By Linda Stewart
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
The team behind the tidal turbine at the mouth of Strangford Lough has just won a major award for its groundbreaking work.
Marine Current Turbines was recognised for making the ‘Best Use of Renewable Energy Sources’ at the Sustainable Ireland Awards 2010 for its SeaGen tidal technology which has been operating in Strangford Lough since 2008.
The award, sponsored by NWP Recycling, was presented to MCT’s co-founder and technical director, Peter Fraenkel, at a ceremony at the Ramada Hotel in Belfast where the keynote speaker was the Northern Ireland Environment Minister, Edwin Poots.
The independent judging panel said it was impressed with MCT’s SeaGen project.
The scheme has scored a world first, using innovative technology to harness sufficient energy from the strong tides in Strangford Lough to power hundreds of homes all year round.
“To say that it has taken a lot of time and effort, not to mention inventiveness and ingenuity, would be an understatement, but the company clearly had an abundance of belief, know-how and drive to reach its goal,” the judges said.
The 1.2MW turbine has the capacity to generate power for the equivalent of about 1,500 homes.
It works in principle much like an underwater windmill, with the rotors driven by the power of the tidal currents rather than the wind. In September 2009, MCT was ranked the world’s top tidal energy company in The Guardian/Clean Tech Global 100 Survey and in June 2009 won Renewable Energy Developer of the Year in the UK Renewable Energy Association Annual Awards.
MCT has just announced that it will partner ESB International in taking forward plans to develop a tidal energy farm of up to 100MW off the Antrim coast.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
GE's Advanced 2.5--Megawatt Wind Turbine to Power Germania Wind Project Expansion
Posted on: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:16:00 EDT
SALZBERGEN, Germany, Sep 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
GE (NYSE: GE | PowerRating) announced today that Germania Windpark GmbH & Co. KG, one of Germany's leading wind power developers, has selected GE's advanced wind turbine technology for the expansion of a wind farm near Magdeburg in central Germany.
GE is supplying three 2.5-megawatt wind turbines for the expansion of the wind farm Gross-Santersleben Sud, where eight GE 1.5-megawatt wind turbines are already operating. The expansion will add 7.5 megawatts of clean, wind-generated electricity.
"The Gross-Santersleben Sud wind park expansion builds on a long-term relationship that we have with GE's wind business," said Markus Tacke, managing director of Germania Windpark. "Many of our previous projects with GE have featured 1.5-megawatt wind turbines, so this expansion will be the first project to implement GE's advanced 2.5-megawatt machines."
GE and Germania Windpark also have signed a full service agreement (FSA) covering the new wind turbines. GE's FSAs are designed to provide wind turbine owners with total support for all of their planned and unplanned maintenance and operational needs. The new service agreement has just been introduced this year by GE.
"GE's full service agreement was an important requirement for our decision and we appreciate GE's flexibility on this contract", said Willi Rausse, managing director of Winvest Finanzierungsservice.
The 2.5-megawatt series platform represents GE's most advanced wind turbine technology in terms of efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities. The 2.5-megawatt platform is designed to yield the highest annual energy production in its class and builds on the success of GE's 1.5-megawatt wind turbine, the world's most widely deployed wind turbine with 14.000 units now installed.
"Customers in 19 different European countries have chosen GE's 2.5-megawatt series technology and Germania has now joined that group," said Stephan Ritter, general manager--wind, Europe for GE Power & Water. "GE is the industry leader in terms of wind turbine installations that use rotors that are 100 meters and longer. Germania's project will benefit from our experience, and we are pleased to be partnering with them."
GE's wind business operates a wind turbine manufacturing facility in Salzbergen. In addition, GE's wind operations in Germany and across Europe are supported by the GE Global Research Center in Munich, where GE researchers and engineers are focused on increasing the reliability and performance of wind turbines.
About Germania Windpark GmbH & Co. KG and Winvest Finanzierungsservice GmbH & Co.
Germania was founded in 1993 as one of the first companies dealing in the professional development of turnkey wind parks in Germany. Winvest Finanzierungsservice GmbH & Co. followed in 1995 and is responsible for financing and marketing of all developed projects.
Between the establishment of the company and the present day, 51 projects with 243 wind turbines and a rated output of around 267 megawatts have been planned. The majority of these projects have been established and commissioned as turnkey solutions, with two projects (66.7 MW) currently in construction and due for commissioning shortly.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources. With nearly 85,000 global employees and 2009 revenues of $37 billion, GE Energy www.ge.com/energy is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energy--GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas--work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.
