Smart Grid: False start for UK smart meter rollout http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/smart-grid-false-start-for-uk-smart-meter-rollout/

The UK’s ambitious plan to roll out as many as 50 million residential smart meters was set to launch in summer 2014. Instead it will launch no sooner than fall 2015. The Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC) announced that more time was needed to build and test the communications system.

Under the liberalized British program, meters are provided by electric power retailers. In most other countries, the distribution system operator provides the meters along with the underlying communications network. The British setup therefore requires a network that can support a wide variety of different meters in different flavors.

That’s fine in theory, but in practice it turns out to need much more testing than a system using just one meter brand. The UK situation is further complicated by the fact many meters are indoors, making communications more challenging. Despite these challenges, the UK government had not mandated any testing at scale until now.

via Smart Grid: False start for UK smart meter rollout.

Smart Grid: False start for UK smart meter rollout

Energy bills 'could overtake mortgages in five years’ http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/energy-bills-could-overtake-mortgages-in-five-years/

Ian McCaig issued the stark warning as he said energy policies must be reviewed to minimise the impact on bills and said consumers should think about turning down their heating to reduce costs. Critics have said that the Government’s environmental policies on windfarms and energy efficiency schemes, for example, are adding unnecessarily to the cost of bills.

“If things continue as they are, or even get worse, for some consumers in some parts of the country we will see energy bills overtake many other bills we have traditionally thought were the biggest items of non-discretionary spend,” Mr McCaig said.

“In fact, given that interest rates are low and look like staying that way it could easily be the case that over the next five to 10 years we’ll see energy bills even overtake mortgage costs for some consumers.”

Analysis by First Utility shows that UK dual-fuel bills have risen by an average of 8.5pc a year over the last five years to reach current levels of £1,420.

If they keep rising at the same rate, then by 2025 they would reach £3,761 – higher than current average annual mortgage repayments in places such as Stoke-on-Trent and higher than average repayments in Liverpool by 2029.

via Energy bills ‘could overtake mortgages in five years’ – Telegraph.

Energy bills 'could overtake mortgages in five years’

Britain’s £200 billion green folly likely to herald decline in living standards http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/britains-200-billion-green-folly-likely-to-herald-decline-in-living-standards/

Green energy subsidies will cost every British household £600 a year by 2020, a leading industry analyst warns in a new Civitas publication.

The cost to consumers of pursuing EU renewables targets is set to rise above £16 billion per annum, when VAT is taken into account, Dr John Constable writes.

What is more, these huge costs are making it more, not less, likely that green energy production remains inefficient and a burden on the taxpayer in the years to come.

Dr Constable, director of the Renewable Energy Foundation which publishes data on the energy sector, says subsidies are discouraging the innovation that will be necessary if green energy is ever to become a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.

And he warns that the shift to renewables is likely to herald the first long-term decline in living standards since the start of the industrial revolution.

“The fact is that renewable energy is still far from competitive with fossil fuels, and nowhere near as economically productive,” he writes in his paper, Are Green Times Just Around the Corner?

via Britain’s £200 billion green folly likely to herald decline in living standards | Australian Conservative.

Britain’s £200 billion green folly likely to herald decline in living standards

Liquid air energy storage could become £1bn industry http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/liquid-air-energy-storage-could-become-1bn-industry/

Liquid air energy storage technology could unlock a £1bn industry and 22,000 UK jobs, according to a new report.

The report from business and academic experts and published by the Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF) found that the use of liquid air for grid-based energy storage could increase UK energy security, cut greenhouse gas emissions and create a new industry worth at least £1bn a year and 22,000 jobs to the UK.

Air can be turned into a liquid by cooling it to around -196C using standard industrial equipment and kept in an unpressurised insulated vessel as a means of storing the variable energy produced by some renewable energy sources.

When the energy is needed again heat can be applied to boil the liquid air, turning it back into a gas that can be used to drive a piston engine or turbine.

The report, launched at a conference at the Royal Academy of Engineering today, highlights the opportunity for a nation-wide network of Liquid Air energy storage plants that are charged by surplus energy at night, feeding the energy back into the system when it is needed most during the day.

Professor Richard Williams, pro-vice chancellor of the University of Birmingham, who led the report, says: “Solving Britain’s energy crisis requires better ways to store the power of the wind and the sun at large scale without relying on scarce natural resources, and liquid air provides a missing piece of that puzzle.”

According to the report a single gasometer-style tank of liquid air could make good the loss of 5GW of wind power for three hours – equivalent to almost 10 per cent of the UK’s peak electricity needs – and help to protect British homes from black-outs.

Smaller systems could also be used to provide zero-emission back-up and reserve services for surplus energy to replace diesel gensets.

via Liquid air energy storage could become £1bn industry – E & T Magazine.

Liquid air energy storage could become £1bn industry

Energy Saving With Mobile Application Deployment http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/energy-saving-with-mobile-application-deployment/

Mobile Application Deployment

Smartphones are becoming more popular in business these days and with a smartphone comes a whole host of new opportunities. Businesses now have a rich web browsing experience, which means they can use web based applications that historically would have been unusable. They can also get access to applications either straight from an app market place or a custom built application for a specific line of business. But how can you control and manage what applications your staff can use. That’s where Mobile Application Deployment comes into its own.

via Mobile Application Deployment | Fusion Mobile.

Energy Saving With Mobile Application Deployment

Europe on verge of trade war with China over cheap solar panels http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/europe-on-verge-of-trade-war-with-china-over-cheap-solar-panels/

The European Commission has proposed a tough 47pc “anti-dumping” tariff to penalise the imports, it emerged on Wednesday.

The move would benefit European manufacturers, who allege their Chinese rivals – whose panels are as much as 45pc cheaper – are unfairly subsidised by Beijing.

Chinese solar panel production quadrupled between 2009 and 2011, exceeding global demand, and EU manufacturers say China has now captured 80pc of the European market.

However, action against the Chinese imports is fiercely opposed by European solar panel installation companies which have thrived on the cheap supply and claim that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be at risk.

On Wednesday night Britain said it was “working hard to ensure the Commission’s response, and any measures imposed, are proportionate and take account of wider effects on the industry”.

via Europe on verge of trade war with China over cheap solar panels – Telegraph.

Europe on verge of trade war with China over cheap solar panels

Britain 'faces energy crisis unless ministers abandon green policies' http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/britain-faces-energy-crisis-unless-ministers-abandon-green-policies/

Peter Lilley, a member of the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Advisory board, has warned that the UK’s hesitance to embrace shale gas comes at great expense to the country.

He cites decreasing gas prices in American as an example, where gas is a third of the price of what it is in Europe, and questions why Britain is “dragging its feet”.

The UK is potentially sitting on enough shale gas reserves to heat all homes in Britain for at least 100 years, experts at the British Geological Survey claimed in April this year.

However, there has been resistance to excavate the fossil fuel amid concerns about the possibility of earthquakes and water contamination if gases are leaked into the water table while the “fracking” process is carried out.

In an article for The Spectator, the Conservative MP accuses the Department for Energy and Climate Change as being “in disarray” over the issue, with some ministers now beginning to question the direction green policies have been heading.

via Britain ‘faces energy crisis unless ministers abandon green policies’ – Telegraph.

Britain 'faces energy crisis unless ministers abandon green policies'