“The upcoming election is a pivotal moment for the UK” said Rollo Maschietto, public affairs manager of the REA (in full, the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology):

Citing the REA’s 2024 manifesto, Maschietto explained that “tthe next administration will make decisions that will determine whether we meet our Net Zero targets or fall short”.

“The only way to ensure enduring energy security and an affordable energy system is by ending our reliance on volatile imported fossil fuels and moving to renewables and clean technologies, the REA spokesperson insisted.

The trade group  would work to have renewables and the transition to a zero-carbon economy as central topics in the forthcoming election campaign.

The REA is calling on all political parties to present robust, actionable plans that will drive the UK towards a sustainable energy future. It stood to work with all political parties and the future government to implement these plans.

Another trade body, BEAMA, which represents UK makers of power equipment & infrastructure, saw the election as presenting a stark choice for the sector.

“The next government has a simple decision to make”, its head Yselkla Farmer declared.   “Either create an environment for prosperity based on a successful green economy, or drive away billions of pounds of private investment and risk jobs with policy uncertainty and delay”.

Representing over 200 electrical manufacturers and innovators, the lobbyist called on Sunak or his replacement to prioritise:

1. Investing in grid capacity – The UK will need a larger electrical grid to connect the renewable generators, heat pumps, EV charge points, and other low carbon technologies needed to reach Net Zero.
2. Securing the UK energy market, by disconnecting power prices from unstable international gas markets The result would be electricity tariffs suppressed, providing certainty & security for businesses & householders.
3. Levelling the playing field in heating technology– Removing the extra VAT paid by households opting for low carbon heating technologies, would make Net Zero the most affordable choice.
4. Getting Smart Metering right – A more dynamic electricity system, low in carbon, would follow if consumers get access to real time consumption data. Completing Britain’s roll-out of smart meters would the nation doesn’t fall behind our continental neighbours

“Whoever wins the election”, BEAMA’s Farmer added, “they will need to prioritise a stable policy environment. Clarity from the government allows the innovative, high-impact solutions from industry, tackle the structural challenges in building a low cost, low carbon and secure energy system.”

For business energy supplier nPower, chief operating officer Anthony Ainsworth also called for certainty. “This needs to be a pro-business, energy-focussed election”, he said.

Ainsworth cited nPower’s two most recent Business Energy Tracker reports. These  showed how businesses wanted significantly more government support to invest in energy reduction measures, in order to better manage demand, reduce emissions and reinvest in operations.

“These are requirements we have long campaigned for”, said the nPower boss. “They need to be a key priority for the next government.

“Commercial energy users also want a modern, sustainable and secure system that supports their long-term Net Zero ambitions”,  Ainsworth went on.

“Without business investment, many of our energy and net zero goals won’t be possible, so supporting business is supporting economic growth, employment and national prosperity”.

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Gresham House Secure Income Renewable Energy & Storage LP (SIRES) has been jointly backed by a £65 million cornerstone investment by Centrica, and the UK Infrastructure Bank’s confirmation of its £75 million commitment on a match-funding basis. UKIB’s move comes as part of a budgeted total of £200 million in support of energy storage funds.

SIRES is focused on developing collocated renewable generation and short duration grid-scale batteries, aiming to secure quicker connections to the National Grid by sharing connection points.

Parallel development of both technologies on the same sites minimises, – or so the partners believe – wastage of precious clean power flows during periods of abundant supply. Instead clean power is tucked away into the clever boxes it owns, for use when demand outstrips supply.

For investors, collocation can earn larger, more diverse revenues compared with single-technology sites, tapping several streams of income, including power purchase agreements (PPAs) for renewable assets and optimisation contracts with trading entities for battery storage.

Proof of their concept is arriving, the investment partnership says, in the shape of its first wholly-owned project now under construction, a 50 MWp solar farm near Hartlepool, County Durham, collocated with 75 MWh of batteries.  Gresham House is exploring a pipeline of other projects as homes for its new capital.

Gresham House’s record in storage-backed green generation includes 640MW of operational battery capacity managed by its listed Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID).   That portfolio is projected to double in the next two years, supported by well-advanced plans to enter America’s power market.

Peter Bolton, the finance house’s director for new energy investment, explained, “With 21 operational storage projects and over 13 years’ experience in renewable investing, we are excited to grow Gresham House Secure Income Renewable Energy & Storage LP“.

“Battery storage is the only commercially viable technology to store excess renewable power, and collocating generation and storage is essential to accelerate the UK’s decarbonisation.

“The cornerstone investment from Centrica and this confirmed commitment from the UK Infrastructure Bank is a clear endorsement of our team’s expertise in this space and we are already underway deploying capital.”

UK Infrastructure Bank boss John Flint urged:  “Increasing electricity storage capacity will help secure energy supply. Britain is making progress, but we need much more investment to meet necessary targets, and the clock is ticking. The Bank’s commitment into this fund will help break down the barriers to greater, long-term investment.”

Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea, pictured, added:   “We’re delighted to see UKIB formalise its role as a cornerstone investor alongside Centrica. Working together with Gresham House, we will create new well-paid jobs by investing hundreds of millions of pounds in renewable energy generation and storage assets, strengthening the UK’s energy security.”

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Emma Pinchbeck, pictured, CEO of the body representing generators & suppliers, launched its call for action as National Grid ESO unveiled this year’s Future Energy Scenarios.

Government action is needed now to inject certainty and pace into unprecedented change in networks, accommodating low carbon generation, said Pinchbeck.

$3 trillion of capital was now available from investment markets seeking investible projects, she added.   But Britain lost out, failing to match the ambition of the US’s Inflation Reduction Act, and the EU’s response.

The Energy UK boss called for enhanced capital allowances for wind & renewables generators to flow from chancellor Hunt’s coming autumn statement, equivalent to tax breaks offered to oil and gas extractors.

“We’re talking about reforms needed now that will influence power markets in 200 and 300 years’ time,” said Pinchbeck.   “Countries that get them right now will be the winners”.

She spoke amid Whitehall worries that premier Rishi Sunak views adequate government responses to climate science as a low priority, even to ensuring a Conservative victory at the next General Election.   Environment minister Zac Goldsmith quit Sunak’s team last week, publically tell the prime minster that under him, Britain was losing its decade of global leadership on the environment.

Energy UK chief Pinchbeck today endorsed suggestions from technical standards body the Energy Networks Association to speed up grid connections keeping constructed wind & solar farms waiting as long as 30 years for connections. Market reforms acknowledging batteries’ importance and de-coupling generation costs from gas were urgently needed.

Britain’s privatised National Grid – Energy System Operator is plotting a course to transform itself into the nation’s Future System Operator, planning an epoch-defining reconfiguration of how UK energy and heat are made, traded, used and increasingly, saved.  Its 2023 Future Energy Scenarios frame the fundamental changes necessary in terms of infrastructure, market reform, flexibility and regulation, and consumer behaviour.

Defying calls from an increasingly vocal & short-termist Conservative Right, today’s document sees Net Zero reached by 2050 as an enduring necessity, dictated by climate science. The plan’s most optimistic scenario, “Leading the Way” achieves the target in 2046; four years on, 34 megatonnes of CO2 will be sucked out of Britain’s atmosphere. The third, pessimist alternative “Falling Short” in contrast sees nearly 180 megatonnes still contributing in 2050 to the continuing climate catastrophe.

Clearer investment signals are essential for key technologies such as hydrogen, carbon capture & utility-scale batteries with capacity beyond 2 hours, the FES argues.

A faster build out of heat pumps and of more hydrogen in gas networks are needed, says the FES.   Improvements are required to sluggish performance of government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme.  A negative emissions market, based on better environmental accounting standards, is called for.

Centralised Strategic Network Planning is emphasised unusually in the 2023 report. Liberated by faster planning approvals, CSNP is essential to delivering better infrastructure, the documents urge. Local communities need a voice in shaping networks, alongside industry, government & regulators.   Strategically sited electrolysers of hydrogen will play a role in serving heavy electricity users.

Demand-side flexibility will be increasingly important. Consumers’ will to participate, says the ESO, was proven by support for its recent Demand Flexibility Service. But the trial can only be a starting point, if the FES’s potential of between 6 and 12 GW is to be achieved by 2040.

Read the NG-ESO’s 2023 Future Energy Scenarios here.

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At 320MWp, developer Windel Energy’s projected Fosse Green farm straddling the A46 six miles south west of Lincoln approaches in size developers Wirol’s and Hive’s 350 MWp £450 million venture at Cleve Hill, near Faversham.  Construction began on the Kent mega-project this month.

Planning law dating from 2008 for England & Wales classifies all solar installations above 100 MWp among ‘nationally significant infrastructure’ projects.   As such, they require a second round of planning sign-off from Whitehall’s Planning Inspectorate.

Proposals to improve approval processes for renewables mega-projects such as Fosse Green and Cleve Hill are currently out to public consultation.  In February heads of four environment & energy ministries suggested reforms in approving new major national infrastructure.    Ministers including D-ESNZ secretary Grant Shapps flagged the need for quicker, greener, fairer and higher quality decisions in the decade-old rules.

Last week Parliament’s all-party environmental audit committee reported to Shapps its concerns that delays, particularly in securing grid connections, imperil ministers’ ambitions to reach 70 GWp of solar capacity by 2035, five times Britain’s current deployment.

The Lincolnshire project’s backers says its planned generation exceeding 300 GWh every year can meet the needs of a hypothetical 110,000 homes.

Windel Energy CEO Gary Toomey said “the last few months have highlighted the growing need to find practical solutions for combatting climate change and reaching the UK’s net zero targets, while also tackling a cost-of-living crisis affecting everyday energy bill prices.

