Shallow-water tidal device for renewable energy unveiled
August 26, 2009 at 2:05 am
As the country prepares for a new green shift in the way we produce our energy, one company may have come up with a solution that will prove hugely important in the near future. We’ve all heard about wind power – and the controversy that often surrounds it in terms of its efficiency – but now it looks like tidal power could have a bigger future.
Pulse Tidal, a small firm located in Sheffield, has just revealed details of a shallow-water device that can harvest energy from tidal power. Although tidal power itself is nothing particularly new, Pulse Tidal has proved that it can get a device to produce good levels of power in shallow waters, which up until now has not been possible.
The benefits of this could be considerable. Any offshore installations require huge costs in order to install them and then maintain them over their lifetime. By operating a device in shallow water the costs of producing the electricity can be hugely reduced.
Pulse Tidal highlights the predictability of tidal energy as opposed to wind power, and the company has also made the bold claim that it “will surpass the wind turbine” as the cheapest way to produce power in the future.
The initial prototype was installed in the Humber estuary back in May, where it has been providing power to Millennium Inorganic Chemicals. It works by utilising tidal streams to move horizontal blades up and down, powering the generator. The 100kW it is capable of producing is enough to power up to 70 homes.
The company is now planning to make a much larger device which it states will be able to produce the “lowest lifetime cost of power” currently available, and this will start operating in 2012. In the future it could also create new devices to operate at different depths of water.
Fuel bills to rise by £92 by 2020
August 21, 2009 at 3:50 am
In mid-July Energy Secretary Ed Miliband released his latest
White Paper, revealing his much-awaited plans to make the UK a ‘green’, low-carbon economy. The blueprint stipulates wholesale changes to all aspects of an average Brit’s daily activities. Miliband echoes many of the claims made by environmentalist’s the world over, that a radical change in the way we think and live is essential if we are to create a sustainable world. The paper comes at an important time with the G20 just around the corner.
Included in the details of the paper are some of the plans in which Miliband plans to cut emissions. He hopes to build 7,000 on and offshore wind turbines before 2020 and introduce a new generation of transport, with electric cars and high-speed trains at the fore. There are potentially ground-breaking initiatives such as the introduction of ‘smart-meters’, allowing millions of homeowners the opportunity to save money by using less electricity. The hope is that this will all lead to emissions being cut by 34% by 2020 (80% by 2049) and at the same time create up to 1.2 million new jobs for people working in ‘green’ industries.
Miliband admitted that this push would lead to an increase in the cost of bills of around £92 a year by 2020. The UK Energy Research Centre however suggests that the rise could be as much as £230, which would hit middle class families the hardest. The energy companies themselves would be expected to take on some of the financial burden by covering some of the increased costs accrued by low-income families.
EDF fined for bad service
August 17, 2009 at 2:49 pm
EDF Energy Networks has picked up a massive fine from industry regulator Ofgem for customer service failings. In total, the energy provider was forced to pay up a massive £2 million fine for its shortcomings.
The fine was imposed directly in response to the failure of EDF to connect new customers in a quick and efficient manner. When property developers make enquiries to an electricity company, that company is required to provide them with details about the costs involved within 90 days. However, it turns out that on numerous occasions EDF failed to do this within the time limit.
Ofgem carried out an investigation between April 2006 and November 2008. During this time period, it turned out that 108 customers had to wait over the 90-day limit to find out about their electricity needs from the company. This led Sarah Harrison, the managing director of Ofgem, to state that customers “should not have to accept poor service” from any sector of the energy market.
EDF has now made changes in order to improve the connection problems. But this wasn’t done early enough to avoid the huge fines, and Ofgem said that it should have made these changes a long time ago. EDF even made goodwill repayments to “all 108 customers” in response, and the £450,000 already paid was taken into account by Ofgem when it came to determining the size of the fine.
EDF, which provides electricity to 7.8 million customers in the south of England, said it “greatly regretted” the poor service.
Solar power gets MPs' backing
August 7, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Switching to green, sustainable energy is one of the most important issues of our time. In a world where climate change carries on unabated, politicians across the world are now looking seriously into viable sources of green energy for the future.
Now, thanks to the support of a large number of MPs, the current funding gap that exists in the UK solar-power industry could become a thing of the past. The industry is on the verge of getting government support to take it to the next level.
An Early Day Motion was announced in February criticising the Government’s treatment of solar energy. But by last week the number of signatures had risen to 255, meaning it could lead to a subsidy from the Government to make the technology truly viable. It calls for greater investment in solar photovoltaic (PV) power, and if it gets the go ahead we could see solar power becoming a huge industry in the country.
Colin Challen, the MP for Rothwell and Morley who put forward the motion, said that the number of signatures “underlines the extent of parliamentary feeling on this issue.”
Although solar power is more expensive, using the new ‘feed-in’ tariffs that will be arriving soon will allow it to become a viable option. These have already been introduced in many other countries, and they allow people to generate their own electricity and feed it back into the network for a price above the market rate, allowing them to pay for their installation within 10 years.
This will then lead to a reduction in the cost of solar power so that in the near future subsidies will no longer be required.
