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News
Comparing PV in London to other regions
January 2013: With the publication of Ofgem’s new FITs newsletter (Quarterly Report 10 – December 2012 which looks at data up to September 2012) – it’s useful to look at back at the data over the past 10 issues and see how the capital has been faring under the programme with respect to most appropriate of the FIT technologies – photovoltaics (ie PV or solar electric). It should be noted that PV makes up 98% of FIT installations and 90% of total FIT generation capacity installed (see the newsletter for full details).
Previous posts (here and here) have looked at various FIT data sets and highlighted the fact that London has had the lowest capacity of PV installed of any region.
Plotting the installation rates of PV capacity per region per quarter (as provided by data in the Ofgem newsletters) since the FIT programme started (April 2010) provides a comparison of not only how low London’s capacity is compared to other regions of the country (London is the line skirting along the bottom, just below the North-East), but also how the various regions reacted to the sudden and major change in FIT tariffs (a good summary of which is in the following Guardian article).
The majority of regions witnessed a significant’spike’ in the number of PV systems installed as a result of the Government’s announcement that there was to be an near-immediate reduction in the FIT tariff level for PV. However, in London, though there there was an increase – it was incredibly modest compared to nearly all other parts of the country. Does this reflect:
- A low level of interest in PV by Londoners?
- More renters and more flats in London reducing demand for PV?
- Perhaps only a small number of companies are offering PV in the capital?
- Less knowledge in the benefits of PV by Londoners?
- Or are PV companies more attracted to doing business outside London – ie cheaper staff, less hassle factor, easier to put up scaffolding etc etc – more installs mean more money for them?
Whatever the reason, the potential of the most appropriate of the renewable technologies for London is currently being unrealised. The GLA’s 2012 London renewable energy study estimated that PV has the technical potential to supply up to 19% of the capital’s electricity consumption.
NB More recent data – up to December 31 2012 – is available in Ofgem’s latest FIT register database of 8 January 2013 (link to the Excel spreadsheet here – it’s a big file at 39MB with around 350,000 separate entries for FIT installations across the UK). The database indicates that of the 31MW of PV capacity in London, the vast majority – around 27 MW – comes from small scale household installations.
Posted in Decentralised Energy, News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Distribution, Photovoltaics, Renewable Energy
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Household energy bills explained
18 January 2013: Ofgem have updated their useful factsheet on what makes up household energy tariffs (download here).
The notes states that:
- It reflects gas and electricity prices in December 2012
- The average gas bill for a standard account is £811 and for electricity it is £531
- The average bills above are based on average annual consumption figures of 3,300 kWh for electricity and 16,500 kWh for gas
- Environmental costs amount to 6% of gas bills and 11% of electricity bills – and currently amount to around £82 on a total energy (gas & electricity) annual bill.
Other references that go into this household energy bills in more detail are:
- DECC’s Quarterly Energy Prices
- Energy UK’s Energy supply margins reports undertaken by NERA
Shining a light on solar power and renewable energy in your classroom
January 2013: Guardian feature on efforts to teach energy issues by a school in Enfield. Shining a light on solar power and renewable energy in your classroom
Deputy headteacher Julia Clarke has designed eco resources to take her school one step closer to a sustainable future. Full story here.
SWI gets permitted development rights
January 2013: Solid Wall Insulation’s (SWI) time has finally come and it is now the key technology to be supported in the Government’s annual £1.3 billion ECO domestic energy efficiency programme (which came into operation at the beginning of this year). However, a significant barrier to the roll out of SWI was potential planning difficulties householders could face when wishing to retrofit their homes with SWI.
So it was good to see a tweet from DECC Minister Greg Barker last week announcing that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) – which sets the policy for planning – had issued new guidance which allows SWI to be fitted without planning approval.
No DECC or DCLG news release was issued, and it was left to BusinessGreen to explain the change. “The formal clarification confirms solid wall insulation – which is commonly fitted to the exterior of a building, potentially changing the look of a property – is classified as a “permitted development”, meaning property owners can undertake the work without specific planning permission.
“Listed buildings and properties in conservation areas will remain an exception to the rule and would require specific planning permission, but Barker predicted that planning issues would “not present a problem for the vast majority of people intending to put solid wall insulation on their houses”.
The clarification is made in the following Technical Guidance issued on the government’s planning portal website ‘Permitted development for householders‘ and the wording in the document which marks such a major change for the insulation industry is remarkably succinct:
“The installation of solid wall insulation constitutes an improvement rather than an enlargement or extension to the dwellinghouse [sic] and is not caught by the provisions of d(i) and d(ii).” [p13]
where d(i) to d(ii) set out limits and conditions to permitted development rights to the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a house.
There is now a lot of activity around rolling out SWI in London including:
- a recently commissioned project by the GLA on the Green Deal which, along with other key issues, will also be looking at barriers to the uptake of SWI in London.
- Camden issued specific energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park which specifically considers SWI – this is the first such suplementary planning guidance issued on SWI anywhere in the country
- Think tank Future of London issued a useful report earlier this year on planning issues related to the Green Deal in London, including SWI
- And a technology assessment paper by DECC on SWI has also been recently published, which mentioned the following issue in relation to London:
“A leading SWI installer recognised that in London there was no supplier stocking the full range of SWI materials required for jobs. Consequently, firms involved in one-off SWI jobs found it virtually impossible to source products at competitive rates. As a large contractor, the firm has worked hard to bulk purchase equipment for itself. Needing a warehouse for its own operations, it decided that it could help supply the sector at the same time.”
