That’s the belief of technologists and academics backing the nation’s first ever National Geothermal Centre, launched today.

Based at Stockton-on-Tees and supported by the Net Zero Technology Centre, Durham University, SHIFT Geothermal, and the Reece Foundation, donors to engineering innovators in the north-east, the NGC aims to nurture Britain’s exploitation of shaft-delivered, subterranean heat by stimulating research and innovation. Developing expertise, and advising entrepreneurs and policy-makers in forming a policy, regulation and investment framework which enables geothermal advancement, are among the centre’s remit.

The new body will drive collaboration between government, industry, and academia, championing the integration of geothermal energy into the UK’s impending renewables mix, as a low carbon option to heat homes and industries and in power generation.

Britain’s geothermal centres look primarily at sinking shafts into hot rocks thousands of metres below the surface, and pumping up super-heated ground water & gases. Government sources assert that geothermal could contribute mightily the nation’s energy targets and economy, meeting 10GW of the projected heating demand and 1.5GW of the anticipated electricity demand by 2050.

The centre is now on a mission to engage with geothermal practitioners & developers, bidding to speed uptake of applicable projects.

NGC director Anne Murrell, second from right in the picture, said: “Geothermal energy is the foundation of energy security in the UK. It is an inexhaustible source of clean heat and power beneath our feet. The new UK National Geothermal Centre will work to unearth it.

“Already in the UK geothermal projects are providing stable, low-cost, green energy to homes and businesses. With its expert stakeholders from industry, academia, finance and government, the NGC will expand geothermal development, at speed and at scale.”

“Geothermal has been my personal passion for over 20 years”, enthused Dr Charlotte Adams, another NGC director, standing next to Murrell.  “I remain convinced of its potential for reducing carbon emissions and improving energy security.

“The timing is perfect for launching the National Geothermal Centre, it will shape and accelerate our growing geothermal sector through collaborative cross-sector working. The Centre will ultimately help to unlock geothermal for more people and secure its’ position as an essential part of our low carbon energy mix.”

Nigel Lees, Chair of the NGC, said: “The launch of the National Geothermal Centre today represents a significant step in realising the opportunities that geothermal energy provides the UK. For several decades there has been a growing and meaningful contribution to our understanding of geothermal potential in the UK, yet we remain in the nascent stages of development with pockets of knowledge and expertise.

“The Centre will embrace and build on this, working collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure a common understanding of the opportunities and challenges whilst giving a consistent voice and advocacy to fully unlock the geothermal potential in the UK and play a crucial part in the delivery of our net zero ambitions.

“I am honoured to serve as Chair of the National Centre and looking forward to working with the board, the executive, and our stakeholder community in the realisation of our collective vision.”

Rebecca Allison, chief operations officer at the Net Zero Technology Cenre, said: “As NZTC continues to accelerate the development and deployment of key transitioning technologies, we are fully embracing the opportunities that come with the geothermal sector. We look forward to supporting the NGC, helping it drive change and form a significant contribution to an integrated energy future.”

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The cash was raised thanks to the Clean Growth Fund, Eurazeo’s Smart City fund, and Aviva Ventures. The trio join existing investor Copley Point Capital in the 12 year old company.

Cheltenham-based Rendesco works with property developers including Cala Homes & Telford Homes to install low-carbon, networks based on ground sourced heat.  It also operates networks which supply clean heat and hot water to over 8,000 homes nationwide.

As Britain’s third largest source of CO₂ emissions, ridding carbon from heating buildings is a critical challenge.  Rendesco says it is at its forefront.

Today’s new investment comes Whitehall’s closing earlier this year of final consultations on the Future Homes Standard. Its final measures will underpin the incoming government’s plans to decarbonise home heat, including banning from next January the installation of gas boilers in new homes. Similar legislative measures are also driving decarbonisation across Europe.

The cash will accelerate Rendesco’s growth plans, aimed at providing a low-carbon alternative to gas grids and cutting consumers’ bills.  Part of the money will be directed at higher tech, yielding cleverer, more consumer-focused systems to manage home energy.

The new investment is separate from, but complementary to, Rendesco’s joint venture with Last Mile Heat.  Rendesco’s new build home solutions are owned by Last Mile Heat, enabling house builders to install ground source heat solutions in their developments at a considerably lower cost than with other low-carbon heat sources.  The joint venture has already developed a pipeline of £150m worth of clean heat infrastructure, boosting futureproofed heating of dwellings.

