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News
Introducing a ‘junior electricity supply licence’ for boroughs
January 2012: The GLA have approved to fund a project to explore opportunities to introduce a junior electricity supply licensing system for smaller electricity generators, thus enabling London boroughs and their energy services companies to supply electricity they generate retail to their housing tenants and others. Further details on work to be commissioned here. This work will follow on from analysis already undertaken for Haringey – looking at how the council could have greater flexibility in relation to selling electricity from local CHP plants.
Revised Energy Guidance to Local Authorities
January 2012: Parliamentary Question from Labour’s Shadow Energy Minister asking Government on when the revised guidance to local authorities on energy efficiency is to be published. See this earlier post for additional details.
17 Jan 2012 : Column 677W
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects updated Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 guidance to be published. [90449]
Gregory Barker: The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA) requires local authorities (LAs) with housing responsibilities to report on action to improve the energy efficiency in their residential accommodation. The Green Deal will fundamentally alter the landscape against which LAs will fulfil this requirement.
LAs are currently considering the Green Deal proposals, which were published for consultation on 23 November, and what this means for their plans for energy efficiency locally. With this in mind we therefore propose to issue new HECA guidance in spring 2012.
‘Low Carbon London’ Update
January 2012: London distribution network operator UK Power Connections was awarded funding under Ofgem’s Low Carbon Network Fund to undertake a smart metering project with a range of stakeholders entitled ‘Low Carbon London’ (more of which here). The Executive Summary of their latest Six Monthly Report has just been posted on Ofgem’s website here. The update mentions that:
- A comprehensive campaign to identify 500 trial smart meter customers in London Low Carbon Zones has been undertaken and 263 meters have been so far installed (more of which here).
- Partner organisation Imperial College has opened the ‘Low Carbon London Learning Lab’ (more of which here and here).
- A series of ‘innovative DNO-level Demand Response Contracts have been signed’ – see earlier post for details on this.
The Low Carbon London project will run from January 2011 until June 2014. UK Power Networks will work with Transport for London and electric vehicle owner groups to explore how best to meet demand from the country’s anticipated growth in the use of electric vehicles, and the impact of locally generated green power on the electricity network will be tested to ensure fast and cost-effective grid connections can be provided in the future. Imperial’s Low Carbon London Learning Laboratory will analyse the data from all the trial installations
The update helpfully states that – “The highly inter-dependent nature of the detailed design work requires a high level of intricate configuration management to ensure all internal and external inter-dependencies are accurately maintained as the overall and individual component designs progress and mature” – which I’m sure enlightens us all…
Five London Community Energy projects awarded Government funding
16 January 2012: DECC today announced the first 82 local energy projects to win funding from the new £10m Local Energy Assessment Fund (LEAF). Five projects in London were selected:
- Brixton Energy
- Community Education Forum Fulham
- The HEET Project
- The Sustainable Home Survey Company CIC
- Transition Town Peckham
- Waterloo Community Development Group
Congratulations all!
Posted in Library, News, Uncategorized
Tagged Community Initiatives, DECC, Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Southwark
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‘45% of People in London Worry they can’t afford their next fuel bill’
16 January 2012: “45% of people in London are worried they can’t afford their next fuel bill and one in two say energy bills will put a strain on their finances this year, according to new figures released today from Citizens Advice at the start of its Big Energy Week which will help people save money on their fuel bills.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London said: ‘We know that many people are deeply concerned about keeping warm this winter and Big Energy Week is a great way to find out how they can cut their fuel bills. In London we have been working with Citizen’s Advice Bureau and other organisations on my fourth ‘Know Your Rights Campaign’ to help thousands of vulnerable Londoners to keep their homes insulated and warm. In addition, 24,000 homes across the capital have had an energy makeover, through my RENEW partnership homes programme, increasing efficiency and helping to drive down fuel bills.
Big Energy Week (16-21 January 2012) will see advisers across the region help people spend less on heating and powering their home – including events in Westfield Shepherds Bush, Richmond and Harrow. The Week is supported by Consumer Focus, Which?, Energy UK, energy companies, charities, accredited switching sites, Ofgem and the Government.”
