Railpen, formerly known as RPMI, runs the railways’ pensions schemes on behalf of its parent, the Railways Pension Trustee Company Limited. It manages £34 billion of assets on behalf of over 350,000 members.

Its investment will support AGR in achieving its target of putting over 500MW of high quality renewable assets into operation by 2029.

Railpen has committed to invest in AGR’s near-term UK solar, battery energy storage system (BESS), and greenhouse projects.    Its backing will enable construction before 2026 of 160MWp of solar arrays, of 150MW in BESS, as well as AGR’s second sustainable greenhouse.

London-based AGR was co-founded in 2011 by Oliver Breidt.

Besides bringing forward onshore wind projects in the UK and northern Ireland under the Feed-in Tariff, plus solar farms across southern England & Ireland, it is known for one of Britain’s biggest and most technologically advanced greenhouses, the Fenland Greenhouse near Ely, Cambridgeshire, pictured above.

The project spans 22 hectares and produces over 2.5 million vegetables every week at peak output. The complex is powered through a combination of water-sourced heat pumps and CHP gas engines, coupled with a back-up boiler. Fenland I greenhouse spans 60Ha and produces over 2.5 million cucumbers per week. The project was initiated in 2021 as a standalone greenfield development and delivered to Greencoat Capital, part of Schroder’s Capital, in 2022.

For Railpen, its AGR investment reflects its commitment to investing in infrastructure, including directing £500m to UK energy projects since 2019. The company will be represented on the AGR board by Lewis Vanstone and Cristiana Dochioiu. AGR’s co-founder Oliver Breidt will remain as group director.

Breidt said: “I’m incredibly pleased to announce our partnership with Railpen in what is a landmark move for us. Railpen’s investment and reputation will help propel AGR into new territories and technologies, including our 1GW pipeline in Italy, and see us expanding our presence in Germany and into further agricultural assets.

“I’m very pleased to be working with Lewis and Cristiana who bring with them a wealth of experience. This will be a transformative chapter for AGR and our mission.”

Dochioiu, investment manager at Railpen added: “AGR’s approach to sustainable infrastructure development and investment matches Railpen’s ethos for sustainability and providing essential infrastructure to the UK.

“We are excited to work with the AGR team and Oliver to further develop the pipeline at AGR and drive positive change through our investment portfolio, building the critical infrastructure needed to support the UK’s transition to net zero. Railpen’s scale and long-term approach makes us an ideal partner for AGR’s ambitions to enhance energy and food security in the UK and Europe.”

Railpen were advised by parties including CMS for legal services, Grant Thornton on financial and tax and Willis Towers Watson on insurance. AGR were advised by lawyers Eversheds Sutherland.

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Acting as co-mandated lead arrangers and co-lenders, EDC and NatWest together provided £130 million to support the construction of the Limekiln wind farm, owned by Quebec-based energy producer Boralex.

With the capacity to produce enough low carbon power to meet 40,200 homes’ needs, at a saving of 65,000 tonnes of emissions, the project is Boralex’s largest scheme in Europe and its first project financing in Britain.

Advising the two lenders on the deal, Burges Salmon provided banking, finance, energy, real estate, planning and construction expertise. The team was led by partners Stuart McMillan, Lloyd James, Alex Whiter and Euan Bremner, supported by directors Alistair Rattray and Laura Sharples, senior associates Alison Logan and Owen Watkins, associates Amy McPherson and Kirsten Ogg, solicitors Thomas Papke and Chris Glendinning and trainee solicitors Gemma Hines and Carys Cox.

Stuart McMillan, pictured, commented: “It has been a pleasure working with NatWest and EDC to unlock this significant capital for Boralex’s flagship project in the UK, one that will greatly benefit local communities, providing zero-carbon electricity and delivering an array of social, economic, and environmental benefits. In what was a complex deal, our experience advising on these types of financing transactions in the renewables sector meant we were able to work together with all parties, and across multiple jurisdictions, to bring this landmark project to fruition.”

Kristofer Gibson, a NatWest director for infrastructure project finance, said: “We’re delighted to have had the opportunity to support Boralex with its maiden financing and development in the UK market. The debt facility is another example of NatWest’s commitment to actively help building a greener economy and future by providing £100 billion Climate and Sustainable Funding and Financing to our customers by the end of 2025.”

