Renew On Line (UK) 54

Extracts from NATTA's journal
Renew, issue 154 Mar-Apr2005

7. Industrial ups and downs

Green Energy UK, which supplies green energy to homes and businesses across the UK, is to use PV solar to power a new electric go-kart racing track in Mile End Park, London.   The company buys in power from a wind farm in the West Country and small-scale hydro plants in the Peak District and Cumbria and biomass in Yorkshire, but the go-kart track will have it own PV canopy.  Meanwhile, long standing green energy supplier Ecotricity is planting 20,000 native broadleaf trees, including ash and oak, to fulfill its environmental promise to plant a tree for every new customer, while British Gas has launched an eco-friendly tariff, ‘Warm Fix’, which links energy efficiency directly to customer bills. Although it’s 9% higher than the standard tariff, the company will install energy efficiency measures such as cavity wall or loft installation and low-energy light bulbs for free, which it says will reduce energy bills by an average of £90 a year.   However major renewables player United Utilities is to sell its windfarms and waste gas ‘Green Energy’ division.  It also has hydroelectric operations as well as planning permission for an offshore windfarm.

Green trams and bus stops...

Renewable sources are being investigated to help to reduce the environmental impact of Edinburgh’s proposed light rail network- including a proposed 14-mile Line One loop between Princes Street and Granton.  Line One and a second line linking Haymarket with the airport and Newbridge, are currently estimated to cost £473 m. A third line, running to the SE is dependent on funding from the city’s planned congestion-charge scheme. In parallel, Plymouth Council is phasing in  PV powered  lighting  on  350  bus stops and has just been awarded a grant for a 112 module PV array on its bus interchange station.