But has the Government put the breaks on too soon?

I’m a great believer in the fact that there is so much potential for Solar technology in helping the UK reach its carbon targets and provide a huge boost to the economy but like many in the industry, I fear the coalition’s recent turnaround on the FiTs (Feed in Tariff Scheme) may have inadvertently put the breaks on and undermined investor confidence. I also think it could be damaging to the wider UK renewables market.

Ernst and Young recently published a report: The UK Solar PV Industry Outlook for 50kW+, which claims:

• Non-domestic solar could thrive in the UK without subsidy from 2017.
• UK solar projects are expected to be economic under 2 ROC support between 2012 and 2013.
• The UK solar industry has the potential to create 15,000 jobs by 2015.
• Solar can help large businesses to decarbonise.

The sun shines on the righteous

Meanwhile, I am gladdened (and amused) to read that Coventry Cathedral has become the first in the UK to install solar panels on its roof. The flagship project is part of the city’s efforts to get into good shape for the 2012 Olympics – and the many thousands of visitors expected at the football games scheduled to take part at the Ricoh Arena.

Coventry Cathedral’s solar installation consists of an array of 178, 50kW photovoltaic panels due to be installed anytime soon. Unlike many other cathedrals that have steep, pitched roofs and shady parapets, the Grade-1 listed St. Michael’s Cathedral (the third one in Coventry’s history) has a fairly flat roof, which means the panels can be fixed and tilted to maximise their solar energy generation potential.

This goes to show the true versatility of solar installations. Solar cells can be adapted to pretty much any situation, provided there is the space and direct sunlight – whether or not you have ‘friends in high places’.

Smart meters are the UK Government’s first step towards a smart grid for all homes and businesses by 2020.

Declining natural reserves and increases in energy use have made it necessary to fully understand energy requirements, manage power demands, increase energy efficiency and reduce waste. Smart meters will enable a host of information to be collected by users and energy suppliers in order to streamline supply.

But a smart grid will also give energy suppliers more control and there are growing fears for how this will affect the vulnerable. If users are late paying their bill, in effect, the supplier could cut off their supply with the flick of a switch (or more likely, click on a computer screen) at central control. This could happen to businesses suffering a temporary cashflow crisis too. But it could also happen by mistake or deliberately if a hacker manages to crack the system and bring down supply.

Mistakes can happen. But currently users (vulnerable or not) have at least some control over supply. Outside of a disaster or unforeseen circumstances, energy supplies cannot be cut off that easily. What if the survival of the business depended upon it? Most businesses would suffer greatly without a continuous supply of clean electricity.

The smart grid will come, not doubt about that, and it is a necessary and good thing in delivering a more optimised and efficient energy supply but how rules of supply (whether suppliers will be able to cut you off by mistake or not and the consequences of doing so) and security issues (how systems will be protected against hacking) are currently up in the air.

At the beginning of July 2011, the National Audit Office was reported in Computer Weekly as having said it expected the cost of implementing smart meters across the UK to exceed the current budget (estimated at £11.3bn). To date, the Government has a poor track record with infrastructure and computer systems. The office also questioned how a significant change in consumer behaviour, demanded by the new system, would be stimulated.

In May, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) issued a notice to IT suppliers telling them to be ready to bid for work under the GB Smart Metering Implementation Programme (SMIP). SMIP is the system that will manage all of the smart meter data, allow users to manage their energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions.

A recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit revealed antipathy amongst energy consumers to the Government’s smart meter plans. Consumers fear energy price rises as a result and are unconvinced they will save financially through it. There are also mounting security fears in the light of recent high-profile breaches. The Energy Networks Association is calling for a more coherent and joined up approach to securing the smart grid than is currently in place.

The issue around smart meters for businesses galvanises the point about ensuring security of supply by installing UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and on-site power generation. By so doing, they give themselves complete control over energy security, while still being able to enjoy the benefits of a more optimised and ‘smarter’ national grid system.