Combining sector knowledge with banking and finance expertise, Burges Salmon provides tailored advice from a range of perspectives to support lenders and borrowers on complex financing transactions in the UK and internationally. Working across sectors, the firm acts for some of the world’s largest banks, building societies and over 50 financial institutions, alongside numerous PLCs and large corporate clients globally.

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Eickholt will step down on 31 July and leave the company on 30 September, the parent company Siemens Energy announced this morning. He was appointed the turbine maker’s head only in April 2022, with a brief to reverse cost over-runs and to repair fractured supply chains.

Replacing the 62 year old will be Vinod Philip, 50, head of global functions at Siemens Energy. Philip currently oversees a palette of functions including IT, purchasing, innovation, logistics and project management.

Today’s announcement by the parent makes no mention of Tim Dawidowsky, appointed as Siemens-Gamesa’s chief operating officer in 2022, within two months of Eickholt’s arrival.

Under the pair’s tenure, Siemens Gamesa has continued to struggle with quality issues and sustained financial losses.  Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch today absolved Eickholt from blame for the former, declaring that “the causes of the quality problems did not fall under his tenure”.

Bruch said that Eickholt’s departure was part of the company’s multi-year restructuring plan as “the time has now come for a generational change at Siemens Gamesa”.

Continuing losses at the turbines division dictates the sharpening of strategy identified in today’s overhaul. While continuing to make larger maritime structures, it will now target developers and generators operating onshore farms in stable regulatory environments, chiefly in Europe and the US. Break-even by 2026 is the financial goal, to be followed by profit margins topping 10% at an unspecified date.

Although its plan meentions unspecified job cuts, the parent Siemens Energy reaffirmed its commitment to both maritime and onshore turbines, allaying concerns of potential divestment or closure of wind business segments.

The parent confirmed that coastal factories making maritime – and thus bigger – turbines in Cuxhaven, Aalborg and Le Havre will continue to ramp up their capacities, a move the parent sees as essential.

Continuing disruptions to production and resulting flaws led to financial setbacks for Siemens Gamesa in 2023, including a loss of €4.6bn (£3.94bn). At the time, Bruch said: “The strong performance of our other business areas gives me confidence in our company’s ability to put businesses back on a strong footing.”

Siemens Energy’s shares surged 13% on today’s announcement.  At group level, it declared expectations of better profit margins, and adjusting its 2024 projections for sales to rise as much 12% during the year.

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Based at Lichtenfels, near Kassel in central Germany, Voodin Blade Technologies says its lumber blades help turbines reduce CO2 emissions by up to 78% against conventional materials, and cut up to 20% from turbine production costs.

The four year old start-up has attached its innovative structures, 19.3 metres in length, to an existing turbine tower already erected at Breuna, near Kassel.  60- and 80-meter blades are also taking shape on the firm’s drawing board.

Voodin’s boss Tom Siekmann says that while up to 90% of wind turbines are recyclable, conventional blades are currently not. Their usual construction is of fibreglass and carbon fibre sealed with epoxy resin.  Though some manufacturers are trying, the materials have proven difficult and expensive to break down.

Holz on to your Hütte! Wir in it, to spin it!

Conventionally sourced turbine blades have a working life of up to 25 years. With the first generation of blades now reaching end of life, towers – sometimes known in Germany as ‘white asparagus’ – need to be re-equipped with replacements.

Voodin makes its wooden blades from laminated veneer lumber, or LVL, a sandwich of many thin layers, glued together.

“At the end of their lifecycle, most blades are buried in the ground or incinerated. This means that, at this pace, we will end up with 50 million tonnes of blade material waste by 2050. With our solution, we want to help green energy truly become as green as possible,” said Siekmann.

Voodin Blade Technology uses CNC – ‘computer numerical control‘ – lathes to create complex 3D shapes.   The method allows for a high level of automation, obviating the moulds used in conventional manufacturing.  CNC milling also adds flexibility and versatility to designs as they advance to reality.

Increased automation means less labour and so cheaper production. Manufacturing thus does not need to be offshored to countries with lower labour costs, avoiding delay in supply chains. Production can even be achieved closer to the host turbine parks, further trimming back emissions and transport costs.

