Still in Turmoil after Latest Court Decision

Last week, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the High Court’s decision (made earlier in January 2012) that the UK Government’s attempt to cut the Feed-in Tarriff (FiTs) subsidy before the end of its consultation period was illegal.

Rather than accepting the decision as final, however, DECC is considering its options – including lodging an appeal with the Supreme Court.

Many in the UK Solar industry are worried it will lead to many more months of second-thoughts and tentativeness from home and business owners thinking of installing Solar.

In a report on www.businessgreen.com last week, Energy and Climate Change secretary Chris Huhne is quoted as saying:

“……we cannot rule out the possibility that lower tariffs could be applied to installations which became eligible for FiTs on or after the proposed reference date. It is important consumers are aware of this.”

A Government spokesperson stated that the Government is very clear that from the 1^st April 2012, all tariffs will be 21p/kWh.

Last November, DECC announced that as of the 12^th December 2011, the Feed-in Tariff would be reduced to 21p/kWh on all installations, thus throwing the UK Solar industry into chaos and resulting in cancelled contracts, redundancies and bankruptcies.

Legal action was announced when Friends of the Earth, Homesun and Solarcentaury got together to take the Government to court over its decision. In December, the High Court ruled against the Government’s decision. DECC then mounted an action with the Court of Appeal, which was also unsuccessful.

Riello is continuing to promote Solar energy as a viable and cost-effective option for the future of power generation. Riello UPS supplies AROS solar inverters from 1.5 to 500kW for residential and commercial applications. They are fully customisable and can be monitored via the equipment we supply. For more information, visit our website.

When energy saving is not a priority for commercial companies

I read an article in the trade press last week about North London football club Tottenham Hotspur cutting its carbon emissions by 400 tonnes in a single year and at the same time implementing energy saving methods that resulted in the club being around 25% cheaper to run. It got me thinking: much as businesses (and business owners in particular) like to be ethical, it’s that last bit – the 25% cost saving – that spurs (pardon the pun) them on to take energy saving seriously.

But is it possible, as commercial organisation, to maintain high standards of quality and customer service while saving energy? This is a special dilemma for power protection customers whose primary need is to provide a continuous source of critical power and ensure business continuity in the face of potential power cuts and power problems. Can energy saving really become a priority for them?

The Premiere League club has been working in conjunction with the 10:10 scheme, an organisation set up by film director Franny Armstrong in 2009 after making the iconic climate change film, starring the late, great Pete Postlethwaite as a man living in the devastated future of 2055, looking back at old footage from our time and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

10:10’s premise, rather than aiming at staggering targets favoured by ambitious policy-makers of 80% carbon cuts by 2050, is to try and get everyone to aim for 10% carbon reductions per year?

Tottenham employs high-powered sun lamps to keep the turf at its White Heart Lane ground in premier league condition all year round. Giant banks of flood lamps are also used to illuminate the on-pitch action on gloomy winter days or evenings. The club reduced its hefty electric bill by firstly replacing 136 high-powered lights with energy efficient models and although it worked out as a six-figure investment, it is this that has enabled the 25% reduction in running costs.

New lighting controls, including time switches and motion sensors have also helped save on energy. Heating controls on training ground washing machines were deployed, alongside push taps to help save energy and water. The club also analysed and revised its transportation needs to lessen its carbon footprint and now directors take public transport to away games instead of private jets. Fans are playing their part to: after a big publicity push, the majority arrive at matches by public transport rather than private car.

Working alongside The Carbon Trust, 10:10 has developed an Energy Saving checklist offering simple tips to business such as:

• Make someone within your organization responsible for energy saving initiatives and ask them to draw up an action plan.

• Measure, log and analyse how much energy you are using and where it is being guzzled. Energy bills may not give you enough information and you may want to look into some form of energy management.

• Conduct an energy walk round, which will not only confirm the second point but give you a visual picture of where energy is being used in your business.

• Upgrade business critical equipment – old equipment is much less energy efficient and will guzzle far more power than new or modern appliances.

• Switch off lights once there is enough daylight to work by, or in rooms or areas that are not being used. This may seem obvious but you’d be surprised at how many lights stay on in empty toilet cubicles all day!

