A £100m facility that could help the industry's employment needs is to be developed by the University of Aberdeen. The Energy Building will be built close to the Sir Duncan Rice Library on the corner of St Machar Roundabout and Bedford Road.
China can double its use of renewable energy from 13% to 26% by 2030, according to research by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The growth in renewable energy use would represent nearly a fourfold increase in the share of modern renewables between 2010 and 2030. A study, Renewable Energy Prospects: China, prepared by IRENA in association with the China National Renewable Energy Centre, also says China can expand renewables from 20% to 40% by 2030, making it the world’s largest renewable energy power user.
Energy giant SSE’s electricity network supports almost 2,000 jobs across the north of Scotland and is expected to have contributed £287million to the economy by the end of this year, research has revealed. The Perth-based firm, which manages 77,000 miles of overhead lines and underground cables across the north of Scotland and through its network in the south of England, added that it has invested £126million this year in the Scottish network to increase its resilience. Through its subsidiary, Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD), SSE operates its electricity distribution network from John O’Groats through Perth and Dundee, as well as 89 Scottish islands, according to the report by Big Four accountancy firm, PwC.
A specialist oil and gas service company in Aberdeen has launched technology to help prevent potentially disastrous power failures on offshore platforms OEM Diesel Products, which is based at the Kirkhill Industrial Estate in Dyce, says its “pioneering” engine cleaning system is designed to stop contaminated fuel causing major problems for energy companies. Managing director Barry Park said: “This revolutionary product comes at a time where the industry has a growing problem with fuel contamination.
Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co has signed an agreement to promote 12 power projects in Thailand.
The coalition’s industrial strategy is little more than “economic tinkering“ that will fail to tackle the trade deficit, according to a report. Vince Cable’s plans lack ambition and will not tackle the structural problems in Britain’s economy, think tank Civitas claimed. It accused the Business Secretary of setting objectives that are too easy to achieve and failing to address the problems that need to be solved to make Britain’s recovery export-led.
Companies developing low carbon energy projects in generation will be given the chance to bid for £5million worth of funding. The fourth round of the government's Energy Entrepreneurs' Fund aims to help small and medium sized businesses bring low carbon products to the market. Half of the money in the latest round will prioritise carbon capture and storage, the process of caricaturing millions of tonnes of C02 from power stations and industrial facilities and storing the C02 under the sea bed.
Renewable power has overtaken nuclear to become the main source of electricity in Scotland, figures have revealed. In the first half of last year sources such as wind and hydro power produced 10.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, figures from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change showed. Nuclear power stations, which had been Scotland’s main source of electricity, generated 7.8TWh over the same period, according to data from the National Grid.
Seabox will lead a Joint Industry Project (JIP) that will bring advanced subsea water treatment closer to full scale development. Carried out with Az ACG, Suncor, SIPCO and the support of the Research Council of Norway, the JIP will see Seabox complete a design of a subsea SWIT and membranes plant capable of producing quality water from surrounding water on the seabed. The firm will also identify technology components available on the market and suitable for use in the SWIT plant.
Renewable Energy Generation (REG) said its 18MW Bio-Power project in England has now completed its commission programme and is ready to generate power. The plant, at Whitemoor in Yorkshire, will be able to produce energy under the National Grid’s Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) service.
A technology development body set up to encourage innovation in the wave energy industry will not provide jobs on the same scale as a wave power company which has gone into administration, MSPs have been told. Wave Energy Scotland will bring the best engineering and academic minds together to work on furthering wave technology, energy minister Fergus Ewing said.
China has taken the first step in its pledge to cap carbon emissions by 2030 after confirming plans to launch a nationwide carbon market. Su Wei, an official at the climate change department under the National Development and Reform Commission, confirmed in Beijing plans to craft an emissions control plan and rules for carbon-permit trading.
The agreement will cover geotechnical investigation work in preparation for Hornsea Project One which is expected to become the word's first gigawatt windfarm in 2020. The farm is located 120 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast and will provide electricity up to 800,000 UK homes.
A Scottish renewables firm testing a wave power device on Orkney has gone into administration after failing to find a financial backer. The board of Pelamis Wave Power, whose "sea snake" energy generator is undergoing tests at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), said it had "reluctantly" called in administrators "to assess the options for securing the future for the business and employees of Pelamis".