Rendesco’s founder Alastair Murray said: “I am pleased to welcome Clean Growth Fund, Eurazeo & Aviva Ventures as investors in Rendesco.

“This funding means Rendesco is incredibly well capitalised, in parallel to the significant capital available to deploy into capex costs via Last Mile Heat.  Their collective expertise and support will be invaluable as we pursue our ambitious growth plans, rapidly expanding our clean heating solutions to reach millions of homes.”

Susannah McClintock of specialist investors the Clean Growth Fund enthused: “Decarbonising heat is critical to achieving Britain’s Net Zero targets. Rendesco’s heat network solutions provide a cost-effective, efficient route to delivering the low carbon heat required for the transition away from gas to renewables. This investment aligns with our commitment to empower early-stage entrepreneurs to tackle the climate change crisis.”

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The pioneering low-carbon heat network, operated by Truro-based Kensa Utilities, uses underground boreholes and pipes to harness stored energy from the ground and feed it to a small ground-source heat pump in each home. This heat pump upgrades the heat to warm homes and heat water.

After a successful pilot, designed to prove the infrastructure’s effectiveness, five-year old Kensa Utilities hopes its system will eventually form an alternative to the UK’s existing gas network, contributing significantly to energy decarbonisation.

Kensa’s network is the first of its type to register with Heat Trust. The parties see it as paving the way for similar networks to join the consumer-protection scheme. They envisage it as as a possible template for future statutory regulation by Ofgem of the heat networks sector.

Similar to the regulations set for gas and electricity suppliers, the rules of Heat Trust’s scheme set minimum threshold standards, ensuring that customers of heat networks are guaranteed satisfactory service and protections by their heat suppliers.  Explicit criteria include fair treatment, support for vulnerable customers, transparent billing and communications, and access to the Energy Ombudsman if things go wrong.

With the government backing heat networks as a sustainable energy solution, and with formal regulation on the horizon, registration with Heat Trust not only protects consumers, the parties argue, but leads heat network suppliers towards improving their operations.

Heat Trust’s managing director Stephen Knight said: “The registration of the first ground-loop type heat network with Heat Trust is a significant milestone and signals wider adoption of vital consumer protections and service standards, creating a more trusted sector.

“Government research estimates that by 2050, 20% of the UK’s heat demand will be met by heat networks. As networks of this type become more widespread, Heat Trust registration ensures that customers remain front and centre in the industry’s journey to more sustainable heating sources.”

For Kensa Utilities, managing director Wouter Thijssen added:  “It is fantastic to be the first networked heat pump project registered with the Heat Trust with our Heat the Streets project.

“Achieving registration of this innovative heat network is a big step forward in demonstrating our commitment to delivering reliable and efficient heating infrastructure.

“This landmark project provides a blueprint for the decarbonisation of heating in the UK. Our model replicates the gas network with a pipe in the ground, a flat rate standing charge to consumers and a little white box in the house.

“Consumer protections and high service standards are crucial in the effective transition towards full implementation of these networks, so we are excited to lead the way for other networks to follow suit in becoming Heat Trust registered.”

Heat Trust is committed to registering more networks to its scheme during the lead-up to regulation, with the aim of ensuring consumer confidence in heat networks as an effective source of sustainable heating.

For more information on Heat Trust, visit: https://www.heattrust.org/

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Star is committing a total of Euros 1.6 million to acquire a controlling 51% interest of the local parent of IGeoPen, holders of exploration rights granted by Croatia’s government for hot rock extraction under the Pannonian Basin, described by Star as “highly prospective”.

In a complex deal enabled by its own subsidiary and by privately held investment fund Peninsula International, Star and Peninsula are teaming up to bid for, and hopefully deliver on, electricity generation from drilling beneath the Basin.

Star brings its decades of experience in geological analysis, and onshore drilling in the UK for gas & oil.

Via IGeoPen, the partners have submitted three separate bids for geothermal generation to Croatia’s hydrocarbons regulator, as part of its current licencing round. Awards of five-year licences are expected later this year.  Depending on their success, Peninsula may receive up to a further €1.5 million from Star.