Being the keen communicator I am, I was concerned to read an article in PRWeek that reported that the Government has responded to the news that officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a PR strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident, by stating that there is no strategy.

Apparently, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills contacted the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) two days after the disaster, suggesting a consortium on communications material, activities and strategy to address any backlash from the media or concerns, or reduction in confidence from the public over Britain’s nuclear energy industry.

On hearing this news (according to PRWeek), controversial Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith, who sits on the Commons environmental audit committee, got up in arms and fumed that the Government has no business doing PR for the industry.

In answer to his concerns (no doubt), a DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change) spokesperson informed the magazine that there “was no strategy” and that no document had been produced as a result of a meeting between the Office for Nuclear Development and the Nuclear Industry Association.

I think it’s absolutely right that the communications departments of the various industry bodies and key players got together to discuss what turned out to be one of the most serious incidents in nuclear’s history, its impact and how to handle any backlash. However, I do find it odd that no strategy was produced as a result. A key aspect of dealing with any crisis – even if it is not one of your own – is learning lessons that can be used in the future.

In my view, implementation of a communications strategy on the future of nuclear energy by the consortium (comprising primary industry players) would be an excellent idea at this time. We need nuclear to play a role in the future of energy production; securing public confidence is a key part of that.

According to new research by the Carbon Trust, and reported in MarketingWeek, nearly half of consumers said they would shun brands that aren’t taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint. More than a fifth (21%) said they would pay more for brands that label their products with their carbon impact. 47% of respondents stated that they are likely to choose low carbon labelled goods over non-labelled.

The Carbon Trust says the findings underline the need for corporate leadership on carbon reduction. They also point out that only 59% of FTSE 100 companies have clear targets to cut carbon footprints.

I think it’s great when companies show a real interest in environmental issues but I have to say, I’m a little sceptical about such research. Firstly, the article was in MarketingWeek, which is a magazine dedicated to the marketing industry and focused on marketing messaging.

Actions speak louder than words and to me there’s a vast difference between a company or business purporting, through marketing verbiage, to be taking action on carbon change and actually doing it. Look no further than certain high-street clothing retailers recently claiming to be ‘ethical’ and yet unwittingly buying into child labour. It demonstrates how easy it is to say one thing and yet without proper controls in place to actually be doing another. Marketing messages are shallow but consumers are savvy and less likely to be taken in, in my view. It doesn’t take much to label a product green and broadcast a low carbon footprint without doing much to actually reduce your carbon footprint.

Over the last decade, we’ve invested a great deal in product design with energy efficiency, lowering total cost of ownership, and increasing performance and reliability across all our range. Our UPS use less energy, take up less space and are easier to maintain. We’re also at the forefront of new developments such as renewable energy (solar) and flywheel/rotary UPS that doesn’t require batteries. Equipment is lighter in weight, so cheaper to transport, smaller in size so it doesn’t occupy so much space and contains fewer component parts so over its lifetime it will cost less to run and create less waste. Of course, it gives us some really useful marketing messages but more than that it makes our carbon claims tangible – and it helps our customers in their efforts to minimise their carbon footprints. And that, to me, is what it should be about – not paying lip service to environmental issues.

Toyota has become the first UK car manufacturer to install and operate a giant solar array to power production lines at its Burnaston, Derbyshire plant.

The 17,000 strong photovoltaic solar array (covering an area larger than four football pitches) will produce 4.6 million kWh of energy, enough to build 7,000 cars each year. It’s a joint project between Toyota and British Gas and is set to cost £10 million. The car manufacturer is hoping the installation will be supplying the plant with electricity by July 2011.

It is all part of the car giant’s ‘Sustainable Plant’ vision, which entails reducing energy use through introducing low-carbon production technologies and daily improvement initiatives; alongside shifting to renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar; interacting with local communities and ecosystems and pushing for a pan-European, eco-friendly dealership programme.

