BiFab trade unions GMB and Unite have today said a ‘level playing field’ is needed if Scotland is to secure the large-scale manufacturing contracts from its own offshore renewables sector – and they are asking the First Minister and the Scottish Parliament to intervene. Continue reading Unions call for ‘level playing field’ as Scotland loses out on £2.8 billion contract
Edinburgh renewable energy project to receive funding
Communities from inner city Glasgow to western Harris are set to benefit from £500,000 in funding for demonstrator projects designed to encourage the use and local ownership of renewable energy.
A third of the 23 projects are specifically focussed on town and city areas, building on the already established trend for community ownership of renewable energy sources in more rural areas.
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing announced in June that community and locally owned energy capacity in Scotland could generate enough electricity to power approximately 100,000 domestic households.
This is the second allocation made from the Scottish Government’s Local Energy Challenge Fund, which confirms Scotland’s position as a global leader in renewables and low carbon development. Each project has received funding of up to £25,000 for feasibility work and, if successful, may be able to compete for significant capital support.
The 23 projects include Edinburgh-based UrbanLink. Led by ChangeWorks, the UrbanLink project will identify opportunities to install new hardware in 1000 households, including modern electrical and thermal energy domestic storage.
Other successful applicants include:
• Large Scale ASHP District Heating Exemplar: This project will provide an example of off-grid district heating to Glasgow Housing Association multi-storey blocks built in 1971 in South Glasgow. It will use a large scale Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP), an alternative to electric or gas heating.
• Heat from the Street: This Linlithgow project will use heat pump and solar panel technology to capture heat from the local waste water system and distribute it to town centre buildings.
Mr Ewing said: “The Scottish Government is defining a distinctive approach to Scotland’s future energy provision; putting communities at the heart of decisions about their local energy system; and empowering them to take an economic stake in new developments.
“Community ownership gives communities more control over their own energy and will help us tackle challenges like grid constraints and fuel poverty – while at the same time sparking economic revival.
“Onshore wind is our most successful technology for community benefits, but it is by no means the only game in town. I am excited by the breadth and depth of the work this funding will support and am equally pleased that the projects will explore the potential for ownership of renewable technologies to support all of the communities in Scotland, be they in Gala or Glasgow.”
Laura Campbell, Challenge Fund Project Manager, said: “Local Energy Scotland is delighted to be able to provide support through the Local Energy Challenge Fund to these 23 innovative and aspirational projects. We are looking forward to working with the projects over the next year to develop their proposals further. It’s exciting to think that these projects have the potential shape the future of Scotland’s local energy economies and act as demonstrators for other communities.”
City council to launch first community -owned energy initiative
Community-owned solar panels are to be installed in 25 Council buildings throughout Edinburgh, it was announced today (Monday 25 May).
The Council will work in partnership with the Edinburgh Community Solar Co-operative (ECSC) – supported by Energy4All – to deliver the initiative, which is believed to be the largest community-owned urban renewable energy project in the UK.
Buildings such as schools, leisure and community centres will be chosen to host the solar technology, which is expected to deliver significant environmental and social benefits.
The energy generated by the installations will help to make future cost savings while reducing the capital’s carbon emissions by an estimated 855 tonnes a year.
Buildings that are chosen to participate will benefit from cheaper electricity from the solar panels, resulting in substantial savings. Any surplus energy will be sold to the National Grid and profits made by the project will be reinvested locally through a newly-created Community Benefit Fund.
Vice Convener of Transport and Environment, Councillor Adam McVey, said: “This is fantastic news for Edinburgh and will bring long term environmental, social and economic benefits.
“Community energy co-operatives allow local people to play a part in building a greener, more sustainable environment whilst raising awareness more generally about the importance of being energy efficient.
“We are aiming to meet our target of reducing Edinburgh’s carbon emissions by 42% by 2020 and this project is an important step towards us achieving this.”
Shares will be offered to organisations or individuals who want to invest in the initiative, with priority allocation given to Edinburgh residents. Anyone interested in becoming members of the Co-op can register their interest via the ECSC’s website.
Members of the Co-op will receive annual interest on their investment (capped at five percent increasing with RPI), with any surplus profit invested in the Community Benefit fund.
The panels will also be a useful resource for educational projects to help engage pupils with environmental themes such as renewable energy. Each device will come with a real-time display of electricity generation which will be displayed on the buildings and accessible to pupils online.
Dr Richard Dixon, Chair of the ECSC, said: “2015 is an important year for climate change, with the world’s nations supposed to agree new global targets in Paris at the end of the year. Around the world local people are creating their own solutions to climate change by investing in local renewable energy schemes.
“The Edinburgh scheme is a winner all round because it will reduce climate emissions and provide cheap energy for schools and other Council buildings. Local people will also get a decent return on any money they choose to invest.”
Work is currently underway to identify suitable sites for the solar panels and the chosen locations will be announced at a later date.
To register interest in the scheme and receive further information about the share offer, go to http://www.edinburghsolar.
Mark Lazarowicz has called for the Government to show consistency and vision to support renewable energy technologies such as offshore wind or marine power. Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, the North and Leith Labour MP said both are currently lacking in its approach to the renewables industry.
