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Other Sectors

Electric Vehicles

16 August 2019

Dundee is now at the vanguard of the switch to zero-carbon transport. It already boasts the largest number of electric minicabs anywhere in the UK (134 at the last count), a council-owned network of four solar-powered charging hubs capable of taking 78 cars at a time (with sites for another 60 being built) and the highest number of rapid chargers of any Scottish city. In a few days it will open a rooftop charging hub – solar-powered, of course – at a city-centre multistorey. Despite the Scottish government’s boasts about its charging network, Scotland’s drivers have been slow to take up electric vehicles. Official sales figures show that while Scotland has 8.5% of the UK’s population, only 5.8% of the UK’s ultra-low-emission cars are registered in Scotland. That’s 11,607, out of a total of 2.5m cars in Scotland. Meanwhile, bus use has been in long-term decline and CO2 emissions from transport continue to grow. Environment campaigners welcome the shift to electric vehicles, but John Lauder, the deputy chief executive of the sustainable travel charity Sustrans, said far greater effort was needed to cut overall private car use, not just to switch from fossil fuels. “Electric vehicles are not always carbon neutral, they will not tackle congestion in our towns and cities, they will not improve road safety and they will do nothing to deal with the obesity crisis facing Scotland,” he said. “We need to see a sizeable reduction in shorter urban journeys by car, and we have existing technologies that can be scaled up and rolled out in a far shorter timescale: walking and cycling.”

Guardian »

Other Sectors

Flexibility First

8 July 2019

UK Power Networks has contracted 18.2MW of grid balancing services in London and South East England, after holding one of the UK’s first major auctions to provide power flexibility through the use of battery storage, demand-side-response, and behind-the-meter generation technologies. The distribution network operator is the UK’s first to commit to a ‘Flexibility First’ approach aimed at more efficiently using generated energy as increasing levels of intermittent renewable power sources come on to the grid. The hope is that the approach can provide additional power capacity at lower cost and with lower emissions than compared to the traditional approach of building more power plants for grid reinforcement. After first announcing the auction in May, UK Power Networks announced late last week that it has now agreed contracts collectively worth £450,000 with four companies: Moixa, AMP Clean Energy, Limejump and Powervault. UK Power Networks teamed up with Piclo to identify areas best suited for provision of flexibility services, using the software designer’s smart energy platform to provide a “heat-map” for areas of network congestion and link them with grid flexibility service providers.

Business Green »

Other Sectors

Hydrogen-powered Buses

5 July 2019

A tender process has been launched as Aberdeen bids to build on its reputation as a centre of excellence for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The £100k study is jointly funded by Aberdeen City Council (with support from the EU’s Interreg Hytrec2 project), Opportunity North East and Scottish Enterprise. The study aims to develop a business case which will explore the development of a sustainable and commercial supply of hydrogen in the city, which can then be adopted by other Scottish cities in future years. The commitment of the three partners demonstrates the city’s ambitions to embrace the future of hydrogen. As part of the tender potential locations for a hydrogen hub will be identified in addition to outlining the strategic, economic, financial and commercial objectives whilst determining the opportunities to seek private investment in the hydrogen market. Aberdeen has one of Europe’s largest fleets of fuel cell buses, which has exceeded the million-mile mark, and the study will seek to develop the next phase and continue to strengthen the city’s reputation as a global energy innovator.

Aberdeen City Council »

Other Sectors

Balancing Renewables

6 June 2019

Smart Charging: parked EV batteries can save billions in grid balancing. 95% of a car’s time is spent parked. It’s why parked and plugged-in EVs could be the battery banks of the future, stabilising grids powered by wind and solar. More than 1bn EVs could be on the world’s road by 2050, their 14 TWh of EV batteries dwarfing the projected 9 TWh of stationary batteries, according to the IRENA report “Innovation Outlook: smart charging for electric vehicles”. Smart charging could therefore save billions of dollars in grid investments. Distribution system operator Stromnetz Hamburg is testing a smart charging system which, when fully implemented, could reduce grid investments by 90%. But there are specific challenges, including: slow charging (rather than fast) is better suited to grid balancing; “car sharing” reduces an EV’s grid availability; charging infrastructure at home and at the workplace is critical.

