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Government confirms details and timeline for a Smart Export Guarantee
Government will legislate for a Smart Export Guarantee – mandating most electricity suppliers to offer a tariff that pays homes and businesses exporting renewable electricity by 31st December 2019. REA welcomes this positive step towards a more decarbonised, local, and cheaper power system. Industry concern over lack of ambition in zero-minimum price and no contract length, in addition to delay in introduction following the closure of the Feed in Tariff. Industry supportive of ensuring the policy is linked to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme, and that mechanisms are in place to review the scheme should it become apparent that generators cannot access competitive tariffs.
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REA Bioenergy Strategy: Phase 2
REA Bioenergy Strategy: Phase 2
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Meeting Net-Zero GHG not possible without Bioenergy
A new report from the UK’s leading renewable trade association has found that the sustainable use of bioenergy is core to the UK meeting its legally binding 5th Carbon Budget. By increasing its deployment by a factor of 2.5 by 2032, sustainable bioenergy, which is currently the UK’s leading source of renewable energy, has the potential to meet both the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) projected shortfall of the 5th Carbon Budget and the impending nuclear gap by providing an additional 117 TWh across heat, transport and power.
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BEIS Consultation on Designing the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund
REA Response to the BEIS Consultation on Designing the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund
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BEIS Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) Part B Consultation
REA Response to BEIS Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) Part B Consultation
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External Report: Practical Considerations for Implementation and Scaling ISO 15118
Practical Considerations for Implementation and Scaling ISO 15118 into a Secure EV Charging Ecosystem is an external report by digicert, ChargePoint, and eonTi. May 14 2019
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Labour to fit 1.75 million homes with solar panels as UK solar sets a new generation record
Jeremy Corbyn and Rebecca Long Bailey outline Labour’s plans to reduce energy bills by installing solar panels on 1.75 million homes. This initiative is part of Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution and promises to reduce the energy bills of low-income households by an average of £117 a year. This comes just two days after UK solar generation broke records by providing 26% of the country’s total power output.
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Bioenergy: the key to unlocking a low carbon future?
Having spent a large part of my career intermingling in numerous bioenergy circles, it has become clear that the lack of an all-encompassing bioenergy bible (so to speak) has become a hindrance to the progression of the technologies it comprises of.
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First do no harm
Sitting on the board of Women in Science and Engineering, it’s been my passionate hope that we can inspire a new generation of young women to take on the mantle and find solutions to the biggest problem we face in the world-climate change. Yet I never thought a 16 year old girl with her simple, clear and no holds barred message would inspire me so much in return. On the other end of the scale, a 92 year old is hoping to do for climate change what he did for the plastics debate over a year ago.
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Public support for renewables remains high as Britain goes a full week without coal
BEIS today published their quarterly Public Attitudes Tracker. The report found that support for renewable technologies including solar and wave and tidal reached their highest levels since the survey began in 2012. Support for the use of renewable energy remained high at 84%. This report comes as it is announced that Britain went a full week without coal for the first time since 1882.
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Tax rate hike for domestic Solar, Storage and Biomass Boiler markets contested by industry
A sudden consultation released by HMRC, which closes today, proposes to increase VAT rates for technologies such as solar, biomass boilers, and energy storage. The VAT rate hike from 5% to 20% for many domestic installations will make it more expensive for households to reduce their carbon footprint and further slow deploymentThe hike comes off the back of wider withdrawal of policy support and in the same week the UK Parliament declared a ‘climate emergency’ and the Committee on Climate Change published its report recommending the UK reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050Supplies of coal fuel for home use still receive a reduced 5% VAT rate. The REA has come up with possible solutions in its consultation response and urges government not to proceed with this hike or reclassify solar, biomass boilers and energy storage, to ensure incentives for decarbonising homes are supported.
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CCC confirm that the fall in the cost of renewables will enable ‘net zero’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) publish their long awaited report on setting the UK’s long-term emissions targets. The report highlights that the significant decline in renewable energy costs makes this more ambitious target more affordable. REA support report but argue that to secure economic advantages of being a first mover, long-term investable policy is required.
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REA Discussion Paper on future support for green low carbon gas
REA Discussion Paper on future support for green low carbon gas
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Finance and Investment in Energy Infrastructure – BEIS Select Committee Inquiry
Finance and Investment in Energy Infrastructure – BEIS Select Committee Inquiry
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BEIS Consultation on the Capacity Market, April 2019
REA Response to BEIS Consultation on the Capacity Market, April 2019
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Renewables in Buildings; Building ‘Power’ful Homes of the Future
Emissions reductions from the UK’s 29 million homes have stalled, while energy use in homes – which accounts for 14% of total UK emissions – increased between 2016 and 2017. Our homes are just not good enough to deal with climate change, the CCC warns in its recent report. Energy nerds realise the low hanging fruit is being picked (decarbonising power), and that we now need to focus on encouraging new sectors (especially construction and transport) to join the renewables transition. The Government’s spring statement highlighted their dedication to decarbonising the buildings sector, so this blog looks to review targets and policy framework, understand what the future homes package looks like, and explore its real value.
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Total energy production from renewables is now nearly 13 times higher than coal
Government data shows that the overall energy output from bioenergy and waste, wind, solar and hydro is now nearly 13 times higher than coal. This comes just seven years after generation from coal was greater. Renewables share of electricity generation was at a record high in 2018 producing 111 TWh with a 33.3% share.
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REA: BIOENERGY IS THE “LITTLE-KNOWN LEADER” IN BRITISH RENEWABLES
The UK’s leading renewables trade body has called on Ministers to renew long-term plans for a world-leading bioenergy industry.
Bioenergy, which uses sustainable biomass and biofuels produced from wood, crops and food wastes, is already the UK’s leading source of renewable energy, meeting 7.4% of our total energy needs. Only wind exceeds its output in the renewable power sector.
The Committee on Climate Change projected last year that bioenergy could double as a proportion of the UK’s primary energy supply by 2050. However, promises made in 2012 by the Coalition government to renew its strategy by 2017 failed to materialise, leaving the sector to drift. The gaps in the policy and regulatory framework are now growing, with existing support mechanisms ending, and the pipeline for future bioenergy projects being constrained.
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16MW Solar PV Projects could be “Ghosted” by Government due to FiT deployment cap breach
With the closure of the government support mechanism for microgeneration just 10 days away, the Feed-in-Tariff band for over 50kWp rooftop solar projects has been breached. Ofgem’s weekly capacity updates show that an additional 16MW of projects (which could power over 3300 homes) have been registered, although these risk being “ghosted” by the government scheme due to stringent capacity band caps.
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Positive Commitments for the industry announced in Spring Statement
In the Spring Statement the Chancellor announced: a Consultation later this year on increasing the proportion of green gas in the grid with the aim of reducing natural gas dependency in homes and businesses; a Call for Evidence on an Energy Efficiency Scheme for Small and Medium Sized Businesses exploring how the Government can support investment in energy efficiency measures; as part of the Industrial Strategy Grand Challenge the introduction of a Future Homes Standard by 2025 to see fossil fuel heating systems replaced with low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures; a Call for Evidence on Offsetting Transport Emissions which will give consumers the option to offset emissions from their journeys.