Keith Anderson and Chris Stark interviewed at Whitelee
Let’s start with two pieces that are in effect required viewing and reading. First the marvellous ‘double act’ featuring Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower and Chair of CBI Scotland, and Chris Stark, CEO of the Climate Change Committee on Channel 4 News interviewed by Krishnan Guru-Murthy (@krishgm) with Stirling University’s Professor Kirsty Park.
Their enthusiasm is infectious and should be bottled and sold! Interviewed at Whitelee Wind Farm they set the scene for COP26 in Glasgow and talked wind, charge points for electric vehicles, heat pumps, investment and delivering a massive economic recovery. “We just need to get on with it” was very much the message in eight compelling minutes of television.
‘Can Rishi Sunak act quickly enough to save the planet?’
And here is the second “vital to read” piece. It’s by Paul Waugh and comes from the Huffington Post. It’s long, running to 17 pages, but you’ll find it time well spent. With the headline ‘Can Rishi Sunak Act Quickly Enough to Save The Planet?’ it dives straight in with: “With the Treasury’s Net Zero Review looking, critics fear the chancellor is not evangelical enough about the environment. But allies say he won’t’ run ahead of public opinion”
The UK Treasury certainly has a central role in any carbon cutting agenda an in the next few weeks, its Net Zero Review will reveal just how radical Sunak plans to be in hitting the legally-binding pledge to get net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow this November, the UK will write into law a plan to cut its emissions by 78% (compared to 1990 levels) by 2035, as recommended by the independent Climate Change Committee.
“The first major country in the world to commit to such legislation, Britain plans the fastest drop in emissions of any big economy and the new document drafted in the bowels of the Treasury – and covering everything from investment to taxation – is the blueprint for action,” writes Paul Waugh. It ends with some encouraging comments from Lord Stern, whose ground-breaking report on climate economics was published under the Blair government.
Let us have your views. Let’s start a discussion on this one!
Dogger Bank: THE offshore wind project
Offshore Engineer breaks down the main elements and players at Dogger Bank, explaining “It is not simply an offshore windfarm project, it is THE offshore wind project” with the UK North Sea offshore wind farm site destined to be the world’s largest and most innovative. The article considers the UK’s renewable energy ambition to have every home in the country powered by offshore wind by 2030 – six million homes will benefit from Dogger Bank’s three phases.
It charts financial progress; looks at the GE Haliade-X turbines being used for the first two phases; the production of blades. Use of ‘Voltaire’ the largest jack-up installation vessel ever seen in the industry; the installation of the foundations; service operation vessels; cables; schedules; PPAs and more.
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTS) – the future of wind farming?
Still on offshore wind, this time looking at Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) -a research team from the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (ECM) at Oxford Brookes led by Professor Iakovos Tzanakis conducted an in-depth study using more than 11,500 hours of computer simulation to show that wind farms can perform more efficiently by substituting the traditional propeller type Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWTs), for compact VAWTs. They found that when set in pairs the vertical turbines increase each other’s performance by up to 15%.
Fit 4 Offshore Renewables (F4OR)
It was announced last week that 28 UK businesses are ready to reap the rewards from the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s industry-leading Fit 4 Offshore Renewables (F4OR) business improvement and supply chain growth programme.
The latest regional F4OR programmes, covering North East Scotland and North East England, received over 80 expressions of interest, with 28 winning companies selected (16 in the north east of Scotland; 12 in North East England).
That brings the total number of companies being supported through the Programme to 53, with 25 companies already granted or on the journey through existing programmes in Scotland, Norfolk and Suffolk. Names of all the recent awardees are announced in the ORE Catapult release.
What’s new in heat and energy efficiency?
Nationwide Building Society has launched a cashback offer for those purchasing a property with a high-energy efficiency rating. Nationwide’s ‘Green Reward’ is available on any property with a Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating of at least 86+, which is equivalent to an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or a high B. The majority of homes sold in the UK must have an EPC to inform prospective buyers how energy efficient the home is.
Stirling could become the tomato growing capital of Scotland if plans being considered by Stirling Council’s planning panel today get the ‘go ahead’. The idea is to install a river source heat pump, pumphouse and glasshouses on more than 18 hectares of land at Bandeath Industrial Estate in Throsk along with a rainwater reservoir. The glasshouses and buildings would house a tomato production, packing and distribution operation. When first mooted it was estimated 150 jobs could be created.
From Scottish tomatoes, to exported Scottish green gas…
Iona Capital has agreed a landmark deal with King’s Cross in London which will see the 67-acre estate switch entirely to green gas. This means that all the heating and hot water for the estate’s 2,000 homes, 5 million square ft of offices, retail and dining space will be powered by green gas.
By switching its gas supply to green gas, King’s Cross will reduce its carbon footprint by 50% and save 20,000tCO2 per annum from being released into the atmosphere, equivalent to the average annual carbon emissions of around 2,000 Londoners.
The deal, which has been facilitated and managed by Optimised Energy, will see an Iona Capital owned plant in Scotland supply 40,000MWh of green gas each year to King’s Cross. The plant generates green gas from an anaerobic digestion (AD), where farm animal slurries and residues are broken down to produce clean energy.
And finally, congratulations to Ørsted
TIME magazine named Ørsted its 2021 list of 100 of the world’s most influential companies. This is an extension of TIME’s annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people.