Croatia estimates its national potential for making electricity from its hot rocks is around 1GW.   Only one plant, the 17.5MWe Velika Ciglena station currently generates.  But 4,000 exploratory wells, many centred in the 20,000 square kilometres of the Pannonian Basin, buoy the confidence of developers and ministers.

As an EU member, and its national grid connected to ENTSO for international transmission and sales, Croatia sees the Basin as a money spinner for its own coffers and for developers. A temperature gradient 60% higher than in substrata across the rest of Europe favour the nation via its subsurface formations.

A liberalised national generating market, and 12 year contracts for difference smiling on renewable sources of power, add to the nation’s attractiveness.

Via their subsidiary Star and Peninsula already hold one licence with existing wells in situ, centred around the Ernestinovo locality, in the east of the country. One of those wells needs refurbishment and a well test to validate the resource.  The pair then expect to receive a 20-year development licence.

Based on preliminary heat reserves and well productivity estimates, Star envisages at first a 10MW  generation plant, driven by geothermal brine sourced from up to six wells. The proposed plant would connect into a major substation with 400kV transmission lines to Zagreb, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia,

Star Energy CEO Chris Hopkinson commented: “We are very pleased to announce our first overseas investment in geothermal as we look to build momentum in this part of our business.

“Whilst the business continues to build a material pipeline of business opportunities in the UK, we identified a significant opportunity in Croatia which will allow faster development and diversification of Star Energy’s geothermal interests.

The Croatian government is actively promoting the sector with a focus on electricity production which should allow accelerated development.   The acquisition brings with it a small, but highly respected team with years of experience in Croatia including developing the Velika 1 power plant”.

By lunchtime, investors on the LSE had marked Star’s share price 2.3% lower.

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Long delayed until next year’s implementation, the new housebuilding norms are designed to tighten up on Britain’s notoriously energy-inefficient homes, including new dwellings delivered in too small quantities by what some observers see as politically well connected volume home builders.

Rendesco’s solution lifts natural clean heat up from boreholes, pumping it into individual new homes or through networks.  Signing a joint venture with Last Mile Infrastructure, one of the UK’s largest independent network owners, is its route to success.

As dwellings and the builders who sell them benefit from cheap heat, the only noticeable difference for occupying householders is a ground source heat pump replacing a carbon-emitting gas boiler.

The ground source of cheap, clean energy can involve either a large central heat pump heating several homes in a single development, or smaller devices fitted to individual homes.

Cheltenham-based Rendesco says its solutions magnify energy efficiencies at scale, typically saving 18 tonnes of CO₂ per property compared to gas boilers, and three tonnes of CO₂ compared to an air-source heat pump.

The supplier says its £150 million target is Britain’s most ambitious yet from a commercial concern, and designed to assist the government’s goal of 600,000 heat pumps operating by 2028, as set out two years ago in its Heat and Buildings Strategy.

Industry observers see that target as woefully compromised by the perceived high cost of installing and running heat pumps, and a serious lack of technicians to instal them.

A meagre 35,000 devices were installed in 2020, as Covid lockdowns bit.

Rendesco claims it already heats 3,000 UK dwellings, with 80 more in construction.

Its new build home solutions are owned by Last Mile Heat, enabling housebuilders – or so the partners claim – to install ground source heat in their constructions at a considerably lower cost than through mainstream channels.

The approach also reduces the installation cost for households and significantly improves the energy efficiency of homes, saving money on energy bills.

The clean heat developer provides heat to its portfolio of more than 3,000 homes across 70 UK networks, and has projects to provide low-carbon heat to over 800 more new build homes.

Last Mile Heat, a joint venture between Rendesco and Last Mile Infrastructure, aims to provide ground source heat infrastructure to residential and commercial property developers across the UK, making clean heat far more accessible.

Around 300,000 new homes are intended by Whitehall for construction each year, as ministers struggle to combat Britain’s growing crisis over homelessness.

Rendesco founder & CEO Alastair Murray commented: “In this funding commitment we are proud to be setting the standard for UK private sector investment in clean heat networks.

“Our pipeline demonstrates the fantastic progress with our Last Mile Heat joint venture and means we can offer our clean heat solutions to even more housebuilders. The UK’s clean heat market needs greater innovation – and quickly – if we are to effectively decarbonise the country’s homes and buildings.