After the debate, Mr Lazarowicz commented: “I am concerned at a lack of consistency and vision from the Government in its approach to green energy: it has the potential to create skilled jobs for the future, not least here in Edinburgh.
“Support for less established technologies like offshore wind and marine energy in the early stages is vital but they are forced to compete for limited funding. The Government must show the vision to make their potential a reality otherwise these industries will go elsewhere and jobs with them.”
Pelamis Marine Power based in Edinburgh recently went into administration as funding to develop its technology at commercial scale failed to materialise.
The North and Leith MP was speaking in a debate on the Government’s Contracts for Difference – the new form of public funding for renewable technologies which is replacing the Renewables Obligation.
However, the funding is limited and divided between established technologies like onshore wind and solar and less established ones such as offshore wind and marine power with more of that budget likely to go to offshore wind.
Under Contracts for Difference companies are guaranteed a price – known as the strike price for the energy they generate. If the market price falls below that the Government will top up the difference and if it is higher then the energy companies must pay the difference to the Government.
You can find his speech in full here.
‘No place for fracking in Scotland’s energy future’ – Patrick Harvie
Scotland is sitting on enough shale oil and gas to meet our energy needs for the next half-century, according to a new report by the British Geological Survey – but environmentalists are warning that ‘fracking’ to get at shale gas deposits would have serious consequences for local communities.
The British Geological Survey’s report of the resources in the Midland Valley, Scotland, suggests a ‘modest’ amount of gas and oil in place. The central estimate of shale gas in place is 80 trillion cubic feet, the central estimate for shale oil in place is 6 billion barrels of oil.
However ‘modest’, the Department of Energy and Climate Change believes ‘ the complex geology of the area and historic mine workings means that exploratory drilling and testing is even more important to determine how much can be recovered.’
Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said: “Making the most of Britain’s home grown energy is crucial to keep job and business opportunities, widen tax revenues and reduce our reliance on foreign imports.
“We know that shale gas alone won’t be able to supply all of our energy needs, but the environmentally responsible exploration of shale gas could contribute to our energy mix.
“Only the broad shoulders of the United Kingdom can attract investment in new energy sources and maintain the UK’s position as one of the world’s great energy hubs – generating energy and generating jobs.
“The UK’s energy security is among the best in the world, backed by a large consumer and tax base that can afford to support our world-leading energy industries and make us such an attractive place to invest.”
Professor Mike Stephenson, Director of Science and Technology at the British Geological Survey said: “The central estimate of shale gas in place is 80 trillion cubic feet and the central estimate for shale oil in place is 6 billion barrels of oil but reserves cannot be calculated at this stage before drilling and testing take place. The Midland Valley of Scotland has complex geology and a relative lack of data compared to the previous DECC-BGS Bowland-Hodder and Weald Basin studies”
However Green MSP Patrick Harvie says the study by the British Geological Survey shows that ‘potentially modest’ reserves of shale oil and gas prove that fracking shouldn’t figure in Scotland’s energy future.
He pointed out that the estimated 80 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in central Scotland is just six per cent of the reserves thought to be present in northern England and said a huge swathe of Scotland – from Argyll to Aberdeenshire and from Ayrshire to East Lothian – has been earmarked as ‘ripe for fracking’ by the UK Government.
Mr Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow and Co-convener of the Scottish Greens, said: “This study puts paid to all the hype we’ve been fed about a shale bonanza. Not only would fracking divert attention from our undoubted renewables potential but any economically viable extraction would be modest and short-term. Greens want a long-term energy plan for Scotland, and we have abundant clean sources to do this.
“As communities across Scotland realise the risk to their local environments from the prospect of fracking, and as climate science tells us we must start to leave unburnt fossil fuels in the ground, it’s clear that any such developments will face strong opposition.
“It all serves as a reminder that Westminster controls energy policy in Scotland. The chance to pursue clean, long-lasting power rather than polluting, finite fuels is a compelling reason to vote Yes in September.”
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Mark Lazarowicz MP is calling on the UK and Scottish Governments to realise fully the potential of the green economy to create skilled, long-term jobs at the same time as tackling climate change and fuel poverty.
In a wide ranging essay for the Scottish Fabian Society, the North and Leith MP says the green economy could draw on existing industrial strengths, pointing to local examples in Edinburgh as well as elsewhere in Scotland.
Mark Lazarowicz (pictured above) said: “The financial crisis graphically illustrated the need to rebalance the Scottish and UK economies and we should place the green economy at the heart of our economic strategy.
“For instance, energy to heat your home should not be a luxury and energy efficiency is one of the most important ways to tackle fuel poverty in the long term as well as climate change.
“Green technology also has the potential to be a major export sector, not just in large-scale manufacture of say, wind turbines, but also of the parts required and project design where Scotland already has a wealth of expertise.
“It’s much more than a niche industry: with new rules on recycling and targets for cutting carbon emissions we have to green our economy and Scotland should be leading not lagging behind.”
The MP’s article appears in a new collection of essays by Scottish Labour MPs setting out policy alternatives for a new future for Scotland. It can be found at
http://www.scottishfabians.org.uk/publications/
