Transforming the UK's Electricity Market (Event)

The event Transforming the UK's electricity market deals with the situation one year on from the Reform White Paper and the Ofgem Review. It will take place on July 12, 2012. Delegates will assess the ongoing transformation of the UK's electricity system. Planned sessions focus on the progress that is being made, and the next steps in delivering the key elements of the market reform package including discussion on taking forward the Emissions Performance Standard and Carbon Price Floor for decarbonising electricity, and the proposed Capacity Mechanism for ensuring the future security of electricity supplies. In the context of market regulation, the agenda also includes discussion on the extent to which the regulatory environment has been strengthened since the Ofgem Review, as well as the further work that is required to ensure the protection of consumers and that investment in the energy sector is cost-effective.

Jonathan Brearley, Director, Energy Markets and Networks, Department of Energy and Climate Change and David Porter, Chief Executive, Energy UK will deliver keynote addresses at this seminar.

Further confirmed speakers include: Jeremy Chang, Director, Energy Projects Team, Pinsent Masons; Audrey Gallacher, Director of Energy, Consumer Focus; Malcolm Keay, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies; Jostein Kristensen, Managing Consultant, Oxera Professor Catherine Mitchell, Professor of Energy Policy, University of Exeter; Dr Barrie Murray, Managing Director, Electricity Market Services; Dave Openshaw, Head of Future Networks, UK Power Networks; Dr Douglas Parr, Chief Scientist, Greenpeace UK; Ronan O'Regan, Director, PwC; Dr Andy Stanford-Clark, Chief Technology Officer for Energy and Utilities, IBM Global Business Services, UK and Ireland; Paul Steedman, Senior Campaigner, Campaigns Specialist Team, Friends of the Earth and John Wood, Partner, Norton Rose.

Rt Hon the Lord Fraser of Carmyllie QC, Treasurer, Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies and Barry Gardiner MP, Member, Energy and Climate Change Select Committee will chair this seminar.

For more information click here.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Four Training Events From the Green Power Academy

Here are four events taking place in London UK produced by the Green Power Academy. They will be taking place between the 13th and the 18th of July 2012. These four events involve renewable technologies, economics and financing. For more information and registration information see below:

1. Renewable Power Technologies A 1-day introduction to the key technologies available to generate clean power. This event will take place on 13-July-2012.

For more information or to register click here.

2. Renewable Power Economics: A 1-day introduction to the factors which determine the business case for renewable power. This event will take place on 16-17-July-2012.

For more information or to register click here.

3. Renewable Project Planning & Financing: A 2-day comprehensive introduction to preparing, financing and presenting business plans for renewable energy projects. This event will take place on 16-18-July-2012.

For more information or to register click here.

4. Renewable Power Technologies: A 1-day introduction to the key technologies available to generate clean power. This event will take place on 18-July-2012.

For more information or to register click here.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Scottish Wind Energy Can Power Europe

Scotland's massive wind energy capacity is capable of producing vast amounts of clean, sustainable energy to the rest of Europe. Due to Scotland's strong winds, skilled workforce, well-developed energy infrastructure and welcoming investment environment, the country has attracted overseas companies like Doosan, Gamesa and Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe. With over 25 percent of Europe’s wind resource Scotland has the potential to generate 159 GW of power which is almost 15 times Scotland's own peak requirement (10.5 GW).

Scotland intends to produce all of its electricity requirements from renewable sources by 2020 and to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Right now Scotland produces over half of its renewable energy capacity. In total there are 80 wind farms and an additional 7 GW of onshore wind energy capacity is currently under construction or planned.

Whitelee wind farm near Glasgow is Europe’s largest wind farm generating 322 MW of electricity, this will increase to 593 MW from 215 turbines when a planned expansion is complete. The world's largest wind farm is being built off the coast of Caithness.

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UK Renewable Energy 2011 Overview

According to statistics from the Department of Energy and Climate Change the renewable energy sector contributed to a record breaking 9.6 percent of the electricity supplied by the UK grid in 2011. This is an encouraging 50 percent increase on the figures from 2010. Yorkshire and the Humber have the most renewable energy sites followed by the North West and the South West.

Wind power is a big part of the increase in the UK's renewable energy supply increasing 120 percent over 2010 data. Wind energy now generates almost 10 percent of the UK's electricity demand during peak wind energy production.

Not only are brits increasing their renewable energy supply they have also decreased their energy consumption 3.7 percent compared to 2010.

Despite planned reductions to the UK's green subsidy regime for wind and solar in 2012, investments in renewable energy are likely to continue this year.

To view an interactive map of the UK's renewable energy installations click here.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Cuts to UK Wind Power ROCs & FiTs

Under pressure from Conservative MPs the UK Government appears poised to reduce its committment to wind projects. The Government has proposed a 10% cut to the financial support available to onshore wind generation projects as part of its review of renewables obligation certificates (ROCs). This has prompted some of the world's biggest wind companies to tell the Guardian newspaper that they were reviewing potential projects in the UK because of the Government's perceived lack of commitment to renewables. The government has already stated that it is considering reducing feed-in tariffs (FiT) for small wind turbines between 1.5 and 15KW by 25 percent. This would cost rural businesses up to £70,000 over the lifetime of a turbine on their land.

