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Government Looses FITS Appeal

Wed, 25 January 2012
The government has lost its appeal to the High Court against a ruling that its plans to lower the rate of Feed-in-Tariffs on photovoltaic systems installed after 12th December 2011 was unlawful.
 
The judgement means that the Department for Energy and Climate change will not be able to go ahead with plans to cut the FIT rate from 43.3p to 21p for installations up to 4 kilowatts in size made after this date. Instead, the cuts will apply to installations completed after 3rd March 2012.
 
The government’s original plans were ruled unlawful because a consultation on the proposal to lower the rate of FITS ended 11 days after the proposed cut-off date.
 

 

Free Solar Panels For Schools

Wed, 25 January 2012
British Gas is taking applications for the second round of their Solar School programme – on a first come, first serve basis.
 
 
This is an opportunity for Solar PV panels to be installed at no cost to the schools. Panels will be paid for by the ‘Energy for Tomorrow’ fund. Schools will be able to benefit from:
 
  • Reduced annual energy bills*
  • Reduced carbon emissions* 
  • Pupil’s awareness of using energy sparingly and creating it from renewable sources
* Based on like for like energy consumption over the relevant comparative periods
 
The energy company hopes to install systems between 4kWp and 50kWp in up to 150 schools.
 
This year’s scheme is on a first-come first-served basis. Schools on the Phase-1 reserve list will NOT be automatically carried-forward, they must apply for the Phase-2 scheme.
 
Schools taking aprt will not be eligible for the Feed-in-Tariff. Instead, this will be assigned to the British Gas Energy For Tomorrow fund which is paying for the installation for the purposes of this scheme. This is an independently run, non-profit organisation dedicated to developing renewable energy sources and technologies for the future. Schools will benefit from being able to use the electricity generated which could mean electricity and carbon savings as a result of needing to buy less electricity from an energy supplier.
 
The scheme will take applications on their website until 23.59 on Friday 10th February 2012: www.mysolarschool.co.uk.

Different Politics, Same Planet

Fri, 6 January 2012

A new report by WWF-UK and Oxfam argues that governments must lead a shift in values if we are to transition to a sustainable economy. The report’s author’s believe that public support for government action on the environment is built upon the same values that underpin public concern for the NHS or universal education.

http://valuesandframes.org/talks-on-carbon-emissions-not-enough-governments-must-lead-a-shift-in-values-says-new-report/

Guide to the Co-operative Renewable Energy Sector

Fri, 6 January 2012

The first co operatively-owned wind turbines, Baywind in Cumbria, started turning in 1997. Since then, over 7,000 individual investors have ploughed over £16 million into community-owned renewable energy.

A new report summarises insights gained from visits to five co-operatively owned energy projects during the summer of 2011. It will be of interest to anyone thinking of starting a community or co-operative energy initiative as well as intermediaries such as business and energy advisers, policy and decision makers with an interest in renewable energy and community ownership, and members of existing energy co-operatives.

www.uk.coop/renewable

Plans for Dealing with Impacts of Climate Change Published

Fri, 6 January 2012

Defra has published plans to protect the UK’s power supply from the impacts of climate change. Flooding of sub stations, difficulties in keeping power stations cool in hotter summers and damage to overhead wires and underground cables in periods of drought were amongst the key threats that energy firms found climate change could pose to their business.

The reports show that the energy sector has made progress in planning for these risks, but that more work will be required over the coming years to protect infrastructure assets and ensure new projects are designed to cope with conditions that will be very different to what they are today.
The reports will help Government assess the UK’s readiness for climate change and the actions needed to adapt. Later this month Defra will publish the Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA), a world-leading report that will give the UK the most comprehensive overview of any nation of the challenges climate change will present.