Energy Post »

Other Sectors

Fife goes for Hydrogen

6 February 2017

FIFE-based Living Solutions (LS) are going all out this week to increase their ‘green energy footprint’, as they take delivery of their new hybrid Renault Kangoo van, supplied by local company – Bright Green Hydrogen (BGH). The Levenmouth Community Energy Project – led by BGH in Methil, Fife – is a collaborative initiative supported by Fife Council and Toshiba. Begins a spokesperson: “This new industry development involves the facility being created into the world’s foremost demonstrator of hydrogen derived from renewable turbine and solar resources. “It is the first project of its kind in Scotland to use green hydrogen to fuel a fleet of hybrid/electric vans to the road.” This new vehicle will add to Living Solutions’ green credentials, as they are already working to create an eco-friendly zero emissions tree-surgery service – as they ramp up their contracting business.

All Media Scotland »

Other Sectors
Renewables

Brighton’s Solar Buses

8 October 2016

The bright yellow Big Lemon buses are a familiar sight – and smell – on the roads of Brighton and Hove. For nine years the Community Interest Company has run all its vehicles on waste cooking oil from local restaurants, recycled into biodiesel, but now it wants to go one step further. The Big Lemon wants to install solar panels on the roof of its east Brighton depot, storing the energy in batteries and charging buses overnight. It is working with the Brighton Energy Cooperative (BEC) towards a vision of zero emissions bus services in every UK community by 2030, using Brighton as a pilot.

Guardian »

Other Sectors

Fife Hydrogen

23 May 2016

Two dual-fuel bin lorries which have the ability to run on both hydrogen and diesel have been delivered to Fife council in Scotland. Converted to run on both fuels by Liverpool-based low emission vehicle specialist ULEMCo, the two Heil Farid vehicles are designed to produce lower carbon and air pollution emissions reducing their environmental impact in densely populated urban areas. The work is part of the council’s Levenmouth Community Energy Project, which was last year awarded £4.3m through the the Scottish Government’s Local Energy Challenge Fund and will see the area become home to up to 25 hydrogen dual-fuel vehicles. The project will also see the conversion of five Ford Transit vans and 10 Renault HyKangoo vans to hybrid electric and hydrogen fuel cell operation, as well as the installation of hydrogen refuelling points in Methil and Fife council’s depot at Bankhead, Glenrothes.

Business Green »

Other Sectors

A Community Utility

19 April 2016

Community energy group Mongoose Energy intends to launch its energy supply business before the end of the year after plans accelerated in recent months. Solar Power Portal reported in December that Mongoose was preparing a supply business for late 2016, however the company this morning revealed fresh details of their plans. A senior management team is currently being assembled and will be revealed later this quarter, while launch tariffs will be announced in Q3 2016 prior to a full launch later this year. When open for business, Mongoose is expected to become the first energy supplier majority owned by community energy groups and Jan-Willem Bode, chief executive at Mongoose Energy, said the project had “the potential to transform the nature of energy ownership”.

Solar Power Portal »

Other Sectors

Green Vehicles

25 January 2016

The cities of Nottingham, Bristol, Milton Keynes and London are set to welcome an array of green vehicle technologies and innovations after winning a share of a new £40m fund from the Government to support the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) across the UK. London has been awarded £13m to create the ‘Neighbourhoods of the future’ which prioritises EV travel over conventional methods in certain London boroughs. EV charging streetlights in Hackney and a low-emission zone parking and traffic priority in Harrow are among the green innovations to be rolled out through the new funding. Meanwhile, Westminster City Council – which already provides free EV parking as a way of incentivising uptake – aims to promote the sale of 70,000 EVs by 2020. This target will be increased to 250,000 by 2025. The former European Green Capital, Bristol, will receive £7m to give EVs access to three carpool lanes as well as installing more than 80 rapid and fast charging areas. A scheme offering people a monthly lease of a plug-in car is also on offer.

Edie »

Other Sectors

Community Hydrogen

30 September 2015

A Scottish community energy project is on track to become one of Europe’s largest fleets of hydrogen-powered vehicles after the scheme’s lead partner announced the order of 15 such vehicles. Bright Green Hydrogen has invested in 10 Renault HyKangoo vans. The Levenmouth project – which secured £4 million from the Scottish Government’s Local Energy Fund – aims to position Levenmouth as a global leader in clean energy through developing the Hydrogen Office Project in Methil into a world-class demonstrator of hydrogen applications, generated from renewable sources.