The company believes wooden blades can even flourish in challenging working offshore, where around 85% of current turbines are located

“According to all our tests, our blades are even more durable than the existing fiberglass blades, as they show fewer fatigue characteristics and are proven to endure all kinds of onshore weather conditions extremely well,” Voodin co-founder Jorge Castillo explained.

Blade on the feather, body between the knees

Traditional German respect for wood, natural materials and forests runs deep in the country’s ecological culture.  Former Bundestag MP Josef Göppel, a past advocate for community energy in Angela Merkel’s government, represented a forestry-dependent seat in Bavaria.

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The green charity’s research, assisted by Exeter University’s academics, further strengthens developers’ complaints at continuing government foot-dragging over new turbines in England’s Conservative-voting shires.

Despite supposedly reversing two years ago David Cameron’s 2015 ban on new turbines in the home nation, Rishi Sunak’s government continues to shun a reform in planning regulations, which continue to presume against new wind developments.

The FoE study identifies nearly 220,000 hectares of English land considered most suitable for onshore turbines, as well as 300,000 hectares favouring new solar farms. The total equates to only 3% of England’s gross land surface.

Some sites could combine both methods, while still conserving both visual amenity and biodiversity, say researchers.

The study’s interactive map  shows the sites at local authority level.  North Yorkshire, the county’s East Riding and Lincolnshire emerge as areas of greatest untapped potential.

Omitted from the FoE/Exeter study are England’s higher grade agricultural land, its national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) and heritage sites. Yet the researchers still find enough viable land to generate 130,000GWh of solar power every year, and 96,000GWh from onshore turbines.

That combined 226,000GW potential every year across both technologies vastly outstrips England’s present land-based output. It currently stands at around 17,000 GWh from already built PV farms and turbines.

With commercial roofs and existing housing stock also excluded as generating sites, FoE stress that not all the land identified would be needed to meet de-carb targets.

The National Grid’s latest Future Energy Scenarios suggest  Britain must double in only six years our renewable electricity yield. Low carbon power is needed in vastly increased amounts to meet targets on switching to homes and businesses to clean heating, and powering EVs.   Adding to the imperative is the government’s treaty-backed commitment to cut carbon emissions by 68% further this decade.

Meeting consumption solely from Britain’s homes, today’s research finds that if all the land identified were developed for onshore solar or wind, in theory 2.5 times more electricity than currently required.

FoE’s climate campaigner Tony Bosworth argued: “Unleashing the UK’s immense potential to generate cheap, clean homegrown renewables is essential to bring down our energy bills for good and meeting the UK’s vital international target to reduce carbon emissions by two thirds by 2030.

“But the current government’s track record on boosting our energy security through renewables is woefully inadequate. It has left the UK lagging far behind in the global race to a zero-carbon economy. Meanwhile, Labour is looking increasingly shaky on climate after rolling back its planned investment in green growth.

Trade association SolarEnergyUK endorsed FoE’s research.   Gemma Grimes, its director of policy and delivery, said: “Friends of the Earth’s welcome report is a good illustration of the wide suitability of land for solar development.

“If we assume that the same ratio of ground-mounted to roof-mounted developments that we see today continues – roughly 2:1 in terms of capacity –“, Grimes added, ”we would need about 35GW of new solar farms to reach the Government’s goal of reaching 70GW by 2035.

“That would mean that deployment would extend to a fraction of the area marked out in the study, while still offering lower bills, a more secure energy supply and benefits for wildlife.”

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The pair intend generating up to 31MWp from 63,000 solar panels – covering the area of 18 football pitches – now being installed on 26 buildings of the Port of Liverpool.

The combined arrays are expected to amount to the nation’s biggest at rooftop level.  Together they will generate up to 25% of the port’s electricity needs, equalling that of 10,000 UK homes. Carbon emissions from the site will drop by 6,500 tonnes each year, the equivalent of taking 2,250 cars off the road.

Construction now under way is to due to finish by summer 2026. The pair are committed to engaging local contractors wherever possible.

More than 6,000 panels have already been delivered, ready to be installed on the new 240,000 sq ft Alexandra Dock warehouse, itself nearing completion.  All materials will be brought to the site by sea, minimising impact on local roads.

Financed and delivered by E.ON, the port’s massive solar investment is the first stage of a 25-year agreement will help Peel Ports Group reach its goal of Net Zero emissions by 2040.