Toyota is also participating in a joint project with Evelop Belgium (part of the Dutch energy supplier Eneco) to install wind turbines within the grounds of its vehicle logistics centre in Belgium. The project will not be completed until 2013, but each turbine will generate approximately 3MW of energy with an annual combined capacity of around 17.1GWh.

If you would like to find out more about solar PV (photovoltaic) installation, visit our AROS solar website.

It’s that time of year when rural areas illuminate the abundance of nature. Farmers are preparing for the August harvest, making hay while the sun shines, and getting the most out of the long days. It’s a peaceful setting, but under the surface war is looming. Farmers face an uncertain future and many are finding themselves caught, in the middle of the debate as to whether to grow cops for food or hand over land and resources to energy production? The world needs both, desperately, and as G20 approaches, it looks as if the debate will rage on.

By 2050, the world will have a population of 9.2 billion. It will also have an increased number of homes and businesses to heat, light and provide electricity for if economic growth is to be sustained.

Many UK farmers have already taken the leap; giving land and resources over to either crops for energy production, such as oilseed rape, linseed or Willow Short Rotation Crops (SRC) or by becoming energy producers themselves; installing wind farms, solar arrays, anaerobic digesters, wood burners and many other sources of renewable energy production. Many are leasing land they would otherwise use to grow crops to energy producers. Subsidies for renewable crops have made growing them more attractive than food source yields. A relaxing of the rules around set-aside to grow non-food crops has also made it more inviting for arable farmers.

As G20 gets underway in Paris in June, global organisations such as the United Nations (UN) have called for sustainable farming to replace intensive agriculture while at the same time calling for a 70% increase in farming output to meet future food production requirements. International agencies: World Bank, IMF, WTO and the UN blame biofuels subsidies for driving up food prices. High oil prices are forcing crop values up to unaffordable levels and a fluctuating oil market increases food price volatility.

Alongside growing food crops or farming energy, farmers are also being pressured into cutting GHG (Green house Gas) emissions. The UK Government has already issued the agriculture sector with a GHG reduction target of 11% by 2020. Farming and land use is currently responsible for around 8% of the total UK GHG emissions (according to The Carbon Neutral Company).

There’s something to be said for self-sustainability: grow your own food and generate your own electricity and the continuing farming debate makes it even more sensible.

The UK government today published proposals to reduce the financial support available to large scale solar produced electricity as part of its plans to protect financial support for homes, communities and small businesses.

Back in February, the Government was forced into a fast-track review of the FITs (Feed in Tariff Scheme) for photovoltaic (PV) installations over 50kW in size after becoming aware of evidence showing that 169MW of large-scale solar capacity was already in the planning system. That is equivalent to funding solar panels on the roofs of around 50,000 homes, which could potentially soak up the majority of the Government’s green subsidy for renewables (wind, hydro and anaerobic digestion).

The Government argues that the FITs scheme was never designed to be a profit generator for big business and financiers but it seems it is they who are rushing to secure land from farmers, order components and connect projects to the grid so that they can qualify for the scheme and get paid for the electricity they generate from their solar PV array.

The scheme was designed for all solar users (private residential and light commercial, small businesses) other than those profiting commercially from reselling energy to other energy users. It guarantees a minimum payment for all electricity generated by the system (termed the ‘generation tariff’), alongside an additional payment for the electricity it exports to the grid (termed the ‘export tariff’). These payments are additional to the bill savings customers get from using the electricity generated on-site. Payments vary, depending upon system size and when it is installed. They are index linked and guaranteed for 25 years.

For every unit of electricity generated you will receive the generation tariff for solar PV currently set at:

• Existing building = 41.3p/kWh for 25 years
• New Build home = 36.1p/kWh for 25 years

You will also be paid 3p/kWh for every unit of electricity you export and you will save around 12.5p/kWh on your energy bills for every generated unit you use in your home. An approved generation meter, supplied by your installer as part of the package, will measure the amount of energy generated. Until ‘Smart’ meters are rolled out countrywide, any export payments through the Feed in Tariff scheme will be deemed at 50%. So, you will get paid for exporting 50% of the electricity you generate regardless of how much you actually do export.

