Exploring this week’s industry updates with ?????? ???????????????? as we dive into key renewable energy trends. The UK is boosting energy security with a diversified energy mix, but the government must urgently upgrade transmission infrastructure for new clean energy projects. Despite progress, a new report warns the UK remains vulnerable to energy crises due to heavy reliance on gas. Iberdrola plans to double UK investments to ￡24 billion, and Westmill Solar has secured a ￡5 million loan for Europe’s first cross-border solar co-op. Meanwhile, the UK fast-tracks a “skills passport” to help oil and gas workers transition into renewables. Innovative projects, like Power Roll’s solar technology and Highview Power’s long-duration energy storage, are reshaping the energy landscape. Let’s explore the key trends and developments that are shaping the future of renewable energy. ??????
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?? Industry Updates:
Catch up on the latest news, policy changes and trends.
- Renewable Energy Surge Lowers UK Blackout Risk - The U.K. has been gradually boosting its energy security by increasing its renewable energy capacity while continuing to produce natural gas. It has done this while also moving away from the ‘dirtiest’ fossil fuel, coal. The diversification of the U.K.’s energy mix is helping the island country to develop its resilience and help it accelerate the green transition. Now, the government must ensure that the country’s transmission infrastructure is prepared for an influx of new clean energy projects in the coming years, and can reliably deliver clean energy to tens of millions of households across the U.K.?Read the full article.
- Commission: UK ‘dangerously underprepared’ for future energy crisis - The UK is dangerously underprepared for, and at risk of, another energy crisis because it remains heavily reliant on gas for electricity and home heating, an expert commission has found. [1]The Energy Crisis Commission, a high-level group of experts including representatives from Energy UK, CBI, Citizens Advice and National Energy Action, was established to review the impacts of the energy crisis on households and businesses and make recommendations to better equip the country to withstand possible future energy crises.The Commission found that British households and businesses were hit harder than many other European countries because of high dependence on gas for heating and power generation. Ranked against EU countries, the UK is second most dependent on gas for heating, and fifth most dependent on gas for electricity. Read the full article.
- Solar PPA prices stable after extended European decline - A new report by LevelTen Energy has shown that the average price of solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) has begun to level out after months of decline in the European market. In the third quarter of this year, the average solar PPA price in the UK rose by 1.7% to €91.12/MWh (￡75.77/MWh). Despite this quarter-to-quarter increase, it is worth noting that this figure represents a year-over-year decline of 7.6% and a significant drop from the late 2022 peak of over ￡83.16/MWh. Read the full article.
- Iberdrola to Double Investment in UK to $31B - Spanish energy firm Iberdrola is planning to more than double its investment in the United Kingdom (UK) ahead of the International Investment Summit in London next week. Iberdrola anticipates boosting its investment in the UK to around $31.28 billion (GBP 24 billion), doubling its previous plan to invest $15.64 billion in the same period. Iberdrola has invested $39.10 billion (GBP 30 billion) in the UK over the last 15 years through its ScottishPower business, “driven by the country’s clear and stable policies and its predictable regulatory frameworks,” the company said in a news release. It also cited “Britain’s significant power demand growth prospects and the energy policies set out to promote Net Zero, industrialization and electrification”. Read the full article.
- Westmill Solar completes first cross-border co-operative solar energy investment - Westmill Solar Co-Operative has completed the first ever cross-border co-operative solar investment in Europe for a community energy project. In partnership with a number of energy co-ops in Spain, France, Belgium and the UK, Westmill Solar Co-operative has agreed an innovative finance deal with REScoop Mutual for European Communities Investing in a Sustainable Europe (MECISE). Westmill Solar Co-Operative secured the ￡5 million loan over a ten-year period in order to refinance the 5MW Westmill Solar community energy project in Oxfordshire, England. This new funding injection will allow Westmill to secure its future for the next decade, increase investment in other local energy co-ops, and explore the possibility of expanding the project, including the possible installation of co-located battery energy storage systems (BESS). Read the full article.