Bringing closer the operator’s ambition to run Liverpool docks solely on renewables, a second project will be to replace five onshore wind turbines existing with four larger ones, lifting their generation close to 20MW.

Subject to local consultations and planning consent, work could begin as early as 2027.

Peel Ports CEO Claudio Veritiero said: “We’re proud to be embarking on this long-term partnership with E.ON and to be undertaking this important project together, revolutionising the Port of Liverpool’s energy system.

“Ports of the future need to become more sustainable environments and we must play our part in a greener supply chain.”

E.ON UK head Chris Norbury said: “The Port of Liverpool is a critical piece of infrastructure for the UK and decarbonising sites like this will be vital for the UK to achieve its environmental goals.

“Simply put, we all need to move faster on reducing emissions and this huge project will be a massive step in the right direction. We’ve been the energy supplier for Peel Ports Group for more than 20 years and I’m proud they’re putting their trust in us.

Planning applications have been lodged with Sefton and Liverpool City Councils.

Peel Ports has put more than £1 billion of its own money over the last ten years into sustainable infrastructure, with a focus on reducing the emissions associated with its operations.

Specialists involved in the project include EMTEC, FES, Absolute Solar and Cogeo as planning co-ordinators.

The port of Hull, owned by Peel’s rival Associated British Ports, currently houses Britain’s biggest rooftop PV array.  Installer Custom Solar completed the 6.5MW project in 2020.

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Land-borne turbines now generating across the four home nations still hold a slender capacity lead over their marine sisters, according to official figures.  Offshore turbines spinning above UK waters as of late 2023 had a combined capacity of 14.74GW, across 44 projects.

Onshore, the biggest share of UK operations stand on Scotland’s soil, according to analysts at wind power promoters RenewableUK. Its moors and mountains now have 9.4GW in operation, or 63% of all UK onshore operations.

Only 2.93GW is fully operational in England, or less than 20% of UK capacity.  Frustrating developers and green campaigners, ministers have largely left in place David Cameron’s 2015 turbine veto throughout England’s Conservative-voting shires.  Only one new turbine has gone live in England since the start of 2023, with another under construction. Notoriously, embattled Ukraine last year brought more onshore turbines into use than England’s counties.

Northern Ireland has 1.35GW, or 9% of UK onshore capacity, and Wales 1.26GW, or 8%.

Independent scientists on the Climate Change Committee have advised ministers that the UK needs to install 35GW of onshore wind by 2035 as a key step to reaching Net Zero.

The seven turbines of EDF Renewables UK’s new 30.1MW farm at West Benhar in Lanarkshire, pictured, brought Britain across that 15GW land-based threshold.

Matthieu Hue, the developer’s chief executive said: “Opening West Benhar is a positive step to realising the country’s ambitions. EDF Renewables has worked closely with the local supply chain and communities throughout the project, investing millions in contracts with Scottish and UK companies to construct the wind farm”.

English planning ‘stacked against onshore wind’

RenewableUK’s head of policy James Robottom welcomed the industry’s success, as well as government confirmation last week of new clean energy projects.  The lobbyists’ target of 30GW of onshore wind working by 2030 would create 27,000 jobs and boost the economy by £45 billion, the body has told ministers.

“To achieve this,” Robottom went on, “we need more projects going ahead in England in areas where they have local community support.

“Despite very minimal changes to planning policy announced in September, we still face an English planning system stacked against onshore wind, and which treats it differently to every other energy source or infrastructure project.

“Under current rules we’re not going to see investment in new projects..in England, after nine years of lost progress”.

A summary of UK wind energy statistics is available here.

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James Humfrey, pictured, has 25 years’ experience in leading complex international projects, most recently with state hydrocarbon firm ADNOC in Abu Dhabi. There he led project and business development including the establishment of a new $25 billion chemical park.

Humfrey also led ADNOC’s New Energies Division, developing the region’s first world scale blue ammonia plant and CCS pilot. He also delivered the acquisition of a stake in Masdar, the Emirati-owned renewables generator with a 20GW portfolio.  Humfrey pioneered the formation of Masdar Green Hydrogen, as well as serving as a director of the firm’s Infineum offshoot.

Xlinks co-founder Simon Morrish will continue as group CEO, working hand-in-hand with Humfrey on the scheme’s development. He remains responsible for key strategic relationships and growing Xlinks’ portfolio of projects.