For Last Mile, CEO Mike Pearce responded: “As an already established and trusted utility infrastructure partner of housebuilders across Great Britain, we are delighted that Last Mile Heat has put us at the forefront of providing clean heat solutions to the next generation of Britain’s homes.

“The UK ground source heat connections market is growing rapidly with ground source heat being a highly sustainable and affordable solution for new build projects, for developers and residents alike.”

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Both urban and rural communities will have the chance to win grants from the new Community Energy Fund, primed to help civic-minded locals to develop renewable energy projects.

The Community Energy Fund will open to applications in early autumn.  Small-scale wind farms and rooftop solar generation, fuel poverty alleviation schemes, battery storage, heat networks and EV charging points are all eligible, says the government.

Andrew Bowie MP, minister for nuclear and networks, said: “Local communities are at the heart of our plans to boost our energy security and grow the economy. The Community Energy Fund for England will empower communities to do just that.

 “Importantly, these energy projects could expand beyond local areas by attracting further investment from the private sector, in turn inspiring other communities to power their area with energy from England.”

The fund is designed to attract private investment to scale up projects further down the line, supporting high-quality jobs and growth in the area.

Today’s new Community Energy Fund builds on the former Rural Community Energy Fund, expanding its remit to cover renewables investment into both rural and urban areas.

As with the old fund, its replacement will be delivered through Local Net Zero Hubs. These support local authorities to develop Net Zero projects and attract commercial investment.

Congleton Hydro in Cheshire benefitted from the now replaced Rural Community Energy Fund. It received £73,511 via its sponsoring co-operative Dane Valley Community Energy.

Thanks to government funding, the Congleton Hydro project is producing electricity from a local weir, powering the equivalent of 60 homes. Cutting local carbon emissions, the hydro provides £5,000 every year to support community projects. These have included a re-wilding programme to protect nature, and educational outreach for young people to deliver local sustainability.

Bob Owen, an engineer at Congleton Hydro, said: “The Rural Communities Energy Fund (RCEF) has been a real enabler for Dane Valley Community Energy’s Congleton Hydro, helping us to refine the system design and commission additional environmental studies required by the local planning authority.

 “The support received from RCEF is just not monetary, their facilitation of advice and assistance from a great range of contacts has been invaluable. The RCEF support also provided us with the opportunity to develop an education activity that focusses on the Sustainability of the Environment and a re-wilding programme—giving Nature a helping hand.

“Further funds from RCEF have enabled us to successfully specify and design the next Hydro Scheme based on another historic Weir in Congleton park and fund the research and the realisation of a Community Solar Scheme—the Community Share Prospectus. Without this incubator funding from RCEF, it is most unlikely that either scheme would have seen the light of day.”

Energy co-operatives are advised to draw the new CE fund’s existence to sympathetic officers at their local councils.  More details are here.

Response from Community Energy England, the umbrella body for nearly 300 co-operatives, was guarded.  Emma Bridge, its chief executive, said:

”We welcome the launch of this much needed fund and the extension of support to include urban areas, which has been a key policy ask for CEE.

“While this announcement is a positive step”, Bridge went on, “we believe that the current allocation falls short of adequately supporting local communities.

“Community energy brings so many more benefits.  To unlock its full potential, we urge the government to continue to work with the sector to overcome other barriers, to progress local supply and shared ownership of the fast-growing renewable energy sector.

“We thank the Minister for this first step.  We would also like to thank other dedicated MP supporters such as David Johnston, the sponsor of the Local Electricity Bill, and the Power for People campaign who have tirelessly championed community energy in Parliament and who worked to secure this deal.”

Interest declared: The current writer invests in and actively promotes local energy co-operatives.

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Prime minister Rishi Sunak commissioned Dr Kieran Mullan, MP and geothermal expert, to review the technology’s potential. Technologists from Durham University’s Energy Institute contributed.

Their report ‘Dig Deep: Opportunities to Level Up through Deep Geothermal Heat & Energy” pointed out that geologically promising areas for the technology mapped closely onto 45 economically disadvantaged local authorities.

More than 40 per cent  of locations identified as having the highest geothermal potential fall within the 100 poorest areas qualifying for economic the UK Community Renewal Fund, the report notes.

