Tag Archives: Photovoltaics

Energise Barnet powering ahead

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Admin

January 2012: Energise Barnet has recently been awarded £37,500 as part of Barnet Council’s Big Society Innovation Bank, a £600,000 fund created to help kick-start citizen- and community-led projects. Further details can be viewed here.

Nigel Farren of Energise Barnet has also been selected as the only London representative on a newly formed ‘Community Energy Contact Group’ convened by Energy Minister Greg Barker. The first meeting of the Group took place in December with Nigel joining  eight other community groups and organisations from across the UK who will help DECC understand the issues and opportunities facing communities setting up local renewable energy initiatives. Further details on Energise Barnet’s involvement in the Group can be read on the following news report.

DECC have stated they welcome feedback and suggestions on community energy initiatives as well as notable case studies  which should be sent to alison.bailey@decc.gsi.gov.uk. DECC are also seeking guidance from community groups via a short survey posted on their Community Energy Online website.

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‘Social housing PV unviable unless FIT rates double’

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Admin

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.

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Latest FIT statistics for London

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Admin

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:


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‘2000 solar panels give brighter future to estate hit by the riots’

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Admin

5 January 2012: The Evening Standard has reported on how “Nearly 2,000 solar panels now line the roofs of the Pembury estate in Hackney – enough to provide electricity for three villages …The “photo voltaic” panels have been installed on 10 blocks, with the energy generated helping to cut bills for its tenants by as much as £150 a year.”

Due to the recent Government cuts in the level of subsidy for electricity generated by solar panels, Peabody has had to accelerate the installation process for these systems over the past month, as detailed here,  and have also raised their concerns to DECC over the change in the tariffs as proposed by Government.

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Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Admin

December 2011: This month the Mayor answered London Assembly questions in relation to LFEPA CRC efficiency as compared to other parts of the GLA group; the number of Excess Winter Deaths due to fuel poverty in London; steps taken by the Mayor to promote Combined Heat and Power; clarification on the RE-FIT programme; contribution from the Mayor’s Budget to the Centre of Low Carbon Technology; the numb of Flats treated under home energy efficiency programme RE:NEW; the Cost of delivering RE:NEW and CO2 savings abatement cost; the number of homes treated in the private rented sector; the Mayor’s activities in promoting subsidised insulation programmes across all of London; the RE:NEW delivery of CESP; the number of Benefit Entitlement Checks undertaken under RE:NEW; Subsequent benefits of RE:NEW home energy efficiency programme; RE:NEW’s  treatment of homes in fuel poverty; the Energy Companies’ Record of delivering energy efficiency in London; an update on Borough roll-out of RE:NEW; an update on RE:NEW; the extent of London’s energy Gap; the degree of Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) delivery in London; an update on LEGGI greenhouse gas emissions data; delivery of the RE:NEW Home Insulation scheme in Islington; projections for the capacity of  PV in London by 2025; targets under the RE:NEW programme; London Underground’s use of Renewable energy and again; energy reduction in GLA buildings and targets; and increasing the number of  lighting controls at London Underground stations.

Previous questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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Consumer Focus report on FIT installations

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Admin

12 December 2011: A new Consumer Focus report1 – entitled ‘Keeping FiT’ – published today highlights the high overall level of satisfaction among consumers who have taken up the Feed-In Tariff (FiT) scheme. However it also shows some concerns about misleading sales practices, a lack of adequate information from some solar panel installers, and difficulties with the registration and payment process for the tariff itself. Read the full news release here.

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Haringey DE and retrofit studies

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Admin

December 2011: As part of the work undertaken for the EST Local Carbon Framework’s pilot, Haringey – one of the 9 pilot areas (the only one in London however) – has developed five areas of study of interest to the borough looking at:

  1. Housing retrofit potential in North London – a detailed report for which can be downloaded here .
  2. Solar Power on Council buildings the outputs of which include:
  3. Green enterprise in the Upper Lee Valley – which produced the Upper Lee Valley low carbon economy report (PDF 6.2MB)
  4. Selling electricity from Combined Heat and Power Schemes – which looks at Haringey potentially acquiring a “Lite Supply Licence” which would allow a district heating operator to sell electricity at retail rates to consumers with fewer risks and complexities (report here)
  5. Producing guidance for Decentralised Energy Schemes – the purpose of which was to gain an understanding of the potential for district heating networks in the borough based on heat loads and likely capital costs and cash flows, and set up organisational structures to oversee a strategic approach to delivering DE networks.
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Local Authority Interactive Maps for Insulation, PVs, and Fuel Poverty

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Admin

24 November 2011:  Press notice from DECC today announcing that  “As part of the Government’s commitment to be open and accountable to the public and to support local authorities and other users in understanding and comparing data, DECC has today released:

This release, combined with the launch on Thursday 27 October 2011 of a sub-national energy consumption analytical tool, aims to aid users in comparing energy data between areas and over time.”

The four datasets covered by this new mapping tool are:

  • Cavity wall and loft insulation
  • Fuel poverty
  • Domestic solar photovoltaic installations
  • Gas and electricity consumption
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Waltham Forest’s Solar Plan comes and goes…

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Admin

November 2011: Waltham Forest had reported earlier this month that  ‘Solar panels will be fitted on council buildings and more than 1,000 council homes’ but it’s now been announced that the ‘solar plan has been scrapped’ as a result of the Government’s proposed changes to the Feed in Tariff (FIT) rates.

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Wesminster: Solar panel scheme suffers set back

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Admin

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.

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FIT reduction – A brief guide for councils and communities

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Admin

November 2011: A short briefing note from Friends of the Earth (FOE) on the Government’s recent proposals to reduce the levels of tariff support to photovoltaics (PV).

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Case Studies on new PV systems in London

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Admin

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

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