1. Even more  offshore wind

Following on from the commitment made last July to support a second expanded round of offshore wind farms (see Renew 145), the Department for Trade and Industry ( DTI) has announced agreement on sites for 15 new projects around the UK coastline, based on applications from developers approved by Crown Estates, which owns and will lease out the sites. If all goes well, the new wind farms are expected to be producing electricity by the end of the decade and should provide...

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2. BETTA , RO and Carbon trading

Not BETTA ?

The proposal in the new British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements,  to allow electricity supply companies to charge generators extra for long distance transmission, have been seen, in a new ILEX report for Scottish Power, as likely to significantly increase the costs of the often remotely sited renewables in Scotland- possibly increasing the transmission costs for a typical wind farm...

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3. Wind - in the city and in the forests

Urban wind spreads

Urban wind projects are proliferating. We noted in Renew 145 that  there were plans to install three 1.5 MW Enercon turbines on the site of the old Ford motor works in Dagenham, east London and that there were plans for a projects in Dundee and Norwich.  Adding to the trend, the Guardian (Nov 20th) reported, Hammersmith council....

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4. Green Alliance : PSI report on Funding

The Green Alliance is a lobbying group which tries to influence public policy through, amongst other things,carefully researched and targeted publications. With the current government spending round in mind, they commissioned a report on ...

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5. Solar, Tidal, Hydro and biomass

More PV solar

Last December, the DTI announced a further £1.8m worth of allocations under the £20m Major Photovoltaic  Demonstration Programme- for 16 new projects.  These are the sixth set of medium and large scale proposals approved ...

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6. Throwing caution at the wind

Wind power is currently the most successful of the new renewables.  According to a study Risoe National Laboratory in Denmark, reported at  the recent Conference  on  technology for dealing with Climate Change held at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, wind power will become competitive with conventional gas and coal power plants in seven to ten years. And Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, a joint organiser of the conference, said that offshore wind plant would be especially competitive...

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7. CHP gap confirmed

A 20% gap in the delivery of the Government’s target for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) was  confirmed in a study last year, Lord Whitty, Minister for Sustainable Energy, commented ‘The signals are clearly flashing amber on the road ...

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8. Long-life energy deal 

Energy consumers could benefit from lower bills and help to combat climate change by being able to sign up to longer contracts with energy companies through a new pilot project announced last Nov. by the government, which suggested that...

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9. EU News

Europeans like  wind

Wind power and renewables are very popular with people in areas where wind farms are built, or have been proposed, across Europe and beyond, according to a review published  by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA)...

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10. US News

U.S. says we need new technology

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has claimed that meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions will be impossible without revolutionary new energy technologies being developed by U.S-led research...

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11. World Renewables Roundup

Hungary for Green Power

Hungary’s liberalized power market has made the sector more competitive, but there has also been protection for facilities using renewable energy sources.  It is hoped that the proportion of renewables used will rise to 3.6% from the current 0.5% by 2010, a deadline set by the EU (see the EU-25 accession state targets on p.10)...

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12. Nuclear News

De-nuke the EU - a way to go still

Not content with adopting a national nuclear phase out programme (the first plant closed recently), the German red-green government has decreed that Germany should not export nuclear power plant technology anywhere in the world...

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13. In the Rest of Renew 148

In the Feature in Renew 148 Dave Toke looks at the state of play in relation to local planning- and wind power. Based on his research for ESRC, he reports that progress is being made- at long last- but argues that it’s mostly down to local level parish politics. Which is perhaps as it should be. The Technology section looks at new wave and tidal power ideas at the UK PV programme and at the debate over whether methanol or hydrogen is the best option for a new vehicle fuel.  The Reviews section also looks at hydrogen- a new book- and at the Lib Dems new market orientated Energy policy. It also reviews the new draft wind power planning rules.  The Groups section looks at various local renewable energy projects and at Imperial Colleges research work . There’s also a critical review of the COP 9 Climate Change meeting in our Forum section

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