Critics of changes to the electricity market say they over-rely on fossil fuels and won’t cut CO2 emissions quickly enough.
Rishi Sunak’s plan to encourage investment in a string of new gas plants to power the country into the next decade has raised questions over Britain’s future climate ambitions – and the government’s energy policy record.
The French government on Tuesday published legislation to develop agrivoltaics combining agricultural activity with solar energy production, which renewables lobbies backed despite some initial concerns. It sets at 40% the maximum surface area of agricultural land that can be covered with solar panels and limits to 10% the drop in average yield per hectare due to the panels.
In March 2023, the French government passed a law requiring all solar projects on farmlands to provide some sort of service to agriculture: from improving yields to protecting crops from frost or heatwaves. The decree, entitled ‘On Accelerating the Production of Renewable Energies’, hopes to address a rising call to protect agriculture from an increase in the amount of land being used to harvest solar energy rather than crops.
Britain’s energy regulator Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has recommended for approval plans for two high-voltage subsea cable links to Europe, which have the potential to power millions of homes, making use of the green power in the North Sea and boosting import and export capacity for clean energy.
RenewableUK, the Offshore Wind Industry Council (OWIC), the Crown Estate, and Crown Estate Scotland are developing a new Industrial Growth Plan (IGP) to boost the long-term growth of the UK offshore wind sector.
In the midst of the energy crisis gripping France, this farmer is using his land in innovative ways to produce electricity. Agrivoltaics - the practice of using land for both solar energy and agriculture - is on the rise across France.
If you’ve never heard of agri-PV, it’s a concept that combines two critically important aspects of sustainability: agriculture and solar energy. Instead of land being used simply for agricultural activities, with agri-PV, the land doubles as a site for harnessing solar power.
Mines are keeping 350 homes in Gateshead warm once again but now without burning a single lump of coal. Water in flooded shafts and tunnels, heated by the Earth's crust, promises a green revolution, with around six million households close to former pits.
A new project set to power 1.3 million UK homes is being built this year, with the investment set to create "thousands of jobs". ScottishPower announced the project in 2023, with work due to start later this year. The project - East Anglia Three - will see an offshore wind farm built off the Norfolk coast.
South Korea-based Standard Energy has developed a battery with just 1% degradation after 20,000 testing cycles. The company uses vanadium-ion batteries (ViB).
SolarDuck, a Dutch startup with the mission to provide the world with offshore clean energy, announced that it has secured an additional €15 million in funding for the development and deployment of Offshore Floating Solar power technology.
The UK has surpassed 15GW of onshore wind capacity, enough to power nearly ten million homes annually. With 30.1MW capacity and seven turbines, this project contributes to the UK’s total onshore wind capacity of 15.002GW spread across 2,631 projects.
The Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) has abandoned its strategy to export solar power generated from the Sahara to Europe, killing hopes of boosting the continent’s share of renewable electricity with cheap external supplies.
A record year for building new wind farms and a rebound in investments in the sector have raised hopes that the EU may achieve its clean energy targets, industry group WindEurope said on Wednesday. In an annual report, WindEurope described 2023 as a year of "significant improvements" in key areas of Europe's wind energy sector, which struggled in 2022.
SSEN has raised the possibility of more subsea cables being built to link Shetland to the UK mainland as a result of anticipated energy production and demand.
A 600MW HVDC transmission link has already been laid by the company between Shetland and Caithness ahead of the Viking Energy wind farm going live later this year.
National Grid has unveiled the selected locations for its new green energy link to the Netherlands, including landfall, cable route and converter station sites.
The project aims to connect Suffolk to the Netherlands and a Dutch offshore wind farm, facilitating the sharing of 1.8GW of green energy.
Britain endured a record 214 hours of negative electricity prices in 2023, according to a report.
Britain experienced 214 hours of negative power prices in 2023, according to Imperial College London’s Electric Insights report.
The UK should target installing 27GW of wave energy by 2050 for an efficient net zero energy system, according to a new report. A recent study from LUT University Finland proposes that the UK should set a goal of achieving 27GW of wave energy by 2050 to optimise its net zero energy aspirations.
A Scottish wind farm operator has been ordered to pay a £5.5m fine for overcharging the National Grid to switch off turbines at peak times. Dorenell Wind Farm in Scotland’s Highlands was found to have charged “excessive prices” when asked to reduce its power output on multiple occasions since 2020.
Ørsted has taken the final investment decision (FID) on what the company says is the world’s single largest offshore wind farm, the 2.9 GW Hornsea 3, which is expected to be completed around the end of 2027.
The world’s largest wind turbine has smashed the record for the most power produced by a single turbine in a day.
Offshore from Fujian Province, China, the giant Goldwind GWH252-16MW towers above the sea.
On 1 September, the mammoth turbine - which has a 252-metre diameter - produced 384.1 megawatt hours (MWh) in 24 hours.
Up to 380GW of pre-FID offshore wind projects worth around US$883bn are potentially at risk, according to new research from Westwood Global Energy Group.
The projects, forecast to reach FID between 2024 and 2030, represents nearly 40% of the global offshore wind project pipeline.
The UK's round 6 renewable energy auction next month offers a price cap of 73 pounds/MWh for offshore wind developers after the government increased the price by 66% following no eligible bids in last year's auction. A higher UK price cap is expected to spur competitive bidding in next month’s crucial offshore wind auction.
Germany's government has announced that it will tender for 10 gigawatts (GW) of new gas-fired power station capacity that must be ready to switch to clean hydrogen in the future transition away from polluting fossil fuels.