- Government speeds up ‘skills passport’ for workers to move to clean energy jobs - The Government is speeding up the delivery of a “skills passport” to support oil and gas workers to move into jobs in renewables such as offshore wind, it has said. As Energy Secretary Ed Miliband visits Aberdeen, recently announced as the headquarters for Great British Energy, the Government is also set to sign an agreement with the Scottish Government to boost the publicly-owned energy company’s efforts to support clean energy supply chains and infrastructure. The passport, overseen by industry bodies RenewableUK and Offshore EnergiesUK – and supported by the UK and Scottish Governments, aims to align standards, recognise transferable skills and qualifications such as oil and gas safety standards, and map out career pathways for suitable roles. Read the full article.
- Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust acquires 42MW Irish solar development - Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT), part of UK utility Octopus Energy, has completed the acquisition of a newly constructed 42MW solar farm near Dublin in Ireland. Along with four nearby operational solar farms acquired by ORIT earlier this year, the company’s solar complex totals 241MW. ORIT claims that its five-site solar complex is the largest in Ireland and will meet around 2.5% of the Irish national solar target of 8GW by 2030. The sites were acquired once fully operational from Statkraft Ireland Limited, which, under ORIT’s oversight, developed and constructed the solar plants. ORIT paid about €38 million (￡31 million) for the 42MW site, and the total acquisition cost for all five was ￡165 million. Read the full article.
- Ripple Energy secures ￡21.8 million finance from Virgin Money - People-owned power company Ripple Energy has successfully financed a new Devonshire solar development thanks to a deal with Virgin Money. The community energy organisation has secured a ￡21.8 million loan package from the bank in order to fund the construction and operation of the 42MW Derril Water Solar Park, to be located near Torridge, Devon. This is not the first time that Ripple and Virgin Money have partnered; Virgin Money provided finance for Ripple Energy’s 18.8MW Kirk Hill Wind Farm in Ayrshire, Scotland, which came online in June of this year. Read the full article.
- Power Roll scores ￡4.3 million funding led by Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II - Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II), a ￡600 million fund launched in March this year, has completed its first investment in County Durham, funding solar technology firm Power Roll. Through the NPIF II, Maven Equity Finance, a part of the investment fund managed by Maven Capital Partners, invested ￡1.5 million. This came along with ￡750,000 from the Finance Durham Fund, established by Durham County Council and overseen by Business Durham, and ￡750,000 from the North East Development Capital Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund. Another ￡1.3 million was secured via multiple private investors. Read the full article.
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?? Innovative Technologies:
Discovering the cutting-edge technologies and innovations that are driving sustainability and reshaping the industry.
- 'Revolutionary' portable solar panels being developed - At the National Thin-Film Cluster Facility (NTCF) for Advanced Functional Materials in Oxford, scientists are creating ultra-thin solar panels from perovskites. According to researchers, perovskite solar panels are cheaper and more effective than those made purely from silicon and can be produced at a smaller size. Prof Henry Snaith, from the University of Oxford's physics department, said the new technology will "basically mean you're going to be able to generate power in more places". Read the full article.
- SolarEdge launches new solar solution for utility-scale, FPV, and agrivoltiacs - Solar inverter manufacturer SolarEdge has announced the UK launch of a new high-power inverter system for a wide variety of uses. The SolarEdge TerraMax inverter, when combined with H1300 Power Optimisers, is designed for small to medium utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) installations and boasts 99% inverter efficiency in order to boost solar energy production levels. According to SolarEdge, the versatile system is suitable for a huge array of uses, and is particularly well suited to ground mounted sites on sloped or uneven terrain, as well as floating PV and agri-PV. Read the full article.
?? Project Pipelines:
This weeks projects and initiatives that are making a positive impact.
- Highview Power to Develop 10 Gigawatt Hours of Long-Duration Energy Storage Delivering Over 10% of UK LDES Storage Targets - Highview Power, a leading provider of long-duration energy storage (LDES) technology, announced today that its plans to develop four new 2.5GWh power plants in the UK by 2030, have taken a crucial step forward following the launch of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ’s) new investment support scheme. The scheme will use a “cap and floor” mechanism which will unlock the next stage of investment in the multi-billion-pound LDES programme, enabling the technologies vast potential to underpin UK decarbonisation. Read the full article.