There’s still some way to go for SWI to make its impact in London. Even with permitted development rights, planning permission will be required in conservation areas and, as the Future of London report points out – there are around 600,000 homes in conservation areas in London, roughly half the national total and around 60 per cent of all homes in the capital are solid wall.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, News
Tagged Camden, DECC, ECO, Green Deal, insulation, Planning, Solid Wall Insulation
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The Energy Bill misses out “opportunity to support community energy co-operatives”
January 2013: Newly elected Labour MP for Croydon North, Steve Reed, made a welcome intervention in the December parliamentary debate on the Energy Bill correctly stating that the Bill “misses an opportunity to support community energy co-operatives”. As an example of what can be achieved by such schemes, Mr Reed gave details of the Brixton Energy project:
“Brixton solar energy 1 was the country’s first urban energy generation co-operative and was set up by the local community in Brixton, working in co-operation with the local authority, Lambeth council…Brixton solar 1 was built on the roof of a social housing estate, Loughborough Park in Brixton. Brixton solar 2 is being built on another part of the same estate and a third scheme is planned for another estate in the area. The schemes are funded by community subscription and offer a 3% return to investors, most of whom are local. They are part-resourced by the local authority, which makes the buildings available.
“Instead of supporting such schemes, the Bill offers smaller community generators lower market prices for their power, making them less financially viable, and it fails to recognise the administration costs needed to run them. The Bill also ends the renewables obligation, which means that suppliers have no incentive to purchase from independent generators such as Brixton solar energy.
Mr Reed should be familiar with the scheme as, until his appointment to Parliament, he was the Leader of Lambeth Council. He goes on to conclude with some really good recommendations:
“The Bill should be amended to increase the fixed feed-in tariff threshold for community projects, guarantee a market for community energy schemes and set a minimum annual target for new generation capacity from community schemes. I should like to see local authorities incentivised to lower overall household carbon emissions in their area, which they could do in part by supporting projects such as Brixton solar energy.”
Further detail on these can be found in some excellent research by Cornwall Energy undertaken for Co-operatives UK and published a few months ago.
It should be noted that Scotland has had a target since 2011 of 500 MW community and locally-owned renewable energy by 2020 (see here for details).
Posted in News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Community Initiatives, Croydon, energy bill, Lambeth, Photovoltaics, Renewable Energy
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How will the £100m London Green fund benefit the capital?
9 January 2013: London Assembly news release “The London Assembly will tomorrow question representatives of the Greater London Authority, Green Fund Investment Board and fund managers about the £100m London Green Fund (LGF), which was set up to invest in waste and energy efficiency programmes.”
Tomorrow’s meeting will take place on Thursday, 10 January 2013 from 10am in the Chamber at City Hall. Members of the public are invited to attend. The meeting can also be viewed via webcast.
New Energy Centre for Energy Epidemiology
January 2013: University College London announced that it has been awarded funding to establish the UCL-Energy Centre for Energy Epidemiology which “will focus on providing an evidence base for government and industry to support end use energy reduction across buildings and transport, helping to deliver the UK’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.” ‘Energy Epidemiology – it says here – is apparently “the systematic use of measured data to illuminate the causes of energy use and of changes in energy use. The approach has a long history in health research, but has not so far been applied, at scale, to the study of energy.” So now you know!
London energy data maps
January 2013: Tim Starley Grainger has posted some useful graphics on how London is faring under some key Government energy efficiency and renewable energy programmes, such as CERT, Warm Front and progress under the Feed in Tariffs (FITs). As highlighted in various posts on this site, it doesn’t make for cheerful viewing. Graphics posted here.
“Capital’s public buildings get energy efficient makeover”
January 2013: Mayoral announcement made last month stating that “Energy conservation measures are already complete or near completion in 111 public buildings in London. The pipeline shows that 400 buildings could benefit from the Mayor’s award-winning RE:FIT programme, saving the public purse in the region of £7 million each year”. Read the full news release here. Further information on the new framework adopted for the programme at www.refit.org.uk .
Posted in Energy Efficiency, News
Tagged Buildings, Energy Efficiency, Mayor, RE:FIT
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Thames Barrier engineer says second defence needed
January 2013: BBC news story “A civil engineer who was part of the project management team which completed the Thames Barrier has said a new river defence should be planned urgently. Dr Richard Bloore said the south-east London barrier, opened in 1982, was not designed to factor in global warming. A study by the Environment Agency says with some modifications the barrier could continue to provide protection for the rest of the century.” Read the full article here.
Islington – “Heating rebate helps thousands”
8 January 2013: Islington news release: “Three-thousand council tenants with communal heating or hot water will receive a rebate of at least £145 per household next month, as the council prepares to pass on savings it has made in buying gas.
“Islington Council has secured an improved deal in its bulk purchasing of gas for estates with communal heating and hot water, which means the savings from the lower cost of gas can be passed on to tenants.” Read the full release here.