Cornwall's reputation for sun, sand and surf could soon be challenged by silicon if a proposed £40m network of solar farms gets the go ahead.
Next week, public consultation will begin for a 15-acre "energy farm" on a green-field site at St Kew, three miles east of Wadebridge, the market town which acts as the gateway to north Cornwall's popular tourist heartlands. A local farmer has raised £4.5m of private investment to construct the first of what could be 10 similar sites across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, which, if all built, would triple the UK's current solar generating capacity.
But such investment doesn't automatically guarantee a hi-tech approach: the solar panels will be tilted towards the sun each day by hand and a roaming gaggle of geese will be used to keep the surrounding grass at a manageable length.
A consortium of local companies calling itself "Silicon Vineyards" says the proposed 2MW facility at Benbole Farm – which would be the first utility-scale solar farm in the UK - would generate enough electricity to power 600 homes. It will also grow biomass crops and house an anaerobic digester as an alternative source of power generation. The consortium, which includes the commercial arm of the University of Exeter and a Penzance-based renewables specialist called Renewable Energy Cooperative (R-ECO), says construction could begin in October if planning is approved. The solar farm could start generating electricity commercially by April 2011.
full article
Wednesday 19 May 2010
Sunday 16 May 2010
First of its kind Eco-Training Hub Opened Yesterday in Britain
Yesterday, an eco-training hub, which is described as the first of its kind in Britain was formally opened by First Minister, Carwyn Jones.
The British Gas Green Skills Training Centre in Tredegar intends to provide training over 1,300 people in new energy competent technologies.
Engineers obtain the possibility to study how to install tools such as solar panels, hi-tech smart meters, biomass boilers and combined heat and power boilers in purpose built training bungalows.
The centre, which is a part of the British Gas Energy Academy at Tredegar Business Park, cost British Gas £900,000 with the Assembly adding £500,000.
It is hoped that the project will assist the Assembly's program to improvise 40,000 homes in the Heads of the Valley's area.
Gearold Lane, British Gas Managing Director of Communities and New Energy said that the location was the first of its kind in Britain.
This is a society in the Valleys that for a number of years was at the vanguard of the industrial revolution and of power through the production of petroleum.
The challenge that comes up is to develop skills and to make an effort to be at the vanguard of the energy production in the prospective time.
full article
The British Gas Green Skills Training Centre in Tredegar intends to provide training over 1,300 people in new energy competent technologies.
Engineers obtain the possibility to study how to install tools such as solar panels, hi-tech smart meters, biomass boilers and combined heat and power boilers in purpose built training bungalows.
The centre, which is a part of the British Gas Energy Academy at Tredegar Business Park, cost British Gas £900,000 with the Assembly adding £500,000.
It is hoped that the project will assist the Assembly's program to improvise 40,000 homes in the Heads of the Valley's area.
Gearold Lane, British Gas Managing Director of Communities and New Energy said that the location was the first of its kind in Britain.
This is a society in the Valleys that for a number of years was at the vanguard of the industrial revolution and of power through the production of petroleum.
The challenge that comes up is to develop skills and to make an effort to be at the vanguard of the energy production in the prospective time.
full article
Monday 10 May 2010
Boiler scrappage payout revealed by Energy Saving Trust
All vouchers for England's boiler scrappage scheme have been claimed but less than half of the money has been paid out so far.
All of the 125,000 vouchers that take £400 off the cost of replacing an old boiler with a new efficient one were claimed by 26 March.
Some 58,177 people have received the £400 rebate after paying up-front to have the work done.
A scheme is also operating in Wales and one will start in Scotland on 24 May.
The popularity of replacement boilers has been driven by the scrappage scheme, and also by the cold winter weather, according to British Gas owner Centrica.
"The number of central heating systems installed was up around 20% on the same period last year, reflecting a more competitively priced product range and benefits from the government's boiler scrappage scheme," the company said in its interim management statement on Monday.
"However, the business experienced additional costs as a result of the higher incidence of boiler breakdown call-outs during the cold weather in the first quarter."
A scheme in Scotland, similar to the English scrappage scheme, will offer £400 vouchers to 5,000 households. It has been unveiled and will be open for applications from 24 May.
In Wales, vouchers worth £500 have been available since 6 April. However, this is only open to those aged 60 and over in order to target those more vulnerable to fuel poverty.
full article
All of the 125,000 vouchers that take £400 off the cost of replacing an old boiler with a new efficient one were claimed by 26 March.
Some 58,177 people have received the £400 rebate after paying up-front to have the work done.
A scheme is also operating in Wales and one will start in Scotland on 24 May.
The popularity of replacement boilers has been driven by the scrappage scheme, and also by the cold winter weather, according to British Gas owner Centrica.
"The number of central heating systems installed was up around 20% on the same period last year, reflecting a more competitively priced product range and benefits from the government's boiler scrappage scheme," the company said in its interim management statement on Monday.
"However, the business experienced additional costs as a result of the higher incidence of boiler breakdown call-outs during the cold weather in the first quarter."
A scheme in Scotland, similar to the English scrappage scheme, will offer £400 vouchers to 5,000 households. It has been unveiled and will be open for applications from 24 May.
In Wales, vouchers worth £500 have been available since 6 April. However, this is only open to those aged 60 and over in order to target those more vulnerable to fuel poverty.
full article
Saturday 8 May 2010
Why solar panels are the new double glazing: They don't work much of the time and take 100 YEARS to pay for themselves...
Once upon a time, Lee Comer was a plumber. But he has come a long way since those days. He is now a company director and lives in a beautiful thatched cottage in Dorset complete with its own stables.
How did he make his money? Answer: out of pensioners like Wendy Hammett.
Mrs Hammett, 66, a former secretary, paid Comer's firm, Simplee Solar, more than £10,000 for solar panels at her bungalow outside Bournemouth.
The system, she was promised, would slash her gas and electric bills by 70 per cent. It was a lie.
'It has ended up costing me more,' she said. She is not alone. Other elderly customers of Simplee Solar suffered a similar fate.
In 2006, Comer and his partner Tom Callaghan were fined a total of £40,000 (with £27,000 costs) at Bournemouth Crown Court for supplying and offering goods to which a false trade description applied. That's the legal term for cowboy tactics.
full article
How did he make his money? Answer: out of pensioners like Wendy Hammett.
Mrs Hammett, 66, a former secretary, paid Comer's firm, Simplee Solar, more than £10,000 for solar panels at her bungalow outside Bournemouth.
The system, she was promised, would slash her gas and electric bills by 70 per cent. It was a lie.
'It has ended up costing me more,' she said. She is not alone. Other elderly customers of Simplee Solar suffered a similar fate.
In 2006, Comer and his partner Tom Callaghan were fined a total of £40,000 (with £27,000 costs) at Bournemouth Crown Court for supplying and offering goods to which a false trade description applied. That's the legal term for cowboy tactics.
full article
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