There are ten tips in all and I won’t include them all but this one is a particular favourite:

• do not locate photocopiers in air-conditioned areas as the heat it will produce will make the air-conditioning work harder and user more electricity.

So, the answer to my earlier question (it would seem) is a resounding “Yes”. If you would like information about energy saving eco UPS, visit our website.

The subject of renewables has taken up quite a few column inches in the press over the past couple of week, particularly Wind Power.

According to statistics for the third quarter of 2011, released just before Christmas by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the amount of fuel made in the UK dropped by 20%. Renewable energy sources, however, generated 9% of the UK’s electricity from July to September. Hydro energy saw the largest increase in that quarter, jumping 41.3% as a result of higher rainfall.

Combined with the first three quarters of 2011, the statistics show an increase of 64% in the amount of electricity generated by offshore wind than in the same three quarters of 2010 – despite increased activity from anti-wind protestors. The increase was all due to offshore wind generation. Onshore wind generation was down by 2.4%.

Meanwhile, energy provider E.ON is reinforcing its interest in renewable energy and offshore wind farms in particular by investing €7 billion over the next five years. One of the first projects using part of the cash to be built will be the Amrumbank wind farm in the German North Sea, which is aiming to supply 300,000 households with green electricity.

E.ON is also currently building the London Array in the Thames Estuary, off the UK coast, which when complete will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm so far.

Riello provides a range of power protection solutions for use in renewable energy applications alongside uninterruptible power supplies. For more detail visit our website.

Supergrid Across Europe Needed to Revolutionise Renewable Energy

Europe is the world leader in renewable energy generation but to overcome the problem of supply reliability, without having to resort to traditional fossil fuelled power stations, a Europe-wide supergrid is required to link several diverse sources of renewable energy onto one electrical grid. When a wind farm cannot supply power on a windless day, a solar farm might be able to compensate, for example. It would also reduce power prices for consumers and make supplies more secure.

Such a grid, however, requires long-term thinking, joined up international politics and huge investment, which is unlikely in the current economic climate.

Security of electricity supply can be mitigated by installing UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and an alternative source of onsite standby power, such as a diesel generator. There are many different types of system to suit every different sort of application, criticality of load and financial budget. More information is available on Riello’s website.

It looks like controversial American entrepreneur Donald Trump’s plans for redeveloping a site on North East Scotland’s coast have been thwarted by the proposed installation of eleven wind turbines in Aberdeen Bay.

Mr Trump met with opposition from locals when he revealed plans some years ago to buy land, and a section of coastline in the area, to build a high-end, luxury golf course, grand hotel and executive housing. His plans were subsequently approved and building has started on the golf course.

BBC News Scotland reported that work has now halted on the development as Trump awaits the outcome of planning approval for the Wind Farm installation. Mr Trump has said openly and in a letter to First Minister Alex Salmond that the turbines would spoil the sea views for his customers.

The European Offshore Wind Development Centre is a £150m joint venture by utility company Vattenfall, engineering firm Technip and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group.

The plans took a step forward this week when councillors approved the consortium’s submission to Marine Scotland.

Wind farms on land can be unpopular. Many home owners view them as ugly, a blight on the landscape, noisy and unpleasant, which is one reason why basing them out at sea makes sense. At Riello UPS, we are keeping an open mind about all manner of renewable energy sources, particularly solar, as a key part of the future of energy generation and power protection.

Scottish Wind Farms Receive Record Constraints Payments

Wind power has received mixed coverage of late. First of all, Scottish online newspaper Scotsman.com ran an article last week reporting that wind farm operators in Scotland received more than £14 million in the past two years in return for switching off their turbines at times of high power generation.

To balance things out, however, the story was brought to light by the Renewable Energy Foundation (REF), a charity that has publicly spoken out in the past against wind farms.

REF released information that said that since 2010, a system of ‘constraint payments’ has been operated by The National Grid to compensate wind farms if they are taken off the grid when it cannot cope with high supply.