Morrish founded Xlinks in 2019, spearheading the concept and development of the project linking southern Morocco to its intended landfall in north Devon.

Xlinks is being designed to generate 11.5GW of zero-carbon power from southern Morocco’s sun and wind, delivering 3.6GW of reliable electricity to Britain alone for an average of 19 hours every day.

Power will run through 4,000km of high voltage DC subsea cables cables run under the sea bed.  Once complete, the project will be capable of supplying 8% of Great Britain’s electricity needs.

With commissioning set for the end of this decade, the project’s backers intend its low-cost, clean power will flow to over 7 million British homes.

With a capital budget of £16 Billion, the venture’s investors include global energy brands such as TotalEnergies, the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) and Britain’s Octopus Energy.

Stabilising intermittency from Xlinks’ unprecedented renewables capacity, an onsite 22.5GWh/5GW battery will provide storage to guarantee near-constant flows of flexible and predictable clean energy into the National Grid.

“I’m delighted that James has joined us to lead and grow a world-class team to deliver our ambitious vision“, said Morrish.  “We have other markets that are excited to harness the enormous benefits that long distance HVDC connectors can deliver to help solve the intermittency of renewables.

Humfrey said: “Joining Xlinks First as CEO is a fantastic opportunity to lead the first-of-its-kind Morocco – UK Power Project in achieving its goal to deliver a near constant, clean and affordable supply of electricity to the UK. This will play a key role in the Morocco and UK’s future prosperity.

Sir Dave Lewis, executive chairman of the Billericay-based developer, added : “James Humfrey brings a wealth of expertise in delivering large complex energy projects to Xlinks, along with experience of working with major global investors in the industry.

”James’ appointment will allow our Founder and Group CEO, Simon Morrish, to focus on developing future energy projects to boost the global grid and help meet global net-zero targets.”

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The legal ginger group says its action last year secured a concession from ministers that they had lifted David Cameron’s de facto ban on new onshore wind parks.  But ministers are still dragging their feet, the GLP alleges, over approving turbines in fields, Britain’s cheapest power source.

GLP cites the view of Scottish Power boss Keith Anderson, who this month told Parliament’s energy select committee that England remains a ‘godforsaken country’ for onshore wind.

Decrying to MPs what he called England’s “cumbersome, slow, difficult and uncertain” regime for approving land-based turbines, Anderson called for major changes by ministers to national planning guidelines.

Also seeking restoration of terrestrial turbines is top planning body the National Infrastructure Commission. Last April, as cited by the GLP, the commission specified that land-based turbines in England should brought back into line with existing approved energy sources, ready to be fast-tracked through the planning process.

The GLP want to know why ministers made no mention of onshore wind when recently revising the National Policy Statement.

Its legal director Emma Dearnaley claimed the government has been “stubbornly refusing” to back onshore wind.

“Instead,” Dearnaley said, “in the middle of a climate crisis, ministers are focusing their efforts on keeping the fossil fuel industry thriving for decades to come.”

New onshore wind approvals in England plummeted after 2016, after the Cameron government singled out turbines to lose their status as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects under the regime’s energy provisions.

Developers complain that England in 2023 erected fewer turbines than Ukraine, emeshed in fighting off Russia’s invasion.

Advised by law firm Leigh Day, the GLP campaigners sent D-ESNZ a ‘pre-action protocol letter’ requiring energy secretary Claire Coutinho’s reply this week.  They await her response.

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Generating the same amount of electricity instead from gas-fired stations would have required over 180TWh of gas, the ECIU found. That amount could heat as many as 15.5 million UK homes.

Renewable generation increased in each quarter of 2023, the ECIU researchers found, compared to 2019, their pre-Covid baseline. Output rose by around a quarter and a fifth respectively in last year’s first and final quarters.

Using gas power plants instead to meet such generation levels would have required around 120TWh more gas, equivalent to almost 10 million homes’ annual gas demand, or equal to the contents of around 140 LNG tanker ships, says the ECIU.

Gas-fired electricity fell by up to 30% in each quarter of the year, compared to equivalents in the 2019 baseline.

“Every turn of an offshore wind turbine’s blades reduces our dependence on gas“, declared Jess Ralston, the ECIU’s head of energy.

“As the North Sea continues its inevitable decline, we’ll need to import ever greater quantities of gas, undermining our energy independence.