A government consultation on reductions to FiTs is ongoing until April 26th. The new rates are expected to start in October. To beat the deadline for the FiT reduction in the fall, applicants need to submit their planning applications by May 31.

With wind turbine costing around around £67,000, acting before the deadline can save £16,750. Wind turbines also save money on electricity. Some farmers have reportedly saved up to £10,000 on annual electric bills with just one wind turbine.

With the deadline looming there is a race to get wind turbines now before the 25 percent reduction in FiTs kicks in.

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UK Wind Energy

The UK has ideal off shore wind conditions which are capable of supplying the island nations energy requirements. According to German government research only Denmark can produce wind energy cheaper than the UK. At the beginning of 2012, the installed capacity of wind power in the United Kingdom was over 5.9 gigawatts which ranked the UK as the world’s eighth largest producer of wind power. Wind power is expected to continue growing in the UK for the foreseeable future, RenewableUK estimates that more than 2 GW of capacity will be deployed per year for the next five years.

The UK is leading the way in wind power deployment, installing more turbines in 2011 than any other country. A report from the European Wind Energy Association reveals that between January and June, a total of 101 wind turbines of 348.1MW were connected across Europe.

Wind energy is subsidized in the UK, but the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is cutting funding by reducing the value of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs). The ROCs are designed to encourage generation of electricity from eligible renewable sources in the UK.

Although current price levels are higher than conventional energy these costs should be reduced with experience and once wind power achieves economies of scale. It is expected that wind will cost £100/MWh (US$157) by 2020.

According to the Country Attractiveness Indices report global accountancy firm Ernst and Young said that annual growth in UK wind farms was set to double between 2015 and 2016.

Wind energy not only offers emissions free energy production, but in today's difficult economic climate, it provides much need green jobs. It is estimated that up to 90,000 green jobs will be provided by 2020 in the wind, wave and tidal sector and associated supply chain.

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Cuts to UK Solar FiTs Could Prove Deadly

On October 31st 2011, Greg Barker, Minister of State at DECC, announced a controversial proposal to halve the feed-in tariff (FiT) rates for solar installations in each band up to 50kW, with smaller cuts in the bands from 50kW to 250kW. These cuts to FiTs are jeopardizing the UK solar industry. A FiT is a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies. It achieves this by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers, typically based on the cost of generation of each technology. Cuts to homeowners solar power could prove deadly to the fledgling UK industry in addition to threatening tens of thousands of jobs.

According to an October 2011 press release, Climate Change and Energy Minister Greg Barker said "Urgent action is needed to put the solar industry on a steadier, clearer and sustainable growth path, avoid boom and bust and protect the wider Feed-in Tariff scheme (FITs),"

Reduced subsidies for domestic solar electricity are an effort to keep the budget under control and reflect the plummeting costs of the technology (the cost of an average domestic PV installation has fallen by at least 30% since the start of the scheme – from around £13,000 in April 2010 to £9,000 now).

The proposals, subject to consultation, would introduce a new tariff for schemes up to 4kW in size of 21p/kWh – down from the current 43.3p/kWh. Reduced rates are also proposed for schemes between 4kW and 250kW, to ensure those schemes receive a consistent rate of return.

According to a recent report, global accountancy firm Ernst and Young indicate that the UK solar sector put in a strong performance in 2011. Much of the 762MW capacity was installed to take advantage of the current feed-in tariff (FiT) programme before subsidies fall.

The surge in households installing solar PV has threatened to break the budget. There were over 16,000 new solar PV installations in September 2011 alone – nearly double the number installed in June. And nearly three times as much solar PV as projected has so far been installed with over 100,000 separate installations with over 400MW of capacity.

The new proposed tariffs would apply to all new solar PV installations with an eligibility date on or after 12 December 2011. Such installations would receive the current tariff before moving to the lower tariffs on 1 April 2012. Consumers who already receive FITs will see their existing payments unchanged, and those with an eligibility date before 12 December will receive the current rates for 25 years.

The tariffs are broadly comparable to those offered in Germany, which has also recently reduced its tariffs.

The businesses accepted that the falling cost of solar photovoltaic panels should be reflected in falling subsidies, but the industry said cutting support by over 50% in the next six weeks would devastate the number of installations on homes, schools and small businesses.

The proposed solar cuts – the third such change in less than a year – undermined confidence across the green energy industry.

"Such deep cuts would kill the UK solar industry stone dead," said Howard Johns, of the solar industry's Cut Don't Kill campaign and also the managing director of Southern Solar. "Wiping out 4,000 companies and 25,000 jobs by cutting too deeply would be an appalling waste of economic potential. Our message to [the] government is cut us, but don't kill us. We want a sustainable cut that would allow us to survive and deliver the green growth that David Cameron said he was committed to."

Luciana Berger MP, the shadow climate change minister, said: "we are already hearing from solar companies about cancelled orders and redundancies. This is yet another sign that this Tory-led government has turned its back on the green growth agenda. The real choice is not between being green or economic growth but between acting and not acting. If we act to tackle climate change we can create thousands of jobs and get our economy moving again."

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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