Smart meters to save power customers £64 each across Wales, report says http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/smart-meters-to-save-power-customers-64-each-across-wales-report-says/

New smart energy meters being installed in Welsh homes could save customers about £64 a year each by ending estimated bills, British Gas says.

The company says the meters – which the UK government requires to be installed in all homes by 2019 – will save Wales’ 1.3 million households £83m a year.

It has started supplying them to more than 142,000 homes in Cardiff.

Smart meters automatically send data on power use to suppliers, ending the need for manual meter readings.

They are due to be installed in 30 million UK homes by 2019, as well as businesses.

via BBC News – Smart meters to save power customers £64 each across Wales, report says.

Smart meters to save power customers £64 each across Wales, report says

Carbon price 'too low' to stimulate green investment http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/carbon-price-too-low-to-stimulate-green-investment/

Last year, Europe saw an increase in the use of coal for the first time in the recent years and much of this is down to the failing European Emissions Trading Scheme, writes MEP

This week, members of the European Parliament rejected the European Commission proposal to withhold greenhouse gas emissions allowances from the European Union’s carbon market by a narrow majority – 334 to 315 in the vote. By doing so they have dealt a huge blow to the future of the European Emissions Trading System. They have also betrayed the continent’s long-term economic and environmental interests.

The ETS is the largest carbon trading scheme in the world and is designed to drive down emissions from the power sector and heavy industry on an annual basis to achieve Europe’s 20 per cent GHG reduction target by 2020. Setting a carbon price was also meant to promote low carbon investments and drive innovation into green technology.

Yet, the current EU carbon price is almost 10 times lower than was expected when the ETS was agreed in 2008 – due to the large oversupply of emission allowances in the wake of the economic crisis. The current carbon price of less than €3 per tonne of carbon dioxide – against the €30 originally envisaged – is too low to stimulate investments in low carbon technology. Instead, last year Europe saw an increase in the use of coal for the first time in the recent years.

Everyone agrees that the ETS needs long-term structural reform. Designing such a reform programme will take time, which the ailing ETS does not have. This is why the commission proposed to ‘backload’ a number of allowances – sell them later than planned – to stimulate the price of carbon and keep the market functioning until long-term adjustments to the ETS can be made. The allowances would be returned to the market at a later stage and there is robust analysis to suggest that this will not have any negative impact on industry.

via Carbon price ‘too low’ to stimulate green investment – Public Service Europe.

Carbon price 'too low' to stimulate green investment

Renewable energy just too costly http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/renewable-energy-just-too-costly/

In May, 2009, Energy Minister George Smitherman oversaw the enactment of his Green Energy and Green Economy Act (GEA). It required that Ontario electricity consumers pay high prices for certain kinds of renewable power, including 13.5 cents/kWh for wind and up to 80.2 cents for small rooftop solar. Four years later Ontarians are asking if they can afford such big premiums for renewable power over the 8 cent cost of existing power.

via Renewable energy just too costly | FP Comment | Financial Post.

Renewable energy just too costly

Carbon target needed to boost green economy http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/carbon-target-needed-to-boost-green-economy/

Setting a decarbonisation target “sooner rather than later” will help the UK secure a global lead in the green energy sector, a Lib Dem backbencher has said.

Andrew George told MPs it was Lib Dem policy to set a decarbonisation target now rather than in 2016 but in coalition Government “sometimes you can’t always get the outcome you desire”.

Speaking during his Westminster Hall debate on decarbonising energy generation, the MP for St Ives voiced concerns over the politics of introducing such a target.

“It is my intention to advance the economic case for green jobs and investment as the fundamental justification and raison d’etre for advancing as quickly as possible a decarbonisation agenda in the UK. If we are to corner a global market here then the UK needs to lead the way,” he said.

“Looking decades ahead which is absolutely right, the worry is that actually it is the political agenda which might drive the basis on which the decarbonisation targets are met.”

via Carbon target needed to boost green economy – E & T Magazine.

Carbon target needed to boost green economy

npower faces customer anger as petition calls for full payment of taxes http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/npower-faces-customer-anger-as-petition-calls-for-full-payment-of-taxes/

Around 80,000 people have called on RWE npower to “stop tax dodging”, signing up to an online petition within 24 hours of its launch by campaign group 38 Degrees.

Around 14,000 of the signatories indicated they were customers of the German-owned energy provider and many warned they planned to switch to another supplier unless the company changed its accounting policies.

The petition, which refers to npower “acting like Starbucks”, was launched in the aftermath of admissions by the group that it had paid no corporation tax in three years.

The revelations about npower, one of the UK’s big six suppliers, were made public on Tuesday at an energy and climate change select committee hearing, after being revealed earlier in a letter to the shadow energy secretary, Caroline Flint.

npower said it had written off the tax against the multibillion-pound investments it had made in building new power infrastructure but David Babbs, executive director of 38 Degrees, said the campaign against it was concentrating on an alleged £180m of “interest payments” paid to its parent company. This he believed was a way of avoiding tax similar to the “royalty payments” made by Starbucks, which caused a political row and sparked public demonstrations against the coffee shop chain last year.

via npower faces customer anger as petition calls for full payment of taxes | Business | guardian.co.uk.

npower faces customer anger as petition calls for full payment of taxes

Dairy farm milks energy savings from biomass http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/dairy-farm-milks-energy-savings-from-biomass/

A Berkshire dairy farm is milking the rewards of switching to biomass and is on track to slash its yearly energy bills by around 60%.

Pierce’s Farm near Reading is also set to save around 57 tonnes of carbon per year, after switching to an energy efficient biomass system.

A 70kW wood chip biomass boiler installed by energy services firm Anesco is now providing all the heating needed for two domestic cottages and an office, along with the hot water required for the dairy plant room and a 450 litre sterilisation tank.

via Dairy farm milks energy savings from biomass | Energy Live News.

Dairy farm milks energy savings from biomass

Power Electronics reaches 200 MW in UK - Renewable Energy Magazine http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/power-electronics-reaches-200-mw-in-uk-renewable-energy-magazine/

Up to the date figures support a successful business plan which places the firm as the leading reference amongst solar inverter manufacturers for ground projects in the British market. Power Electronics HES, HET and HEC Freesun Series will provide power to over 53,000 homes, promoting clean sustainable environment development through technology, innovation and personalized technical service.

Great efforts on behalf of the British Government will enable Renewable Energies to represent 30% to 45% of the energy mix in 2020. For instance, the DECC (Department of Energy & Climate Change) has revised its estimation for 2017, foreseeing an increase from 720 MW to 4.60 GW installed by then.

via Power Electronics reaches 200 MW in UK – Renewable Energy Magazine, at the heart of clean energy journalism.

Power Electronics reaches 200 MW in UK - Renewable Energy Magazine