press release from earlier this year announced that electric double-decker trial will run on route 16 between Cricklewood and Victoria Station, starting in October – however it’s not clear if this trial has in fact started (the Mayor responded to a recent MQ stating that “It is hoped they will enter passenger service later this year”).

At the same time, TfL’s hybrid (diesel-electric) bus fleet has grown to 1,500 vehicles – the largest in Europe – but there are now increasing concerns over the use of diesel and its impact on air quality emissions in London – even those used in hybrid vehicles, as a result of uncertainty on the reliability of the electric batteries used, and doubt over how often the buses are operating in hybrid mode – see recent story in ‘Air Quality News’ here based on a FOI request by London Assembly Member Stephen Knight AM. It appears more work will need to be done to ensure that hybrid double decker buses will deliver a low pollution mode of transport in the Mayor’s proposed Ultra Low Emission Zone.

A single decker pure electric bus route, the 312 – which runs between Norwood and South Croydon – details of which are on the following TfL press release. Further single decker electric bus services are due to start in 2016 – routes 507 and 521  – which link Waterloo station to Victoria and London Bridge stations respectively: 51 electric buses will operate across the two routes.

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Community Energy in London – Question Time

October 2015: Planned first get together of all London’s community energy groups!
Where – City Hall.
When – Thursday 12 November 6 – 9pm. More info here.
Energy for London is helping organise – and looking forward to see there:

and also Merton Power, Vauxhall Power, Streatham Power…and more!

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Resilience to climate change: who pays (and who benefits)?

October 2015: A Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Royal Geographical Society event taking place on the evening of 17 November 2015 exploring community resilience and adaptation to climate change. Chairing the event will be Alex Nickson, Strategy Manager, Climate Change Adaptation, Greater London Authority (and lead on the Mayor’s London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy). Full details on how to register are posted here.

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LSDC Chair “Solar needs a bold plan”

16 October 2015: Chair of the London Sustainable Development Commission (LSDC) Lord Barker of Battle – who was previously an energy Minister at DECC – has written to The Times with regard to the government’s plans to reduce support for solar through the Feed in Tariffs (FITs) stating that the “current proposals are catastrophic.” The full text of the letter can be seen below:

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Lewisham domestic energy efficiency retrofit

14 October 2015: Lewisham seeking EOIs for a domestic energy efficiency retrofit programme, the aims of which are to:

  • Assess the scale and nature of the energy efficiency market in Lewisham and south east London
  • Identify methods and mechanisms to maximise take-up of energy efficiency measures

EOIs in by 4 November: contract start date 18 November.

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Boris to go to Paris climate summit

14 October 2015: Following a series of Mayoral Questions (MQs), London Assembly member Jenny Jones has now received confirmation that the Mayor will be attending December’s international climate change conference in Paris, COP21. The Mayor’s focus will no doubt be the Climate Summit for Local Leaders, to be held on December 4, 2015 at the COP, and which will be chaired by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and Michael R. Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. Further coverage on this as the agenda emerges…

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Energy & Climate Change Questions to the Mayor

September 2015: This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:

data gathered through the Mayor’s Business Energy Challenge; the impact on the London Plan carbon targets as a result of the government scrapping the Zero Carbon Homes policy (and again) and again – and one more time; encouraging renewable energy investments through the London Pension Fund Authority (LPFA); a discussion around potential winter electricity ‘blackouts’; impact of the government’s proposals to change the Feed in Tariffs (FITs) on the Mayor’s retrofit programmes – and again; lobbying to reduce business rates to district heating – and again; whether the Mayor will attend COP21 in Paris this December; the Clean Bus Summit recently held in London; fuel economy of the New Routemaster bus (and again, and again); a dossier of problems associated with the New Routemaster; GLA and boroughs discussions on coordinating fuel poverty responses across London; the roll out of electric vehicles in London; and supporting zero emission taxi fleets.

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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DECC sold off…well – the building that is

20 September 2015: Tangential – but interesting to note the following story in today’s Sunday Times: “Whitehall energy HQ sold – The Grade II-listed building that houses the Department of Energy & Climate Change in London has been sold in an £80m deal. LaSalle Investment Management, part of the American property giant JLL, bought the site just off Whitehall from Aberdeen Asset Management last week. Nick Howitt of LaSalle said the area was improving, thanks to the regeneration of nearby Covent Garden and Victoria.”

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