“The overlap,” wrote Mullan, ”presents massive opportunities for investment in deep geothermal to contribute to the UK’s Levelling Up agenda that aims to reduce economic imbalances between areas and social groups across the UK”.

Mullan and his colleagues claim geothermal heat can be compete on cost with other low carbon energy sources such as nuclear and green hydrogen made under the Green Gas Support Scheme.

A fixed tariff for heat extracted from deep bores could spur the development of up to 350 geothermal plants by mid-century, together producing 15,000 GWh every year, the report envisages.

“A tariff based approach would transfer the risk from the taxpayer to industry in comparison to grant based support”, the MP argues. “ It would also enable the scale needed to bring down costs and reduce risk.”

Pumping the earth’s natural heat to power local heat distribution records could create up thousands of high quality jobs, Mullan concluded.

At the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology, policy director Frank Gordon, responded:

“We would like to thank Kieran Mullan MP for publishing this report and being a friend to the geothermal industry.

“Deep geothermal heat and power is an established renewable energy technology in Europe, and the UK holds significant potential for developing deep geothermal heat, particularly in rural and levelling up areas.

“Government now needs to deliver a comprehensive geothermal strategy without delay, including policy support to help the industry get off the ground. Meeting the Government’s Net Zero ambitions requires a complete range of renewable and clean technologies to all play their part, and geothermal should not be left behind.

Last month the government picked out seven state-of-the-art geothermal systems and heat networks to receive £91 million from the government’s £288 million Green Heat Network Fund.

The seven projects include pumping heat from over 5,000 meters under Cornwall, and using it to  extract heat from granite rocks beneath an industrial site in Langage.

The Green Heat Network Fund opened in March 2022 to public, private and third sector applicants in England. It will run to 2025.

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Last year the operator submitted five tenders for the Wythenshawe innovation under the Carbon & Energy Framework, a government mechanism created to foster & manage complex energy upgrades in the NHS and public sector. The CEF says it has guided or is managing 60 schemes for big infrastructure upgrades.

To progress the Wythenshawe project, IGas announced this morning that an innovation partnership will be set up between IGas’s geothermal division, the hospital’s trust and the CEF, to provide a framework for the parties to work together through the project’s development phases,.   Further developments will be announced.

IGas is in course of transitioning away from drilling for oil and gas, in a strategic shift to low carbon energy. Last year it wrote down £30 million as it abandoned plans to produce shale gas via hydraulic fracturing. It plans to re-brand as Star Energy after next month’s annual general meeting.

The company also expects further progress later this year in digging two geothermal shafts up to 1.5 kilometres deep under Stoke-on-Trent’s Etruria neighbourhood, pictured.  The firm expects imminent financial close on that project, with digging earmarked to begin later this year.

Financing of the Etruria shafts depends on the outcome of a funding application to the Green Heat Network Fund Transition Scheme, a three year, £288 million capital grant fund set up to support the construction of new low and zero carbon heat networks including deep geothermal wells.

It has lined up SSE Energy Solutions as offtaker for the Etruria project.

Bank of America recently took its share in IGas to 5.7%.

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The Langarth geothermal network will involve drilling to a depth of 5,275 meters under Cornwall to extract heat from granite rocks beneath the United Downs industrial site.

It is one of seven state-of-the-art geothermal systems that will receive a share of £91 million from the government’s £288 million Green Heat Network Fund.

Heat networks take heat found underground or use excess heat generated through manufacturing or waste management, and supply heating and hot water to homes and businesses through a connected network.

This allows them to ditch fossil-fuel burning gas and oil boilers, which helps cut costs and reduce carbon emissions. The projects will boost the UK’s energy security and independence, with the schemes expected to create hundreds of new, skilled jobs.

Among the seven ground-breaking projects to benefit from the latest round of funding are:

• The development of a heat network in Goole, using excess heat generated by a local manufacturing plant to supply heating to local homes and businesses, creating 40 jobs.
• The expansion of a heat network in East London to heat to two new estates at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, serving around 500 new homes and 250 non-domestic premises.

Lord Callanan, minister for energy efficiency and green finance, said:   “These innovative projects will not only benefit the communities they serve, by reducing emissions and providing low-cost heating that helps to drive down energy bills, but also support the nation’s push for greater energy security and independence.