China is planning an environmental makeover on the scale of the political, cultural and market revolutions it has pursued over the past six decades. In his agreement last week with President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to cap carbon emissions by 2030 and turn to renewable sources for 20 percent of the country’s energy. His pledge would require China to produce either 67 times more nuclear energy than the country is forecast to have at the end of 2014, 30 times more solar or nine times more wind power - - almost as much non-fossil fuel energy the entire U.S. has in generating capacity. That means building roughly 1,000 nuclear reactors, 500,000 wind turbines or 50,000 solar farms. The cost will run to almost $2 trillion, holding out the potential of vast riches for nuclear, solar and wind companies that get in on the action. “China is in the midst of a period of transition, and that calls for a revolution in energy production and consumption, which will to a large extent depend on new energy,” Liang Zhipeng, deputy director of the new energy and renewable energy department under the National Energy Administration, said at a conference in Wuxi outside of Shanghai this month. “Our environment is facing pressure and we must develop clean energy.”
French oil giant Total is set to support a trio of initiatives which aim to tackle climate change. The company said it is consolidating its efforts by supporting three schemes backed by the Global Compact, the World Bank and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). Total backed the United Nation’s Global Compact’s call for companies “to factor” an internal carbon price into their investment decisions.
Energy Secretary Ed Davey insisted the UK has a “moral duty” to help the world’s poor cope with rising temperatures as the Government unveiled a £720 million pledge to a UN climate aid fund. He dismissed “little Englander” critics of the UK contribution to the UN Green Climate Fund, which will help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change such as floods and droughts and help them develop their economies while curbing emissions. Some Tories have voiced doubts about the spending, which comes from existing UK aid commitments, pointing out that the deficit is still running at £100 billion a year and Britain’s own flood defences need shoring up.
The world’s carbon emissions will have to be cut to zero in around half a century to avoid dangerous climate change, the UN has warned. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said that carbon emissions from human activities such as burning fossil fuels should hit net zero by between 2055 and 2070 to prevent temperatures rising more than 2C above pre-industrial levels. Other greenhouse gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), need to follow suit so that overall greenhouse gas emissions reach net zero between 2080 and 2100, a report from UNEP said.
The UK government has signed an agreement with Canada to work together on research and knowledge sharing for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Both countries released a joint statement which identifies how they plan to work together and build on the work they have already undertaken. The use of CCS is viewed as one of the most cost effective technologies for decarbonisation of the UK’s power.
India said its renewable-energy industry must eventually learn to live without government support and that it’s seeking to generate five times more power from solar by 2022 than is currently installed.
Anti-wind farm campaigners are gearing up to fight plans for another batch of turbines near Loch Ness. The 17 towers - each standing 415ft-high - are being proposed by Force 9 Energy for hills close to the world-famous beauty spot. The developer claims the devices, part of the Cnoc an Eas project near Balnain, will generate enough electricity to power 87,000 homes per year. However, local residents have hit out at the "relentless" tide of wind farm applications in the area, which is close to the renowned Glen Affric nature reserve.
A UK-based solar energy company is to commission an Essex solar farm that could power nearly 3,000 homes. Lightsource Renwable Energy will commission and connect the solar farm south-west of Little Bardfield Village with Push Energy.
Decisive action is needed by the next government to stop offshore wind schemes being shelved and attract billions of pounds of investment, a study has urged. Issues with policy, regulation and funding have seen 8.2 gigawatts of offshore wind projects withdrawn in the 12 months to June, and others have been shelved since, a report by think tank Green Alliance said. Under the new subsidies regime for low-carbon technology, new projects must compete for payments enough to install an additional 1.2GW of wind power in the five years up to 2020. But greater stability could see investment in the region of £1.8 billion a year in the supply chain for offshore wind, more than three-quarters of which is made up of small and medium-sized companies, Green Alliance said.
More than 2,250 jobs have been created in the UK’s wind power sector in the past year, according to the industry. The number of people directly employed in the medium and large-scale sectors of the onshore and offshore wind industry has risen by 8% to more than 15,400 full-time jobs, a report by industry body RenewableUK said. The number of indirect jobs, such as supplying components, has also increased by 8% since September 2013, to almost 15,000 jobs, bringing the total number of people whose livelihood is from the sector to more than 30,400, the report said. Most of the jobs require qualifications in science, technology, engineering and maths, and more than 2,250 direct and indirect jobs in offshore and onshore wind have been created in just over 12 months.
Work has begun on a business park in the South of England aimed at stregthening growth within the marine energy sector. The Hayle Marine Renewables Business Park (MRBP)has been created to strengthen the sector’s growth in Cornwall. It is part of a £24million investment by Cornwall Council, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and government in the regeneration of the Hayle Harbour.