- Tesco agrees largest UK corporate PPA for solar power in landmark infrastructure project - Tesco has announced the signing of its largest UK Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), facilitated by EDF, securing 65% of the solar power generation from Cleve Hill Solar Park. Cleve Hill, located on the north Kent coast, is the largest solar and battery storage project ever constructed in the UK, with a capacity of 373 megawatts (MW). The project, which began construction in early 2023, is set to become operational in early 2025. Tesco’s 15-year Power Purchase Agreement represents the largest solar corporate PPA ever agreed in the UK. Cleve Hill is projected to generate enough renewable power annually to meet the equivalent electricity needs of 144 large Tesco stores. The site will feature more than 560,000 solar panels, and energy storage infrastructure, making it a significant contributor to the UK’s renewable energy landscape with EDF providing power balancing and shaping services to facilitate the agreement. Read the full article.
- Root-Power seeks to build 315 MW of new BESS across UK - UK energy storage firm Root-Power said today that last month it submitted planning applications for six battery energy storage system (BESS) projects across the UK with a combined capacity of 315 MW. The six sites are located in North Yorkshire, Devon, Derbyshire, Bedfordshire, Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, the company noted in a social media post. The largest of them, located in Camblesforth, Selby, North Yorkshire, will provide 200 MWh once completed, enough to power 200,000 homes. It is planned to be located close to a grid connection point near the Drax Power Station. Read the full article.
- Cardiff City Council unanimously approves 1GW BESS - A 1,000MW battery energy storage system (BESS) to be constructed alongside a data centre in Splott, Cardiff, has been unanimously approved by the city council. It is purportedly the largest BESS to successfully secure planning permission so far in the UK. The planning application was submitted in March this year for a 16.42 hectare area of land in the Tremorfa industrial area that formerly housed the steelworks and sewage treatment facilities. The project, which had been recommended for approval, will comprise 828 high-efficiency containerised battery storage units with a substation central to the park. The facility will incorporate tree-planting and lower screen planting. Read the full article.
- DCO decision on 500MW solar farm delayed to 2025 - The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has announced it will delay the planning decision for a major proposed solar farm until 2025. The Heckington Fen Solar Park is a proposed 500MW development by Ecotricity. In August, the developers requested an extension to the statutory deadline for providing information to DESNZ, stating that it needed more time to negotiate with the landowners for the site, the Crown Estate and the Duchy of Lancaster. DESNZ granted an extension to 27 September, but on 11 September the developers once again requested an extension to 6 January 2025. As a result, the Secretary of State for Energy Ed Miliband has now granted the developers an extension to 24 January 2025, a decision which the department states was made “reluctantly”. Ecotricity, the Crown Estate and the Duchy of Lancaster must now provide evidence that an agreement has been reached between the parties by the set deadline. Read the full article.
? Talent Spotlight:
Highlighting this weeks hottest jobs in the renewable industry.
- Head of Renewables | Cambridgeshire | Up to ￡50k - View Job
- Solar Project Manager | Hybrid Role | Up to ￡70k - View Job
- Solar Installer | Field based, Nationwide | Up to ￡45k - View Job
- Operations Manager | Cambridge | Up to ￡50k - View Job
- Renewables Sales Engineer | Dorset | Up to ￡40k - View Job
- Technical Sales Engineer | Swindon | Up to ￡45k - View Job
- Commercial Lead | Hybrid/Cork | Up to ￡75k - View Job
- Part Time HR Assistant | Swindon | Up to ￡20,625k - View Job
- Land Planning Manager | Remote/Hybrid | Up to ￡80k - View Job
- Electrical Project Engineer | Wadebridge | Up to ￡50k - View Job
- Project Manager - Wind | Wadebridge | Up to ￡50k - View Job
For all the latest roles, updates and help with hiring specialist, cleantech talent check out Zero Global
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3 周very nice solar project !