It appears large solar farm owners that are planning to install battery storage will be able to charge their batteries with PV and still claim subsidies for all power generated under the Renewables Obligation (RO). Ofgem made the announcement today via a blog post, rather than a regulatory document. The regulator also stated that changes Read more…

Some 3.2GW of offshore wind generation has been awarded subsidies under the government’s contracts for difference (CfD) regime, along with smaller levels of biomass and energy from waste generation. The contracts for difference system effectively guarantees developers a power price. A so-called strike price is agreed, in most cases, via a reverse auction. If the Read more…

Tidal turbines installed in Pentland Firth, Scotland, set a new world record for tidal stream generation output in August, according to Atlantis Resources. The firm said the third of the four turbines involved in the 6MW MeyGen project was successfully reinstalled during August neap tide this week. Atlantis added that the 700MWh generated during August Read more…

NextEnergy Solar Fund has acquired two solar farms totalling almost 22MW of capacity. The 8.1MW Bay Farm project and the 13.6MW Honnington scheme, both in Suffolk, were acquired from Switch2Renewables. The schemes, connected in 2014, qualify for 1.6 Renewables Obligation Certificates (Rocs) per MWh. NESF said its portfolio now tops 500MW of solar capacity and Read more…

John Laing Environmental Assets has acquired Vulcan Renewables for £15.3m. The firm’s principle asset is a 5MWth anaerobic digestion plant in Hatfield Woodhouse, near Doncaster. It was commissioned in 2013, produces mainly biomethane and was one of the first commercial biogas-to-grid projects in the UK. It also has a 0.5MWe CHP engine with RHI and Read more…

One of the UK’s largest solar investors has predicted a second wave of UK renewables deployment – potentially without subsidy. “The reduction in the cost of deploying proven renewables infrastructure continues apace. This may make unsubsidised renewables generation a reality and points to a likely resurgence in new developments in the years ahead, both to Read more…

Greater Manchester Pension Fund and London Pensions Fund Authority have agreed to increase their shareholding in SSE’s Clyde Windfarm, one of the largest onshore wind farms in Europe. Their investment vehicle, GMPF & LPFA Infrastructure LLP (GLIL), took a £150m share last year, along with renewable infrastructure fund Greencoat. That deal was for 49.9% of the Read more…

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management fund, and solar and private wire developer Lightsource, have signed a deal to create a 1GW solar portfolio in the UK by 2020. They believe it will be worth around £1bn. The joint venture is called Kingfisher and aims to acquire projects from developers in a bid to “consolidate Read more…

UK renewable generation increased 4.2GW in 2016, according to latest government figures. Solar PV capacity, much of it added in the first quarter of the year to beat subsidy cuts, was up by 2.4GW. A further 1.4GW of onshore wind was added to the mix while bioenergy increased 345MW, driven mainly by plant biomass (new Read more…

Vattenfall will compete aggressively on price as it looks to take large electricity customers away from established business market energy suppliers. The firm announced plans to enter the UK business to business (B2B) market last month and is now negotiating terms with a number of large industrial and commercial power users, according to James Hunt, Read more…

  Revenue from energy recovery facilities (ERFs) helped drive Pennon profits last year and the firm plans to increase its generation capacity by more than 50% by 2020. Pennon owns both South West Water and Bournemouth Water, deriving most of group profit from water businesses. It also owns waste and recycling firm Viridor and uses Read more…

“2017 promises to be a year of technological and geographical diversity and advancement”, according to Tim Cornelius, CEO of Tidal turbine manufacturer and project developer Atlantis Resources. The firm has a potential project portfolio of 600MW in Scotland, and around 1GW globally. However, realising that kind of capacity will require significant resources. Atlantis has been working Read more…

UK solar photovoltaic (PV) generation capacity has topped 12 gigawatts (GW), latest government figures confirm. There is also more than 3GW in planning, most of it consented. For the year to April 2017, PV capacity increased 7% (792MW) with the lion’s share (56%) via small scale installations (no larger than 4kW). To date, 47% or 5.7GW Read more…

United Utilities spent £45m on solar generation over the last two years and plans to invest at least £55m in the next three. The firm said adding more combined heat and power assets had driven efficiencies but solar represented its main plan to increase self-supply and reduce carbon emissions. It will invest £100m over the current Read more…

Severn Trent’s investment in renewable energy is paying off, with earnings at the water firm’s renewables business up 16% year on year, according to its full year results. The company said it was on track to generate half the energy it uses from renewable sources within three years, which is significant, given water companies are intensive energy Read more…

Stobart Group has set its sights on handling 60% of UK biomass. Energy is the logistics firm’s biggest revenue stream and the group expects further growth as new biomass plants are commissioned. It sees potential to manage and operate more of those plants in the future. Posting full year results to the end of February, the Read more…

Vattenfall’s 230MW Pen y Cymoedd wind farm in south Wales hit full power last night (Sunday 7 May), the Swedish utility reports. The state-owned firm has stated its UK renewable portfolio will top 1GW by 2018 and earlier this month announced plans to sell its green power to the UK business market. Vattenfall is also building a 22MW Read more…

Swedish utility Vattenfall has entered the UK business energy supply market. The state-owned firm will start supplying wind derived power from October this year and is now stepping up UK customer acquisition. Vattenfall currently operates over 500MW of offshore wind in UK waters, as well as around 110MW of onshore wind. It aims to have 1GW Read more…

Building materials giant Wienerberger will power all of its UK sites with renewable power from Danish supplier Dong Energy. The energy firm, which makes around half of its revenue from wind power, announced a deal last year via which it said UK customers would not pay a premium for renewable power. This followed UK carbon Read more…