“The choice for the UK is stark. Boost British renewables or import more gas at a price we cannot control”.

Britain has the highest gas dependency of any European country the ECIU repeats in its latest Power Tracker analysis. Forty per cent of our power and 85% of our home heating come from the high carbon source.

Nuclear, biomass and other networked sources such as low-carbon CHP contributed around posted falls over 2023 registering a combined 60TWh.

Several big wind farms stand in developers’ pipelines.  Last month alone, Orsted announced investment approval for its 2.9GWp Hornsea Three project.

The Danes’ confirmation lifted gloom after the government failed in September to secure any new bids for offshore wind in its latest Contracts for Difference auction.

By belatedly unfreezing the CfDs’ administrative strike price for the latest bidding round later this year, civil servants have sparked hopes of a recovery in new turbines at sea.

The ECIU’s report note concerns too about grid infrastructure and the need for connection grants to keep pace with the rate of renewables buildout.  Ofgem and the National Grid Future System Operator have committed to accelerating the process for grid connections. Both the Conservatives and Labour parties have made faster grid connection a priority ahead of the General Election anticipated this year.

The British researchers cite the International Monetary Fund as their authority that the nation’s gas dependency, combined with Britain possessing western Europe’s most energy wasteful housing stock, has left UK households worst hit across the continent by rising energy costs.

The report came as multinational energy company RWE confirmed that it will acquire a UK-based offshore wind portfolio totalling 4.2GW.

RWE will secure the projects for £963 million from Vattenfall, subject to approval by the Crown Estate and regulatory approvals.

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Grant-givers at Scottish Enterprise have released £9 million of tax-payers’ funds to re-purpose Hunterston, the former nuclear plant on the Ayrshire coast, as a factory making high-voltage cable for the £1.4 billion marine section of the Xlinks venture.  At full operation later this decade, a re-purposed Hunterston could employ as many as 900 permanent, highly skilled workers.

Essex-based developers Xlinks, headed by McKinsey alumnus Simon Morrish and ex-Tesco’s boss Dave Lewis, could not find a global supplier capable of competitively supplying the four cables needed for the £18 billion mega-project.

In the face of international political uncertainties confronting Xlinks, they decided to build their own factory on Scotland’s coast.

XLCC, the sister company set up by Xlinks to build the HVDC cable at Hunterston, budgets at £1.4 billion the costs of converting its activities from atom-splitting to twisting miles of metal thread.

Xlinks requires four HVDC connections each 3,800 kilometres long, the world’s longest. They will link solar and wind farms in southern Morocco via the Bay of Biscay to landfall at Alverdiscott, north Devon, and a reserved input to the National Grid.

Hunterston B ceased nuclear generation in January 2022, after 46 years.  Its Magnox sister, Hunterston A, went dark in 1990.

Owners EdF have scheduled defueling of Hunterston B to start in 2025, a year before the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Magnox arm is due to take formal control of the site.

Confirmed today, Scottish Enterprise’s handout has followed North Ayrshire planners’ approval of the cable-making facility.

Recipient XLCC’s business case for its grant application rests on industry projections that worldwide demand for new subsea power transmission will outstrip supply by two-and-a-half  times as soon as 2030.

Some international cable makers are reported to have nine years’ worth of work already on order, thus presenting a critical bottleneck for long-distance transmission of clean power varieties from their sunniest or windiest spots of origin, to populated centres of highest demand.

Ian Douglas, boss of the cable maker welcomed Scottish Enterprise’s decision. ”As XLCC  continues to work towards building a greener future for Scotland and the wider UK’, said Douglas, ‘investing in and mobilising the power of local communities is vital.

”Green energy is the future, and we want to empower Scotland to be part of the transition.”

In quest of maximum benefits for the nation and its south-west, he pledged XLCC will work closely with Team Scotland and its partners including Scottish Enterprise, North Ayrshire Council, Skills Development Scotland and local schools and training institutions.

Cabled, not wireless

Adrian Gillespie, CEO of Scottish Enterprise, said: “XLCC’s plans for Hunterston have the potential to be transformational for the regional economy and an extremely important addition to Scotland’s offshore renewables capability. Together with our Team Scotland partners, we’re working closely with the company as it seeks to address the enormous and growing demand for HVDC cables both in Scotland and internationally.”