Scottish Energy News »

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Latest News

  • Nottingham’s Net Zero Ambition

    Nottingham City Council has been named the overall winner in the Guardian’s Public Service Awards. He Council announced in January that it intended to become the UK’s first carbon-neutral city by 2028. It has already met its 2020 target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 26% four years early; more than 40% of all journeys in Nottingham are made on public transport and solar panels have been installed on more than 4,000 council houses. Energy consumption of council buildings has been cut by 39% and it is on track to generate 20% of its energy from low-carbon sources by next year. And last year the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs concluded that the city’s air pollution had fallen so much that a Clean Air Zone was not needed. Making the carbon neutral commitment was only possible, says Sally Longford, the Labour council’s deputy leader and portfolio holder for energy and environment, because of the work that had gone before. “We got a lot of stick over the years. People thought we were anti-car, because we introduced various schemes to try and reduce car usage and congestion.” But it has paid off. “When I was talking to the officers about how far we could push this they were confident we could go further than other councils because of all the work we’d already done.” One policy in particular, its workplace parking levy (WPL), was a “gamechanger” according to Longford. Introduced in 2012, the WPL is aimed at employers providing 11 or more commuter parking spaces, with an annual rate of £415 per space. It is still the only such scheme in the UK and has not only tackled congestion and pollution but netted the council £61m for improving and “greening” public transport. That money has helped with the redevelopment of Nottingham station, an expansion of the tram network that runs on green electricity from the council’s own energy company, and the council’s fleet of 58 electric buses that has reduced carbon emissions by more than 1,050 tonnes. “We have a positive attitude to these things because they pay for themselves,” says Longford. “We’re putting solar panels on anything that doesn’t move, really, because it saves us money in the long run and helps support other work we’re doing.” The energy and transport teams have won funding from central government, Europe and other sources, and the savings the energy team generates means it actually makes a profit for the council that can be used to cross-subsidise crucial departments such as children’s services.

  • Net Zero Bristol by 2030

    Bristol City Council – controlled by Labour – was the first council in the country to declare a climate emergency in November 2018. That motion was unanimously passed and now acts as the foundations for the City’s transformative commitment to become carbon-neutral by 2030. In 2015, Bristol became the UK’s first European Green Capital. And, having already recorded a 71% reduction in carbon emissions from its direct activities against a 2005 baseline – surpassing a target to reduce emissions by 65% by 2020 – it now has the lowest carbon footprint of any UK city. The City’s Energy, Transport and Green New Deal Lead Kye Dudd stresses the importance of the unitary authority continuing to lead the climate movement in a way that he hopes will create something of a domino effect of climate action among businesses, citizens and policymakers alike. “We need to extend our influence into the business sphere and to bring other people with us.” The Council recently partnered with Manchester-based blockchain technology company EnergiMine to reward council employees who partake in sustainable actions by using the EnergiToken (ETK) platform. ETK uses blockchain to incentivise actions that promote energy reduction, clean transport use and social cause initiatives. Employees can now earn tokens to spend on rewards – or donate the equivalent value to a registered charity – by acting in an environmentally sustainable way. Great progress has also been made outside of the Council’s own operations – particularly in the area of renewable energy. More than £50m has been invested in low-carbon and renewable energy projects in the region since 2012, and to great effect: Bristol sourced 21GWh of energy generation from solar, wind and biomass in 2018 – enough to power 24,000 homes for a month. Through the Council’s City Leap Strategy it hopes to attract a further £1bn of global investment in the city. Local partners already supporting the project include the University of Bristol, University of the West of England, Western Power Distribution, Bristol is Open, Invest Bristol and Bath, Bristol Green Capital Partnership and Bristol Energy. The signs are already looking positive: since its launch last year, the City Leap initiative has already garnered interested from almost 200 local organisations, international firms, investors and energy and infrastructure businesses. Dudd notes that district heat networks and community renewable energy projects are two areas where smaller local businesses can get involved. A 5MW community-owned solar project, has installed roof-mounted solar panels on public buildings. And a new network of underground pipes that will deliver affordable, low-carbon heat and energy across the city – is already benefitting more than 1,000 social housing properties and is continuing to expand. The Council voted in October to make Bristol the first UK city to ban public use of diesel cars from its streets to combat air pollution. While still requiring government approval, that scheme is set to start from 2021. Bristol’s Eastville Park is the first of four planned charging hub for the region, each hosting four to eight rapid-charge connections that can charge an EV up to 80% from 30 minutes’ charging. In total, four local authorities will install 120 new or replacement charge point connections across over the next year. The majority of the charge points will be supplied with 100% renewable energy provided by Bristol Energy.