Read the full news release here. Further details of all London events at www.bigenergyweek.org.uk
Neighbourhood Plans and Renewable Energy
January 2012: An answer to a parliamentary question considering the Localism Act 2011 (which came into being in November 2011) and its potential to support the development of renewable energy schemes. Not much is revealed…however the Act and Explanatory notes to the Act can be viewed here. Additionally a Plain English guide to the Localism Act’ produced by the Department for Communities (CLG) can be downloaded here. Friends of the Earth have also published a briefing note on ‘Planning and the Localism Act’.
Renewable Energy: 10 Jan 2012 : Column 60W
Roberta Blackman-Woods (MP for the City of Durham) : To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment his Department has made of the likely impact upon neighbourhood plans of the Government’s commitment to ensure that renewable sources will generate 15 per cent. of the UK’s energy by 2020.
Greg Clark (Minister for Decentralisation and Cities, CLG): The Localism Act gives communities new powers to plan for the future of their areas through neighbourhood planning. These are powerful new opportunities for communities to shape the development of their local areas.
It is for communities to decide whether they wish to use neighbourhood development plans or orders to deliver energy from renewable sources, provided the plans or orders meet the basic conditions set out in the Localism Act.
Our proposals strike the right balance by ensuring that neighbourhood planning proposals are in general conformity with strategic planning policies, while giving communities the flexibility to determine those issues that are rightly dealt with at community level.
‘Social housing PV unviable unless FIT rates double’
13 January 2012: Inside Housing article reporting that “Incentive payments for electricity generated from solar panels need to be set at nearly double the proposed rate for installations to remain viable for social landlords, according to research.
Figures produced by consultancy Camco for the National Housing Federation show feed-in tariff payments would need to be set at 32.4 pence per kilowatt hour to remain attractive to the sector.” Read the article here.
E.ON launches offer of free insulation plus £100 for those most in need
9 January 2012: E.ON has today announced a new offer of free cavity wall and standard loft insulation, plus a cheque for £100, to anyone in receipt of Child Tax Credit where their annual household income is less than £16,190 or to anyone claiming Pension Credit. The offer is open to anyone who fits these criteria – whether they are an E.ON customer or not. Full details here.
‘Communities taking renewable energy into their own hands’
9 January 2012: Article posted on The Guardian website by Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, on how people are investing in solar, wind and hydro power for their local communities. Read the full piece here.
The article also references a research report published in December 2011 – Co-operative renewable energy in the UK: a guide to this growing sector -which summarises insights gained from visits to five co-operatively owned energy projects.
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Huhne visit to Olympic Park CHP
9 January 2o12: “Secretary of State, Chris Huhne visited the Energy Centre at the Olympic Park this morning. The park, which is the largest energy centre scheme to be built so far in the UK, will contribute towards the Olympic Delivery Authority’s overall target to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent” read full DECC news release here.
Latest FIT statistics for London
9 January 2012: Ofgem have just produced their latest quarterly detailed spreadsheet providing data on FIT installations across the UK. The spreadsheet now documents information on an impressive 147,114 entries of schemes installed across the UK since the beginning of the scheme!
Filtering the Ofgem spreadsheet to provide London-only data highlights that:
- 4,053 FIT schemes are installed in London as at 31 December 2011 (2.75% of the total UK schemes installed)
- These represent a total of 11.2 MW of electricity capacity installed
Additionally – the latest update on the number of photovoltaics (PVs) installed nationally (a regional breakdown not provided) is available via DECC’s weeks PV statistics (dated 5 January 2012). The 16 December deadline date set by Government – after which installations would face a major reduction in the subsidy support from the FIT mechanism – clearly had a dramatic effect as the graph from the statistics illustrates:
Low Numbers for CESP in London
January 2012: An answer to a recent Parliamentary Question from Shadow Secretary of State for Energy, Caroline Flint MP, highlighted the low level of delivery of the Goverment’s Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) in London. Of the 9,937 properties treated in England up to June 2011, only 715 homes in London were provided with energy saving measures. Only the South-East (41 properties!) and South-West (179 properties) had lower levels of installation. The next estimate of CESP progress, including the period up to the end of 2011, will be published in May 2012.
The full PQ answer can be viewed here (column 800). Further posts on the delivery of CESP in London are available here.