From Edinburgh’s devolved government, wellbeing and economy secretary Neil Gray MSP added: “This milestone £1.4 billion project is a welcome vote of confidence in Scotland’s renewable energy revolution. That is why Scottish Enterprise is supporting it with £9 million to attract wider private sector investment“.

North Ayrshire Council’s leader Cllr Marie Burns echoed them: “This is one of the largest ever investments in Scotland and the significance of this development cannot be overstated. It is incredibly exciting for the North Coast, North Ayrshire and beyond.

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Together rated at 18.8MWp, onshore turbines at Kirk Hill when completed next year will make up the largest consumer-owned wind farm in the UK.  

Members across the four nations who’ve signed up through co-operative developers Ripple Energy have been told they can save hundreds of pounds on their energy bills when power starts to flow.  The average predicted first year bill savings for the co-op’s 5,600 members is £269.

Conveniently sited within three-mile sight of turbine-hating Donald Trump’s golf franchise at the Turnberry resort, consumer-owned Kirk Hill will have the potential to power a nominal 20,000 households and businesses.

Its thousands of members from households and businesses across the UK part-own the assets, representing a new model of popular, non-corporate ownership of clean power set – or so Ripple’s founder Sarah Merrick believes –  to transform Britain’s transition to clean energy.

Co-op members control their individual investments on a one-person per vote basis via arms-length co-ordinators such as Ripple, and not according to the value of equity they inject.

Funded by £13.2 million of such small investments, Kirk Hill is the latest of the enterprise’s three schemes to come to market.

Its first, a single turbine at Graig Fatha in south Wales – pictured – became the UK’s first consumer owned wind farm when generation began in March 2022.  Its members are expected to save £977 on average off their energy bills this year.

Britain’s first solar park in shared community ownership, Derill Water Solar Park in Devon is the brand’s biggest project to date.  Costing over £20 million, the highest ever single share flotation raise in the history of UK co-operatives, Derill Water will pump its first current late next summer.

 A fourth project has opened for investor registration.

A recent study commissioned by Ripple found 67% of Scots voicing support for renewable projects in their area.  Over half – or 58% – say they are more likely to support a new local wind turbine or solar park if they had the opportunity to own part of it and lower their energy bills.

Ripple commissioned the research as part of its Generation YES initiative. This encourages Brits to say yes to renewable energy projects being developed in their locality and to support more clean power.

Merrick, Ripple Energy’s founder and CEO said: “Owned by 5,600 proud individuals who will benefit from the clean, low-cost energy generated by its turbines, Kirk Hill represents the future of green energy.

“There’s a sense of history being made here on the west coast of Scotland as construction gets underway, ” Merrick added.  “From the moment they left the factories and made their journey across the Mediterranean and into the Port of Ayr, our members have been avidly following their journey.

“The future is consumer-owned renewable energy, and thousands of people in the UK have already joined the movement.”

Interest declared: the author invests in several UK energy co-operatives.

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The tech leviathan today said its 39 new renewable projects already completed or begun in 2023 will bring its continent-wide capacity to 5.GW, as delivered by its more than 160 wind and solar projects in 13 countries.

Its investments in datacentres and their electrification stimulated €2.4 billion in economic investment last year alone in Europe, the company says, supporting more than 2,900 jobs. Independent verification of those figures comes from consultants Oxford Economics.

That rush means Jeff Bezos’ re-shaper of global retail and entertainment will now reach its goal of being 100% renewably-powered in 2025, five years ahead of schedule.   Last year 90% of the electricity consumed worldwide by its warehouses, data centres and fulfilment depots came from renewables.

Since 2021, Bloomberg New Energy Finance has ranked Amazon as Europe’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy.

As well as the UK, recent rooftop PV ventures have taken shape in Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain.

New utility-scale solar and wind projects are located in Finland, Germany, Greece, Spain, and Sweden.   In the past twelve months the firm has commissioned its first PV farms in Poland and Greece.

Between 2014 to 2022, Amazon’s European wind and solar farms have helped generate an estimated €2.4 billion in investment in Europe and helped to contribute more than €723 million to the continent’s GDP, according to a new economic model developed by the concern.

Lindsay McQuade, Amazon’s director of energy, EMEA, greeted the numbers.  “Amazon is helping to provide new sources of clean energy to local grids, creating jobs, and supporting local businesses as we progress toward powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025,” she said.