A spokesperson from Scottish Renewables stated that constraints payments are paid to all electricity generators, including coal and gas power stations and not just wind farms. Such payments are a standard practice in that suppliers are paid not to generate at times of lower than expected demand or when there is congestion on the grid.

At Riello UPS, we see renewables, of all types, as a key part of of the future energy generation landscape and are continuing to develop products and solutions that enable customers to take full advantage of those technologies alongside ensuring power protection for critical applications.

Where can you get help in choosing the one that’s right for you?

If you are in the market for UPS power protection – and this is the first time you have thought about it – trawling the internet for information can be frustrating and you could end up more confused than ever. It’s a big subject, and a specialist one.

UPS manufacturers are a great source of information but much of it is either technical (geared towards electrical engineers rather than end users) or biased towards a certain type of technology.

If you’ve already got a UPS installed, you’ll have a good idea (based on past experience) of what to look for when it comes to upgrading or replacing it. However, in the past few years the power protection industry has undergone an evolutionary process of change and development of UPS products, solutions and services, driven largely by the desire for greater energy efficiency and lower lifetime costs of UPS systems overall. Advances in technology and manufacturing have resulted in smaller, more powerful products with fewer component parts and which are more reliable and sophisticated than their forebears.

Which UPS should I choose and where can I go for objective information?

Sadly, there are few places you can get information like this for free. UPS specialist resellers and manufacturers are running businesses from which they need to make a profit and they usually either charge for consulting advice or give it for free if they can then sell you their products. You may not be at the stage where you are ready to choose your UPS manufacturer or their products so, what can you do?

As luck would have it, we’ve written a book: The Power Protection Guide – the design, installation and operation of uninterruptible power supplies, which was published in 2007. It’s available from Amazon, all good booksellers and our own estore. At 290 pages, it details all of the elements you need to think about in terms of UPS power protection – and although our publisher insists on a cover price of £28-95, it offers great value for money and may even save money for you in the long-term. Armed with knowledge, you will be in a better position to get what you need and negotiate a good price.

Covering such items as criticality, UPS topologies and designs, UPS sizing and selection, online UPS designs, building in UPS reliability and resilience, batteries and alternative UPS back up solutions, UPS and generators, UPS monitoring and remote control, UPS logistics and installation, UPS warranties, maintenance and service, the book provides a handy tool for anyone responsible for assuring the delivery of critical power supplies for the continuity of their business – whatever business that might be. We’ve purposely incorporated a detailed index to make it easy to reference and appended some useful forms and worked examples. It is illustrated throughout with clear diagrams, charts and graphs.

Majority of Renewable Energy Association’s members think tariff should be cut by 25%

So, there is still no clearer harmony over FiTs after the landmark legal victory in December 2011.

Since the Government’s announcement in December that it would slash the tariff for small-scale solar projects (up to 4kW in size) from 43.30/kWh to 21p/kWh, the industry has delivered a backlash of angry protest as installers have had contracts cancelled and companies have had to close or make serious redundancies.

But it would seem, from comments in the press by Gaynor Hartnell, the Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association, that there is disharmony in the industry. Hartnell responded to the high court decision by warning that the impact of the ruling could further increase instability.

The high court found that the proposed cut to the Feed-in Tariff Scheme for solar power by the UK Government in the middle of a consultation period was unlawful. The case had been brought by environmental organisation Friends of the Earth alongside solar groups. Following the ruling, DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change) lodged with the Appeals Court and a hearing has been set for this Friday (13^th January).

I think it’s sad that it has come to this. It’s clear that the Feed-in Tariff scheme, which was meant to benefit individuals, small-scale energy users, schools and community projects has been exploited and often misdirected. In my view, there are faults on both sides (the Government and the industry). At the end of the day the ones who are suffering are individual energy consumers, who are missing out on the benefits of harnessing solar power and generating their own electricity, but the ones who are suffering the most are the honest, hardworking installers whose very livelihoods are being jeopardised.

I do believe, however, that the industry will bounce back. It has too much momentum behind it now to fade away and there are too many advantages solar power can offer (separate to the FiTs scheme), which is what the industry has to focus on now rather than relying solely on FiTs – irrespective of the Court of Appeal’s decision.