“As a result, stepping up the amount of home-grown clean energy being delivered to British homes is an increasing necessity”.

Preliminary work now under way includes specifying a grid connection corridor east of the site.  The developer intends public consultations to begin over this summer.

Founded in 2018, privately held Windel Energy manages over 3.5GW of renewable generation and storage assets at various stages of development.

PV equipment maker Canadian Solar is partnering Windel in the Fosse Green venture.   More details here.

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The vendor is Enso Green Holdings, a joint venture between Enso Energy and Cero Generation.   No transaction price has been disclosed by either side.

Seven sites are included in the deal, with aggregate capacities of 380MW of solar and 340MW of battery storage. ib vogt will build and operate each site.

DIF’s investment is being done through its DIF Infrastructure VII fund, which will acquire a 90% interest.

Cero will continue to develop and deliver UK solar and battery projects in the joint venture’s existing 5GW pipeline. A further 5GW of early-stage opportunities beckon beyond that.

An early investor in British solar, Berlin-headquartered ib vogt operates in 21 countries, via 24 joint ventures. Worldwide it claims 2.9GWp in operation or under construction, and a global pipeline of over 40GWp.

Transfer of ownership of each project in the deal will happen once each site reaches the ready-to-build stage. The first two are now under construction, with ownership already transferred.

The remaining five sites are scheduled for acquisition this summer, and output should begin between 2024 and 2026.  Every site is expected to benefit from CfD contracts or PPAs with corporate or utility offtakers.

DIF and ib vogt are currently in the process of raising a non-recourse debt financing facility to fund the construction of the portfolio. The 780MW total deal is DIF’s first direct investment in utility-scale power storage.

Farm initiators Enso Energy have delivered over 1.2 GWp of early stage projects since 2019.  Their current projects range from Dorset to north Yorkshire.

Managing director Andrew King commented: “The sale of these ready-to-build assets is the culmination of a lot of hard work by the Enso and Cero teams.

“This transaction provides further evidence that co-located solar and battery storage projects connecting directly to the transmission network are attractive to funders and investors and will play an important role in the delivery of the UK’s net zero plans”.

Cero’s CEO Marta Martínez Queimadelos said: “We are delighted that DIF and ib vogt will be taking forward this sizeable portfolio into the next phase of its lifecycle.

DIF’s head of infrastructure Gijs Voskuyl said it continues to work with Enso and Cero to bring the remaining assets in the portfolio to ready-to-build stage. ”We are excited to make this investment in a partnership with ib vogt”.

The post ib vogt & financiers DIF swoop for UK’s biggest storage-and-solar portfolio appeared first on theenergyst.com.

The report also shows that the government’s current approach to infrastructure is insufficient and set out what is needed for a truly green industrial revolution for the UK.

Recommendations advocated include a ‘net zero test’ for all infrastructure decisions and scaling up investment in key sectors, particularly the neglected areas of circular economy and natural infrastructure.

Read more here.

The post Getting the building blocks right: infrastructure priorities for a green recovery appeared first on theenergyst.com.

Launched this week, Vattenfall’s free-to-download White Paper is essential reading for anyone concerned with the ownership and management of high-voltage electrical infrastructure in energy-intensive businesses where network stability is business-critical.

Written in jargon-free, uncomplicated language, the White Paper – which can be accessed from Vattenfall’s website, communicates a clear commercial case for Power-as-a-Service (PaaS).

Vattenfall’s PaaS service, which is the first of its kind in the UK, provides major energy users with power services in exchange for a fixed monthly fee. It can help major energy users by freeing up significant working capital from their high voltage energy infrastructure for reinvestment in their core business.

For anyone not yet familiar with this service model, the Paper offers an overview of PaaS and establishes the short, medium and long-term commercial advantages it brings to energy intensive businesses.

The White Paper will be of interest to multiple layers and job functions within organisations ranging from production and engineering professionals concerned about energy resilience and security and stability of energy supply; to CEOs and CFOs focused on the negative financial and brand-damaging impacts of power-outages and unplanned downtime.

The Paper also explains the operational, financial and environmental benefits of PaaS and provides examples of real-life best practice case studies where companies are already benefiting from the model.

“Managing your own high-voltage energy infrastructure is a complex task that requires significant resources, in terms of skills and capital,” says Stewart Dawson, Managing Director of Vattenfall Network Solutions.

“At a time when many businesses are exploring new ways to release value from their electrical assets, our Power-as-a-Service model provides peace of mind for major electricity users while freeing up financial capital. As PaaS is still a new commercial model, we felt that it was important to support the market with content that explains this model from the ground-up. We urge anyone concerned with maintaining a reliable energy supply in their business to read the paper and open up a conversation with us to see how we can help.”

To download a copy of Vattenfall’s White Paper, click here… 

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