The £288 million Green Heat Network Fund opened in March 2022 to public, private and third sector applicants in England. It will run to 2025, replacing the Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP) which closed in January 2022.

Unlike its predecessor, the GHNF will only fund heat network projects where there is a low-carbon heat source.

Announced by the government today, the funding will pave the way for low-carbon technologies like air source heat pumps and geothermal.  Ministers hope they can be established as a central source of energy for Britain.

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Watercycle Technologies, a deep tech company focused on furthering high-yield, low-cost, mineral extraction, is pledging its unique technology to magic the battery industry’s most valuable metal from a shaft of super-heated salty water beneath Lazio, near Rome.

Its partner is Energia Minerals (Italia), a subsidiary of quoted Altamin, owner of mines in central Italy. Using the British firm’s propriatory DLEC approach – Direct Lithium Extraction & Crystallisation – , the duo will extract samples from a borehole in Lazio.  In October Altamin won two exploration licences for lithium from the region’s government.

Subsurface strata running from Rome north into Tuscany provide Italy’s bedrock for geothermal brines. Temperatures up to and beyond 200 degrees Centrigrade run at least four geothermal power stations.

With its UK partner Cornish Lithium, Watercycle are already piloting extraction of the valuable metal from brine-filled caves and aquifers under the West Country.

DLEC’s compatibility with a wide range of water salinities delivers, or so Watercycle claims – dramatic reductions in costs, carbon emissions and water consumption compared with current processes

Baggy, chemical, and happy on Mondays

Under the deal Watercycle will test brines extracted from a borehole in central Italy.  Once the waters’ specific chemistry is understood, dedicated membranes will be fabricated by the team.  Watercycle will then pass the brine through its DLEC process, and analyse both the resulting lithium-rich extraction and the lithium-purged residue.

Watercycle will then process the lithium-rich solution to produce lithium carbonate salts. This latter stage it presents as a key differentiator compared to standard extraction practices.

If successful, the two parties will examine the potential for initiating large-scale testing in Italy.

“Each brine has different characteristics”, explained Watercycle CEO Dr Seb Leaper.

“It’s part of our development model to test multiple brines to further prove the efficacy of our technology and provide leading edge, sustainable solutions for lithium and critical mineral extraction from them.

Watercycle’s CTO and co-founder Dr Ahmed Abdelkarim added: ““Our technology has taken years of development both within the University of Manchester and now within Watercycle.

“We are not only successfully partnering with lithium brine developers but also making fantastic headway in the extraction of multiple critical minerals including cobalt and graphite from spent batteries and the utilisation of our processes in desalination, critical in today’s world where water shortages are being becoming more pronounced.

In materials science, Manchester University, home to Alan Turing and early computing, has more recently been world-renowned for graphene. The super-strong lightweight material won the 2010 Nobel Prize for physics for its developers Professors Andre Geim & Kostya Novoselov.

Watercycle’s labs are in the university’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre.

Interest declared: the author was educated partly at Manchester University.

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The energyco has stolen a march on rivals by launching Max Power, its innovative tariff enabling supply origination and demand sharing across several locations, provided they’re hooked into a single corporate client.

Max Power allows businesses with two or more sites to send any excess renewable energy they’re generating to their other locations in the UK. Octopus estimates it could save some businesses as much as 25% from annual bills.

The model works, regardless of whether firms run their own generation from solar PV, wind turbines, hydro power, geothermal or even battery storage in one location, and share it with their other sites.

‘Panel Power’, Octopus’ existing smart export tariff, already pays solar-generating businesses 15p per kWh for unused power released to the grid.

‘Max Power’ goes further, so multi-site businesses can get the maximum out of the green power they generate by keeping it within their own business.

Octopus positions multi-site sharing of single-site self-generation as helping customers in sectors including retail, logistics, warehousing, FMCG and agriculture.

As ever, Kraken, the industry-leading fulfilment and billing platform around which Octopus functions, is behind the innovation, believed unrivalled among other green providers.  Kraken, was purchased in 2017, by Greg Jackson’s then one year-old debutant.

Kraken was essential to Octopus’ participation last month in National Grid ESO’s new ‘Demand Flexibility Service’, which paid businesses & households to shift consumption out of peak day parts.