The Aros Solar Inverter product range covers both domestic and commercial/industrial applications from 1.5 to 500kW and includes a host of monitoring and customisation options. Aros Solar Inverters are accredited for use in the UK market and are available from Riello UPS Ltd.

Anyone reading an electrical magazine of late can’t help but notice the rising interest in (and column inches devoted to) the subject of voltage optimisation.

In 1995, the European Union set out to harmonise the single-phase mains supply voltage across countries. Prior to that, variation existed country-to-country from 220, 230 or 240Vac 50Hz. It was down to manufacturers of electrical equipment to optimise their products for each country or region. 230Vac became the nominal standard (prior to which the UK operated at 240Vac). Three-phase mains nominal voltage was harmonised to 400Vac.

A problem arose because many large electricity consumers found that much of the electrical equipment they use to run their businesses now operates inefficiently at the new rating and thus wastes considerable electricity each year.

Voltage optimisation technology providers stepped in to stem the problem by developing technology that sits between mains power and connected loads to provide a steady-state 230Vac or 400Vac supply to ensure optimal load voltage efficiency, whether resistive or inductive/capacitive loads.

My question is: can it be recommended for mission critical applications and is such technology really the best option when UPS themselves are the ultimate voltage optimiser?

Firstly, UPS protect connected loads from breaks in mains supply AND from mains-borne power problems such as sags, surges, brownouts and so on, which a voltage optimisers cannot do as effectively.

Secondly, although most online UPS are installed as 230Vac (single-phase) or 400Vac (three-phase) output, they can be configured manually to provide other voltages such as: 220/230/240Vac or 380/400/415Vac. Loads are automatically supplied by a UPS with the level of voltage and current required to perform at their optimal frequency. UPS also provide battery back up and/or connection to an alternative energy source (such as a generator) to protect loads in the event of a mains failure. Today’s online UPS can also achieve operating efficiency figures of 96% and higher (if operated in certain power modes).

Voltage optimisers carry a lower capital cost compared with UPS but they do not provide the higher levels of power protection required by the critical loads that run today’s always on businesses. In my view, UPS are better at the job of both power protection and voltage optimisation.

As most electrical engineers know, working with switchgear carries with it potential hazards. Improvements in design and better working practices, however, have contrived to make it much safer than it used to be.

If it were an animal, switchgear would be a champion racehorse; highly-strung, unpredictable – and with a powerful bite. But as every champion jockey will tell you: it’s all in the training. If you know what you’re doing and have thorough and appropriate training, you should be able to handle switchgear, no problem. If you are a novice, however, take every precaution and wear all the safety gear you can.

An accident associated with switchgear has been arc flash. These can occur when a large electrical current passes through ionised air and can be triggered when a circuit-breaker fails or when insulation has been seriously compromised. Although rare, these accidents have had serious consequences in the past. When an arc flash occurs, the temperature surrounding it can rise to around 20,000 degrees centigrade, which vaporises conductors leading to an explosion and the release of globules of molten metal. Anyone nearby could be in danger of serious injury or death.

Arc flash can also cause fire, the production of dangerous gasses and the leakage of burning oil in older designs such as oil insulated switchgear.

The good news is that modern designs of switchgear have moulded insulation, which allows good control over electric fields thereby reducing the susceptibility of the insulation to break down. It significantly reduces the chances of arc-related faults. It won’t entirely negate such incidents, or the chances there of, so it is important still to observe appropriate safety information and practices.

Not quite so hazardous but potentially more disruptive is the problem of partial discharge in insulation, which is a common cause of unreliability in MV switchgear. Here, small currents in the form of sparks can leak through the insulation at points where it has deteriorated. In hazardous environments, this could cause ignition of flammable materials but at best it could lead to breakdown of equipment and expensive repair. Needless to say, the best remedy for this is regular testing and inspection of switchgear, including all cabling and connectors.

When you choose Riello UPS for switchgear supply, you can be sure of our expertise. We always design switchgear into the system from the start and our name appears on the panel so you can rest assured we make sure that the quality of our work is consistent with the rest of your UPS and standby power installation.