Charging regime change being undertaken by Ofgem could reduce renewables generators’ revenues by up to £15/MWh according to Smartest Energy. Most of the hit comes from cuts to embedded benefits and the BSUoS benefit flipping to a charge. In a new report, the company outlines some of the approaches renewables generators could consider to partially Read more…

Limejump, soon to be acquired by Shell, is adding hydro to its virtual power plant (VPP) and will trade its power into wholesale and balancing markets. The firm has signed a deal with DHG Hydro for the 1.2MW Langwell hydro plant near Ullapool, Scotland. DHG has a lot more hydro assets, noted Limejump. Access to Read more…

Join the UK’s leading energy, sustainability and resource professionals at edie live 2019. Discover innovative energy solutions; be inspired by thought leadership and best practice case studies to accelerate the transition to low-carbon; overcome your business challenges with energy industry experts in free consultations; and pinpoint future strategy to prepare for the long term. At Read more…

Good Energy believes its growth will increasingly come from the business market, with energy services the future of its business model. Posting unaudited full year 2018 results, the company said overall business customer numbers grew by 4.6% to 122,210, though most of these – 115,773 – are Fits customers. However, SME business energy supply customer numbers Read more…

Eon chief executive Johannes Teyssen says the energy sector must change the narrative on climate change, minimise costs of decarbonisation and start working on today’s challenges instead of trying to design perfect long-term solutions. Much of the heavy lifting, he suggested, can be done by better use of existing power grid infrastructure. Speaking at Aurora’s Read more…

“Natural gas is absolutely crucial and we are going to use more of it before we use less,” according to Centrica CEO, Iain Conn. Speaking at Aurora’s Spring Forum, Conn suggested using hydrogen for heating is “unlikely to be practical”. He said British Gas, instead of installing boilers in homes, will ultimately install heat pumps, Read more…

Shell believes it can be the world’s biggest power company by the early 2030s driven largely by renewables and gas. It thinks electrification will grow rapidly and eyes double digit returns from smart trading and management of flexibility. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Maarten Wetselaar, Integrated Gas & New Energies director, said the company is Read more…

Regardless of Brexit uncertainty, the Capacity Market suspension and regulatory uncertainty created by major charging reviews, integrated solar and storage remain a smart choice for businesses, argues BSR Energy commercial director, David Peill Brexit is driving real market uncertainty, so it may seem an unusual time to take a bullish view on a UK market Read more…

Northumbrian Water has signed what is believed to be the UK’s first corporate power purchase (PPA) agreement for offshore wind. It will take around 100GWh per year from Ørsted’s 573MW Race Bank wind farm, located off the Norfolk coast. The deal is for ten years. PPAs are starting to become a more common way for Read more…

Free energy industry insight seminar in Central London: explore the energy industry with leading experts in London on 13 March 2019 On Wednesday, 13 March, businesses interested in the current and future energy landscape are invited to join Powerstar in Central London for a free breakfast seminar to explore insights into the energy industry, including Read more…

Ashford Borough Council in Kent wants to build and run its own solar farm. Following advice from the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) the proposal is for a 9MWp project on a 50 acre site at Shadoxhurst purchased by the council in 2017. The council cabinet has agreed that, subject to planning approval and public Read more…

Next Energy Solar Fund is planning to spend £20m on commercial building rooftop PV in 2019. The fund has partnered with Zestec Asset Management to develop and build out new projects and aims to acquire existing rooftop schemes as well as fund new developments. The plan is to sell electricity generated from the schemes via Read more…

French utility Engie will take 23.3 per cent of all the power generated by the 950MW Moray East offshore windfarm when its enters commercial operations in 2022. The firm, which has a 23.3 per cent stake in the project  15 miles off the east coast of Scotland, has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA). Read more…

Energy efficiency remains the bedrock of the UK’s low carbon industry, according to latest government data. Meanwhile turnover in the renewable heat sector saw the largest absolute growth across the low carbon economy. The figures are for 2017 and are obtained via a survey sent by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to 24,000 businesses Read more…

Large corporations bought more than double the amount of renewable power from generators via power purchase agreements (PPAs) in 2018 than in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Its analysis suggests 13.4GW was bought by 121 corporates via PPAs in 2018 versus 6.1GW in 2017. That figure excludes some types Read more…

Grid technology company Faraday Grid has received a £25m investment from billionaire businessman Adam Neumann, founder of shared workspaces firm WeWork. The firm claims its technology enables power grids to accommodate vast levels of renewable generation, up to 80 per cent penetration. It intends to create intelligent, self balancing networks using ‘Faraday Exchangers’. These power flow control Read more…

Major european energy companies have joined forces to create a sustainable finance forum to drive clean investment. Founder members of the Corporate Forum on Sustainable Finance include EDF Energy, EDP, Enel, Engie, Iberdrola, Orsted, and SSE. The firms will work to try and attract greater levels of investment into clean energy and technology through new financial instruments Read more…

Mark Jones is the new chief exec at Ventient Energy. The firm was formed in 2017 by the merger of the Zephyr and Infinis Wind portfolios. It operates some 34 onshore wind farms in the UK, totalling almost 690MW. Jones, former boss of wind turbine manufacturer EWT, is tasked with growing Ventient’s portfolio of assets Read more…

Volkswagen is to launch an energy company. The firm, which recently committed to invest €30bn in electric vehicles over the next five years, will supply clean power as well as smart chargers and plans to provide grid balancing services. The new company will be called Elli, which stands for Electric Life. The world’s largest carmaker Read more…