Councils to be allowed to sell green power
July 28, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Chris Huhne, the Climate Change Secretary, has announced that a ban on the selling of green electricity by councils will be overturned in the near future. He has confirmed that he wants local councils to be able to produce their own green electricity and to sell it to the National Grid.
The original ban came into force under the 1976 Local Government Act. Huhne wants to see the ban overturned so that councils can start to produce electricity through green technology such as wind power and anaerobic digestion. He is hoping that that ban will be overturned within six months.
It could lead to a huge increase in small-scale energy generation by local councils, which would help the government to reach its green energy targets.
Huhne said that it is “ridiculous that the 1976 Local Government Act prevents councils from selling electricity”. Once the ban is repealed he expects to see local authorities generate revenue to keep Council Tax down and to help local services.
New data on council emissions has also been released which shows the amount of CO2 that was produced by councils in the 2008/09 financial year.
The councils with the lowest emissions were East Cambridgeshire with 574 tonnes, East Northamptonshire with 606 tonnes and Broadland with 806 tonnes.
The worst performers were Birmingham with 177,360 tonnes, Hertfordshire with 168,570 tonnes and Lancashire with 157,890 tonnes
In all, a total of 8.3 million tonnes of CO2 was released by local councils, making up 1.6% of the total emissions for the UK.
Reductions in prices and clearer bills
July 23, 2010 at 3:51 am
A recent report from industry watchdog Ofgem reveals that consumers are benefiting from reforms brought in following their investigation into the energy market.
The areas of benefit are twofold: not only has there been a reduction in price premiums but bills are also clearer and more informative.
Prior to the changes, certain groups of customers were paying well over the odds for their energy.
- Customers with prepayment meters were paying a premium of £111 as compared with customers paying by direct debit. The premium is now £69.
- Consumers in the areas where a provider had previously had a monopoly were paying £30 more than elsewhere in the country. This has now been reduced to £18.
- 4.3 million electricity-only users, such as those in rural areas who do not have access to gas, were paying more than dual-fuel customers, an anomaly which Ofgem has reduced.
Two suppliers have, however, still not satisfied Ofgem over its price premiums and have been warned that enforcement action could be taken if they are unable to justify the premiums. In addition, all providers have been advised to be more transparent in their marketing, particularly of online deals which often offer temporary discounts.
As from 1 July bills will be far more informative, showing consumers exactly how much energy has been used and how much it is costing them. This should mean that it is easier for consumers to make the necessary comparisons when deciding whether to change supplier.
The full 33-page report can be read here.
Despite all the improvements, Ofgem is not resting on its laurels and now plans to tackle the way in which providers deal with complaints, an area of concern for many consumers.
Renewable energy setback
July 16, 2010 at 4:38 pm
The proportion of electricity supplied from renewable sources, such as wind and hydro power, fell in the first three months of 2010.
A dry winter is said to have reduced power from water turbines along with lower wind speeds decreasing the amount of electricity generated from wind turbines.
Comparing figures from 2009, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), said that there had been a 7.5% drop in renewable energy this year.
Electricity supplied from wind and hydro power alone fell by 6.6%. Coal supplies in the first quarter of 2010 dropped by 17.3%. And fuel used by electricity generators in the first quarter of the year was 1.6% lower than 2009, said the DECC.
A spokesperson for the Met Office said that there had been a dry theme to the weather this year caused by “blocked” weather patterns across the UK. High pressure had prevented westerly winds from bringing wind and rain from the Atlantic. The Met Office added that during the winter months the UK rainfall total was 248.6mm, 75% of the long term average.
However, the government recently announced plans to increase offshore wind across the UK by awarding £5m in grants to seven UK companies. The aim of the funding is to increase the supply of offshore wind and renewable energy supplies, providing benefits to businesses and consumers.
Commenting on government funding, the Secretary of State, Chris Huhne, said that offshore wind would be “very significant in the energy mix as we move to low carbon, sustainable energy supplies.”
Solar PV to grow in 2010
July 9, 2010 at 3:50 am
The recent introduction of feed-in tariffs could lead to a five-fold increase during 2010 in the number of small-scale Solar PV installations across the country, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
The company said that the feed-in tariffs are certain to lead to a huge increase in the technology, and that the same thing has happened across Europe, following the introduction of other feed-in tariffs, where increases of 300% were witnessed in many countries.
Feed-in tariffs allow people to generate their own energy on a small scale through installing devices such as micro wind turbines and solar panels. The electricity can then be used in the home to power lights and appliances, and any that is left over can be sold back to the national grid. This ability to sell electricity rather than having to pay for it makes the prospect a much more tempting proposition as it will help people to pay off the costs of installing the technology in the first place.
Solar panels have been used to generate electricity for a long time. But solar PV technology is different because it is able to produce power even when the skies are cloudy – which has obvious benefits in the UK and Northern Europe.
By 2015, PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts that solar PV generation will grow by 30 times to produce up to 1,000 MW. However, even on such a scale, by 2020 the UK would still only be producing the same levels as Germany does today, so we have a long way to go.
Indeed, PriceWaterhouseCoopers highlights certain problems including a lack of incentives, complex funding and restrictions to planning, which have got in the way of the development of the technology.
More electric cars would require UK power boost
July 2, 2010 at 2:52 am
Electric cars are starting to increase in popularity, and are being billed as an important way to help reduce the country’s CO2 emissions in the future. But now the Royal Academy of Engineering has released some surprising data which states that if all the cars in the country were to become electric, the National Grid would use one fifth of its energy just providing power for them.
That essentially means there is currently not enough power to deal with the demand. If all the 30 million cars in the UK suddenly became electric, this would lead to a massive 16% increase in demand, which is equivalent to an extra 10 gigawatts of power. To provide this amount of power, we would need to build six new nuclear power stations or 2,000 new wind turbines.
This is a very serious problem facing the dream to have all our vehicles running on electricity rather than petrol. With the 70 GW National Grid already running at near its full capacity, it is a problem that will have to be dealt with if any real progress is to be made.
The Royal Academy of Engineering also stated that the way in which the electricity is produced will also have to play a large role if the country is serious about reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. It’s all well and good running cars on electricity, but if that electricity comes from the standard fossil fuel power stations then it won’t do much good.
For this reason the extra electricity should come from natural or CO2-free resources, such as wind power, nuclear or other renewable energies.