  • Sunderland goes for Ground Source Heat Pumps

    Residents in 364 homes across seven tower blocks in Sunderland are seeing their gas boilers replaced with heat from ground source heat pumps. There will be a ground source heat pump for each flat which will also be connected to a district heating system consisting of ambient shared ground loop arrays. An underground aquifer will provide the heat source for the tower blocks, accessed via open loop boreholes drilled to depths of 60m. The ambient system prevents heat losses, overcoming overheating in the tower block communal areas, and boosts the system efficiency. The independent heat pumps mean that tenants can shop around for their electricity deal, whilst reducing carbon emissions by an estimated 420 tonnes or nearly 70% per year and improving local air quality. Gentoo Group is delivering the ‘Core 364’ project with the support of Engie and ground source heat pump specialists, Kensa Contracting. Work started in October, with all systems expected to be replaced by late Summer 2020. Gentoo’s chief executive officer, Nigel Wilson, said: “This heating system will provide heat and hot water at a much reduced cost, using natural heat from the ground. For more info see the presentati0on made by Kensa to the APSE Energy Summit in October https://www.apse.org.uk/apse/assets/File/Day%202%20-%20Session%205_2%20-%20Matthew%20Black.pdf

  • Solar Plus Storage for Cheshire Social Housing

    Cheshire West & Chester Council has announced plans to install solar panels with battery storage technology across two large estates. It has appointed Aberla Renewables, part of the Aberla Group, for the installations which include heating solutions that cover 180 council-owned homes. The team has started surveying properties and the project, which consists of solar panels with a total capacity of 250kW, is expected to be completed next year. The £500,000 project is part of the Low Carbon Housing Support Programme and has been jointly funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

  • Local Energy Network for Cornwall

    Hundreds of homes and businesses in Cornwall have started selling electricity to their local energy network and the national energy system in a pioneering move. The trial is the first time that traditional energy users – such as homes, hotels and businesses – have acted as suppliers in a microcosm of a full energy system. The trial harnessed together 100 Cornish homes, fitted with batteries and solar panels, to act as a mini virtual power plant for the local energy network, Western Power Distribution, and the UK’s energy system operator, National Grid. During sunny spells when homes generate more than enough electricity from solar panels they can store the power to use later, or supply the energy system with clean extra power. The homes took part in the trial alongside 150 local businesses, which were prepared to adjust how much energy they used depending on the balance of energy supply and demand on the grid. If wind and solar power output dropped the companies could choose to use less electricity in exchange for a payment from National Grid, or if the local grid had more electricity than it needed the companies could ramp up their energy demand. National Grid already offers to pay firms that own utility-scale batteries to provide a similar service, but the trial is the first time that companies can take part in the same “local energy market” as the network operator. The market was designed by energy giant Centrica and modelled on the same system used to balance energy markets across Europe. The energy companies believe the trial could help create a nationwide chain of flexible smart grids built around clean energy.

Cumbrian Energy Plans

Cumbria Renewable Energy and Capacity Deployment Study  A report by sustainable economic and social development consultants, SQW for Cumbria County Council published in August 2011 giving a detailed assessment of the renewable resources available.

The Scope for Renewable Energy in Cumbria  is a report published by the precursor body to Britain’s Energy Coast - Cumbria Vision in 2009. This envisioned the creation of almost 8,000 by 2050 from developing renewable energy.

The West Cumbria Economic Blueprint is the plan put forward in June 2012 by Britain’s Energy Coast, a public/private partnership made up of local authorities and nuclear groups in the area.

A Sustainable Energy Agency for Cumbria: Business Plan and  Annexes and Supporting Information - commissioned by Cumbria Vision and the North West Development Agency in 2009. A detailed plan for an Energy Agency to promote low-carbon distributed energy and energy efficiency. Cumbria has a huge renewable potential, and a number of leading renewable energy companies including Sundog, Gilkes and Energy4All. Despite this, it is not as effective as other areas in accessing funding and support for sustainable energy. Unfortunately the idea of the Agency was never taken forward.

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