Octopus Energy for Business CEO Zoisa North-Bond commented: “Businesses generating their own renewable energy can now bring their bills down further by sharing their cheap green power across their entire estate. Innovation like this puts money back in the pockets of British businesses and gives them greater control over how they use their energy. We’re showing that the greener choice can and should also be the cheaper choice.”

For more details, see here.

Max Power’s launch came the day before the supplier announced it had built Britain’s biggest Virtual Power Plant, yoking together more than 100 MW of EV batteries across the grid.

‘Intelligent Octopus’, another new tariff, is behind Octopus’ VPP success.  Charging vehicles at overnight off-peak rates, can saves electric car drivers over £760 a year, the firm maintains.

Leicester is this innovation’s chosen city of comparison.  The supplier says 100 MW managed by Intelligent Octopus is enough to run the Midlands community’s population of 370,000 for a full hour.

The power firm says its VPP capacity exceeds that of Britain’s current biggest battery now in operation, Penso Power’s 100MW facility at Minety, Wiltshire, funded by China’s Hua Neng Group and subsequently optimised by Shell-owned Limejump.  At stages during its implementation, Penso has earmarked the Minety facility for future expansion to 150MW.

Intelligent Octopus customers use Octopus’ app to set the time and amount they want their vehicle charged by. Kraken works in the background to automatically charge the cars up when there is abundant, low cost energy and when the grid is less busy, helping to balance out demand and supply on the grid.

By doing so, Intelligent Octopus is able to contribute to a flexible grid that doesn’t require expensive balancing costs – bringing down energy bills for everyone.

Octopus head of flexibility Alex Schoch commented: “We urgently need to build flexible grid technology to turbocharge the green energy system. The Intelligent Octopus tariff acts as a virtual power plant, shifting demand out of peak times and therefore cutting bills for everyone.

“As more electric cars take the road and steal market share from old-school gas-guzzlers,” Schoch went on, “we need even more solutions like Intelligent Octopus to handle the extra devices, increase the grid’s resilience and promote a green energy future.”

Correction:  An earlier version of this story incorrectly implied that the Minety 100MW battery is owned by Limejump.  The Energyst is happy to clarify the true position, which is that ownership of the facility continues to reside with Penso Power.

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Solar panels on factory roofs – as on Bentley Motors’ Crewe plant, pictured – on-campus turbines, batteries and biogas plants pumping directly into enterprise consumption could strip as much as 6.7 million tonnes of carbon emissions out of UK power by 2035, say the supplier’s new report, commissioned from consultants linked to Imperial College, London.

Carbon-free electricity could be sourced dependably at prices ranging as low as £49 per MWh, – lower than current wholesale rates – according to nPower’s  The Future of Energy: The critical role of business in a zero-carbon world.

Starting point for the study is the 16 TWh of power identified in the Climate Change Committee’s Sixth Carbon Budget, as likely to be needed in 2035 from shipped or pumped in natural gas.

Modelling by Dr Gabriel D. Oreggioni working as Imperial Consultants sees that total as substitutable by established technologies, and within the following ranges:

• On-site wind capacity: between 6 and 29 GW
• Installed roof-top solar PV: 6.5 GW
• Biogas power generation: up to 16 TWhe
• Hydrogen and biomethane injection: 33 and 7.5 TWh, respectively

nPower Business Solutions boss Anthony Ainsworth explained: “Earlier this year, our Business Energy Tracker revealed that 77% of businesses put energy as their top business risk. It also showed that, to protect themselves from this risk, many businesses are installing sustainable on-site generation to both reduce emissions and increase resiliency.

nPower’s study – available for download here –  assess routes to a future where businesses are not only more self-sufficient, but where the power they generate could help reduce energy costs. 

“For us, this report is really exciting“ Ainsworth went on, “seeing the potential for businesses to become central to a changing, decarbonised and decentralised energy system, that is powered by renewables”.

“For businesses, it also shows the investment decisions they make now when it comes to sustainable on-site generation could reap rewards today and into the not-too-distant future including lower energy costs, increased resiliency, reduced emissions and a more stable power supply.”

Policy interventions by government are inevitably needed to unlock the power potential of business, the study points out. Streamlining planning rules and more tax incentives top that list, as Anthony Ainsworth argues:

“Short-term plans are in place to support businesses this winter, with the Energy Bill Relief Scheme providing some protection against rising prices.

