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Renewable Energy
Wesminster: Solar panel scheme suffers set back
15 November 2011: Another potential London renewable casualty of the FIT cut: “Westminster Council’s housing provider CityWest Homes was days away from signing a deal worth £12 million to put solar panels up on 600 buildings by March 2012.” Read full story here in the Westminster Chronicle.
Case Studies on new PV systems in London
4 November 2011: Brief case studies of three new public sector buildings installing PV:
Woolwich Civic Offices
Elm Park Library in Havering, and
Wembley’s Chalkhill Primary School
First Solar panels power Hackney estate
October 2011: Hackney Homes has installed the first solar panels as part of its Green Estate pilot in a 50 property block in Haggerston. Further information on news release here.
Blackfriars station to install the largest PV array in London
4 October 2011: Work is due to start to install more than 4,400 solar panels – more than 6,000 square metres of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels – into the new roof of Blackfriars station in central London. The scheme will create the biggest solar array in London, and make the new station the world’s largest solar bridge. Further detail in an article in The Guardian and from developer Solar Century here.
New Renewable Electricity Stats for London
30 September 2011: DECC have just released their annual regional breakdown of renewable electricity statistics, providing further detail to the renewable CHP chapter of DECC’s annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics, published in July of this year. (Note – this only refers to ‘renewable electricity’ and not ‘renewable energy’ which would include the contribution of renewables to heating and transport fuels also – the UK’s 2020 target is in relation to renewable energy).
The statistics for London indicate:
- 10 sites in London are indicated under the ‘wind and wave’ category to a total of 3.7 MWe. Virtually all of this capacity must be wind, and the vast proportion of it attributable to a single scheme – the Ford Dagenham wind turbine project.
- 6 schemes are classed under ‘other biomass’ a total of 110.6 MWe (note – these statistics only refer to ‘renewable electricity’ and not ‘renewable energy’, hence it does not include biomass heat-only schemes in London or elsewhere). The majority of this capacity must be from biogas to electricity schemes at Thames Water sewage waste water treatment plants, and also a Thames Water ‘sludge powered’ generator, and a number of landfill gas schemes.
- And then there are 1,044 solar PV schemes operating in London – to a total of 2.8MWe generation capacity (on PV installations in London see here for further detail).
- London has the lowest total overall renewable electricity output of all regions at 385GWh – exactly the same amount generated as in 2009 (see DECC Energy Trends September 2010 for details)
- The Mayor will shortly be issuing a detailed study on the potential for decentrailsed energy in London, including the use of renewable energy resources.
Posted in Data Store, News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Data, DECC, Mayor, Renewable Energy
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FIT Update Newsletter
26 September 2011: Ofgem’s latest Feed in Tariff Newsletter (issue 5) provides detail on renewable installations across the UK. London data shows that 4.4MW of renewable generation has been installed through the FIT programme in London, virtually of which (99%) is photovoltaic. As compared to other regions, London has the second lowest number of registered FIT installations (around 1,700) and second lowest amount of generation installed. The greatest number of FIT schemes installed are in the South East, South West and Scotland, where 6-7 times the amount of renewable capacity of that in London has gone ahead.
Walking Tour of Renewable Energy Generation in Dalston
September 2011: Arcola Energy’s Green Sunday event is to host a walking tour of renewable energy generation in Dalston. The Dalston Renewable Energy Walk will:
“meet at Arcola Theatre at 1.30pm for a walk around several inspiring projects in the neighbourhood. Our tour starts with the solar panels at the Dalston Roof Park, where Sam Aldenton from The Bootstrap Company will explain how they went about creating one of the largest solar roofs in the UK. From there, we move on to quietrevolution’s wind turbine installation at the Kinetica building on Ramsgate Street to hear from the company’s Stephen Crosher on how turbines can be installed on new and existing buildings. After a stop at the Dalston Square Energy Centre to check out their biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) system, we’ll head back to the Arcola around 4.15pm for a discussion of the different systems we have seen and our plans for greening the theatre’s systems.”
New survey aims to shed light on customer experiences of solar panel schemes
September 2011: Consumer Focus is calling for people to get in touch through a new survey to share their good and bad experiences of producing solar and wind power at their home as worrying reports of mis-selling have already been reported to the industry accreditation scheme. It is now a year since the Government introduced its feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme and over 40,000 households have signed up to this scheme.
Consumer Focus state that “Many people have had good experiences of producing renewable energy at home but consumer feedback has already been very varied and some customers have reported problems. REAL Assurance, the accreditation scheme for the energy generations system industry, has expressed concerns about high levels of mis-selling in the industry. It has identified high pressure sales techniques as the principal cause of consumer complaints in the solar panel market.”
For consumers who are considering a free solar panel deal Consumer Focus has published a factsheet and key questions to ask. A guide to consumers thinking about taking up solar panels is also available from REAL Assurance, called How to avoid being taken for a ride It is also available in hard copy, email info@realassurance.org.uk or call 0207 981 0850.
So, if you have smallscale wind or solar power measures at your home and want to voice your opinion please get involved in Consumer Focus’s survey. It is open until 27 September and will take around 15 minutes to complete.
Feed in Tariff Progress in London
September 2011: The Guardian features a piece on AEA Technology’s useful Microgeneration Index which regularly provides details on the amount of Feed in Tariff (FIT) renewable energy technologies installed by region. The Guardian report that “London has added more renewable power than anywhere else, with more than 3.2 megawatts of capacity added in the 15 months since feed-in tariffs became available. But when assessed per head, it comes only sixth in the UK.” The latest Microgeneration Index quarterly report (issue 4) provides further detail stating: “During the following three months, growth in cities has continued (eg capacity in London has increased by 37% and in Glasgow by 131%). However, as some cities start from a low capacity, a better measure is the installed capacity in relation to the population…Sheffield stands out as the leading city, with Bristol, Leeds and Bradford following.”
Businesses investing in renewable energy could generate returns of over 10%
8 September 2011: Carbon Trust Advisory analysis has found that businesses which invest in renewable energy could make average returns of 11-12%, with the potential for returns in excess of 20%. According to the findings, new financial incentives, energy market trends and building regulations are combining to create a compelling case for UK businesses to generate their own renewable energy. With energy prices set to grow by up to 37% by 2020, the opportunity to reduce utility bills is a strong incentive for investigating renewable energy options.
Haringey to invest £15 million in solar panels for schools and homes
25 August 2011: The Tottenham & Wood Green Journal reports that “Schools, libraries, social housing and council offices, which could include the Civic Centre and River Park House, both in Wood Green, will be set up with the photovoltaic panels in a move that could double London’s current solar power capacity. The council will plough in £8.5 million of its own cash into buying panels for council buildings and rent out the rest of its rooftops to third-party providers to raise the remaining £7.5 million for the scheme.“ Read the full story here.