“Corporate investment is an important catalyst to help transition toward a clean energy future, and we look forward to continuing to work with governments, local communities, and energy providers across Europe to deliver more renewable energy into local grids.”

To measure the impact of its outlay on the low-carbon generating assets it owns, the company now relies on a new economic model developed in house and externally validated.

The model applies to the utility-scale renewable energy projects that have begun construction or became operational between 2014 and 2022, or are expected to become operational in 2023, resulting from Amazon’s investments in Power Purchase Agreements.

To check out Amazon’s energy development methodology, click here

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Net proceeds of the sale of its Krzecin and Kuslin projects are likely amount to a zloty equivalent of between GBP 88 million and GBP 92, the trust announced today.  That’s a premium of between 14 and 19 per cent on the farms’ GBP 77 million book value as of June 30.

ORIT bought the pair in October 2021, during their construction. Its operating sister company completed both and began generation last year. With a combined capacity of 59 MW, the farms generate make enough green electricity for well over 100,000 homes, avoiding CO2-e emissions equivalent of 150,000 tonnes every year.

The farms’ buyer ORLEN is a Warsaw-listed petrochemicals firm seeking to diversify into wind and Canada.  It has agreed to provide a loan to redeem mortgages secured against both turbine parks.

Completion of the sale, expected at the latest by March, should yield an internal rate of return of up to 30% over the two years of ORIT’s ownership, the British trust told investors.

What a lot of zlotys

The sale is in line with the trust’s declared strategy of freeing up capital through sale of minor assets.

Proceeds will initially go towards repaying short term debt. They may subsequently be recycled into more wind or solar projects promising capital growth.

ORIT chair Phil Austin commented: “Building new wind farms, like these two in Poland, has brought more vital green energy onto the system.

“As our portfolio becomes increasingly weighted towards operational assets, selling some of these now and paying down short term debt will give ORIT the ability to explore new opportunities to build more green energy projects“.

By early afternoon, ORIT’s share price on the LSE-250 was up just under 2%, valuing the trust at GBP 454.2 million.

The post Octopus winds down £90 m of Polish wind, Leg-ias it out of Warsaw appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Offshore consent documents for the West of Orkney marine park 30 kilometres off the island are now with officials.   The project’s 2GW boilerplate output is presented as meeting the power needs of around two million homes.

West of Orkney is backed by a consortium led by Total Energies. Composed of up to 125 turbines on fixed foundations, the French firm with partners, Macquarie-linked Corio Generation and Renewable Infrastructure Development Group (RIDG) has earmarked 2029 for the park to deliver its first power.

The submission includes applications under the Electricity Act 1989 and marine licence applications under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. Accompanying them is an extensive suite of assessments based on survey data collected over two and a half years.

The West of Orkney project lies wholly within the “N1” Plan Option, one of 15 areas around Scotland which the Scottish Government considered suitable for the development of commercial scale offshore windfarms.

The Scottish Government published its Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in October 2020 following over two years of extensive analysis, consideration and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders.

A grid connection agreement with National Grid in Caithness underpins the plan. The partners are also exploring options to power the Flotta Hydrogen Hub, under development at Orkney’s oil terminal.

Development manager Jack Farnham said: “Any project which intends to power around two million homes cannot be undertaken in isolation from the communities in which it will operate.

“Over the last two years we’ve organised 33 public events, reaching over 2,400 residents across Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney. These events have been a platform for the community to engage with the project’s design, ensuring that we develop an environmentally responsible and socially beneficial project that resonates with local needs and aspirations.

“This application outlines our commitment to safeguard marine habitats, protect wildlife, and minimise any potential disturbances to the local ecosystem.

• Meanwhile, at Britain’s biggest onshore windfarm now operating, the 0.6GW Whitelee venture ten miles south of Glasgow, developers ScottishPower Renewables are starting a bug hunt, designed to measure the genetic diversity of flying insects.

Ecologists working for the clean generator will collect insects from Whitelee and send them to be analysed as part of the Wellcome Sanger Institute’s BIOSCAN project.

Data from the project will allow the ecology team to detect what impact ScottishPower Renewables’ peatland restoration work has on the insect communities at Whitelee.

The post First Scotwind offshore farm seeks Holyrood’s consent, as Whitelee begins bug hunt appeared first on theenergyst.com.