“However, there is also a need for a longer term approach, both in terms of incentivising energy efficiency and encouraging more businesses to consider investing in sustainable on-site generation”, the nPower boss warned.

The work chimes with similar analysis on gas replacement released this week by academics in the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit.

According to the ECIU, in 40 days since October 1 – a notional start of winter – , renewables have already displaced the equivalent of 3% of UK annual gas demand and 6% of UK net gas imports. These numbers will continue to grow during the winter, says the ECIU.

In those 40 days, wind, hydro and solar generation contributed 13TWh.  Generating that output using gas power stations instead would have required 27TWh more gas – the equivalent needed to heat 2.9 million homes this winter.

The ECIU uses those numbers to launch its Winter Power Tracker, tallying quantities of power generated this winter by gas, renewables and other sources.

Nuclear, biomass and other sources of generation generated around 6TWh in the 40 day period, a total requiring gas equivalent to 1.5 % of annual UK demand.

Grid-scale batteries hosting surplus green power are increasingly taking over gas’s role as back-up.

Grid-scale storage units of 50 MWh and above has leapt 400% from last winter reaching 2.5GW already operational this winter. A staggering 20GW more of unbuilt amp hotels and coloumb crèches await in developers’ planning pipelines, says the ECIU, citing monthly figures from D-BEIS’s Renewable Energy Planning Database. Pumped hydro storage, too, is set to rise by 130%, to 6.5GW.

“Every swoop of a turbine blade means less gas that we have to buy,  said Dr Simon Cran-McGreehin, the ECIU’s head of analysis.

“As battery capacity and pumped hydro expand, we’ll be less dependent on gas to play its ‘balancing’ role, insulating us from international gas markets. The same goes for insulation and electric heat pumps. If government ramps up investments, next winter could be less challenging for the grid and less worrying for households.”

No country in Europe at present depends more on gas than the UK. It provides 40% of electricity generation and 85% of our home heating, much of it wasted in British homes, the leakiest in western Europe. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported this summer that the cost impacts of the gas crisis are worse for households in the UK than in any other country in Western Europe.

Without wind, hydro and solar meeting 30% of Britain’s yearly electricity demand, gas power plants would be operating more often, burning as much as 70% more gas each year – adding almost a quarter (23%) to the UK’s total gas demand and putting up imports by almost half (45%), according to the ECIU.

Renewables push down costs of  wholesale electricity , the ECIU points out, partly by displacing expensive gas power plants, and partly through Contracts for Difference. These paid back over £700million in the twelve months to October 2022 and are forecast to pay back at least a further £2billion by the end of Q1 2023.

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After hearing experts’ evidence, the Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee has written to D-BEIS secretary of state Jacob Rees-Mogg, asking him to drill down deeper into reasons for the nation’s time lag.

An overlooked Cinderella of low-carbon energy, geothermal as a heat source features nowhere in existing government policy, says the committee, despite offering ‘considerable promise’.

Under its Conservative chair Sir Philip Dunne, the committee touched two years ago on the technology of pumping superheated water up pipes from Britain’s deep underground, when it evaluated heat pumps in the nation’s energy mix.

Now, they say, Britain’s range of geological formations could serve a multiplicity of heat use on the surface, from power generation to running district heating networks.  The committee estimates as many as 25,000 jobs in the sector could flourish by mid-century.

Yet it is omitted from both the government’s Net Zero Strategy and from the Johnson administration’s Energy Security Strategy

The committee tells D-BEIS it wants the ministry to produce proposals for a suitable licencing regime to nurture the technology.

Committee chair Sir Philip Dunne said members believed geothermal holds out the promise to save as much as 20% of UK carbon emissions.

“It is surprising that the government appears to have overlooked the potential of geothermal energy, “ said Sir Philip.

“This energy is beneath our feet and is ready to be explored to test its commercial viability.

“I expect Ministers will wish to reflect carefully on the evidence the Committee received and reconsider the potential role of geothermal energy in heating UK buildings and providing power while aiding the drive towards net zero emissions targets.”

Recent initiatives in exploiting geothermal include IGas drilling under Stoke-on-Trent’s Etruria suburb.  SSE joined the project, believed to be Britain’s first, in September last year.

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