To be eligible for the FITs scheme, your system must have been installed on or after 15^th July 2009 using new equipment and both system and installer must be registered under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme.

There are those in the industry who say that if the Governments reduces (which it is expected to do) or takes away the subsidy for large-scale PV systems, they will in effectively slow down, or even bring to a standstill, the development of the solar PV industry, and this will have a hugely negative effect on overall ‘green’ initiatives and the Government’s carbon reduction goals.

If you would like to know more about solar PV installation, visit our website.

While the debate surrounding the pros and cons of wind power rumbles on, the increasing numbers of turbines that are appearing across the country are beginning to make a real contribution to the UK’s energy supplies.

The National Grid reports that Monday 6^th September saw a record output for the wind farms of Britain – generating nearly 5% of all power going into the Grid at that time. The company confirmed that with output peaking at 1,860MW, the power generated by the wind energy sector was greater than that produced by three nuclear power stations.

The National Grid believes that over that 24-hour period (and taking into account embedded wind generation), nearly 10% of the UK’s power came from the wind alone. A great achievement, even if the UK is still a long way behind other parts of Europe in this field. Spain and Portugal, for example, consistently meet 50% of their energy demands through wind farmed along the Iberian Peninsula. But as mentioned in an earlier post, the political, social and economic infrastructure of these nations seems to offer greater support to the renewable cause than here in the UK.

When considering the 2020 target of generating 15% of the UK’s energy from renewable sources, this latest data should be encouraging news for the industry – and could go a long way to helping raise the common image of wind farms from ‘noisy blots on the landscape’ to valuable part of the renewable energy mix.

Eurostat has just published its finding s on the use of renewable energy across the European Union. The report ‘Statistical Aspects of the Energy Economy in 2009’ finds that the use of renewable energy across the Union has increased 8.3% from the previous year, with notable decreases in the use of coal and gas (9.2% & 10.1%). According to the report, renewable energy now accounts for 18.4% of energy production across Europe – just behind natural gas which provides 19.3%.

The report also looked at ‘Energy Intensity’ – a measure of how much energy is used to make a unit of economic output – finding that this level has fallen for the sixth consecutive year, along with overall energy consumption.

The Eurostat report paints a picture of Europe making great strides towards a renewable future, with a number of individual nations doing particularly well. In support of this, a recent feature in the New York Times explored the measures that Portugal has taken to reduce their dependence on traditional fossil fuels. In a similar political and economic situation to the one currently faced by the UK, Portugal has succeeded in sourcing 45% of their electricity supply from renewable sources – up from 17% just 5 years ago. A remarkable success, and a great example to the rest of Europe.

The developers of an innovative ‘wave power’ device claim that within 5 years, their invention will be generating energy for 50,000 UK homes. The ‘Anaconda’ energy converter is currently in the test stage, but recently announced results have shown that each 200 metre rubber tube could generate enough energy to power 1,000 homes.

The Anaconda (named for its resemblance) is anchored to the ocean floor, moving with the tides. The waves in the water create bulges along the tubing that travel along its length gathering energy. At the end of the tube, the surge of energy drives a turbine and generates electricity. It’s rubber construction makes it cheap, resilient and low-maintenance, and the designers, Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd are confident that not only will it be cheaper than it’s wind-farm equivalent , but it will face less opposition from the public as the ‘shoals’ will be under the surface of the water – effectively out of sight. The company are now looking for further investment to sea-test the devices, with the aim of deploying a shoal along the west coast of the UK by 2014.

With the EU targeting the UK to source 15 per cent of all the country’s energy needs from renewables by 2020 (the majority of which is expected to come from wind power ) the Carbon Trust suggests that the Anaconda ‘has the potential to deliver breakthrough reductions in the cost of wave energy’ and that it could ‘represent the next generation of marine renewable energy’.