SALZBERGEN, Germany, Sep 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
GE (NYSE: GE | PowerRating) announced today that Germania Windpark GmbH & Co. KG, one of Germany's leading wind power developers, has selected GE's advanced wind turbine technology for the expansion of a wind farm near Magdeburg in central Germany.
GE is supplying three 2.5-megawatt wind turbines for the expansion of the wind farm Gross-Santersleben Sud, where eight GE 1.5-megawatt wind turbines are already operating. The expansion will add 7.5 megawatts of clean, wind-generated electricity.
"The Gross-Santersleben Sud wind park expansion builds on a long-term relationship that we have with GE's wind business," said Markus Tacke, managing director of Germania Windpark. "Many of our previous projects with GE have featured 1.5-megawatt wind turbines, so this expansion will be the first project to implement GE's advanced 2.5-megawatt machines."
GE and Germania Windpark also have signed a full service agreement (FSA) covering the new wind turbines. GE's FSAs are designed to provide wind turbine owners with total support for all of their planned and unplanned maintenance and operational needs. The new service agreement has just been introduced this year by GE.
"GE's full service agreement was an important requirement for our decision and we appreciate GE's flexibility on this contract", said Willi Rausse, managing director of Winvest Finanzierungsservice.
The 2.5-megawatt series platform represents GE's most advanced wind turbine technology in terms of efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities. The 2.5-megawatt platform is designed to yield the highest annual energy production in its class and builds on the success of GE's 1.5-megawatt wind turbine, the world's most widely deployed wind turbine with 14.000 units now installed.
"Customers in 19 different European countries have chosen GE's 2.5-megawatt series technology and Germania has now joined that group," said Stephan Ritter, general manager--wind, Europe for GE Power & Water. "GE is the industry leader in terms of wind turbine installations that use rotors that are 100 meters and longer. Germania's project will benefit from our experience, and we are pleased to be partnering with them."
GE's wind business operates a wind turbine manufacturing facility in Salzbergen. In addition, GE's wind operations in Germany and across Europe are supported by the GE Global Research Center in Munich, where GE researchers and engineers are focused on increasing the reliability and performance of wind turbines.
About Germania Windpark GmbH & Co. KG and Winvest Finanzierungsservice GmbH & Co.
Germania was founded in 1993 as one of the first companies dealing in the professional development of turnkey wind parks in Germany. Winvest Finanzierungsservice GmbH & Co. followed in 1995 and is responsible for financing and marketing of all developed projects.
Between the establishment of the company and the present day, 51 projects with 243 wind turbines and a rated output of around 267 megawatts have been planned. The majority of these projects have been established and commissioned as turnkey solutions, with two projects (66.7 MW) currently in construction and due for commissioning shortly.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, health care solutions and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources. With nearly 85,000 global employees and 2009 revenues of $37 billion, GE Energy www.ge.com/energy is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energy--GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas--work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.
A new oil rush as Cairn Energy reports first find off Greenland
By Sarah Arnott
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Cairn Energy has struck oil off the coast of Greenland, just weeks after an earlier exploration well found traces of gas in the region.
The latest strike found traces of oil and gas "intermittently" in a 400-metre section of rock in the Sigguk block near Disko island. The earlier well, which discovered non-commercial gas volumes, has now been sealed and exploration costs of $84m (£54m) written off. But the two finds are the first positive evidence of hydrocarbons in the region, and Cairn's shares shot up by 2.27 per cent to 436.5p yesterday.
Sir Bill Gammell, the chief executive of Cairn, said: "The presence of both oil and gas confirms an active, working petroleum system and is extremely encouraging at this very early stage of our exploration campaign."
Cairn is making a major bet on Greenland. The Arctic island – three times the size of Texas but home to just 57,000 people – is tipped as one of the world's largest undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves, with some analysts estimating it could hold as much as 20 billion barrels of oil and gas under its freezing coastal waters.
And Cairn is selling a 51 per cent stake in its Cairn India business to the miner Vedanta for $9.6bn (£6.2bn), with a view to ploughing money into its Arctic venture. "For the foreseeable future, it's Greenland, Greenland," Sir Bill said at last month's interim results.
Cairn's two discoveries are far from conclusive. But the company's progress is being closely watched. Cairn is the first to drill in the Baffin Bay Basin, an area the size of the North Sea off Greenland's west coast, but ExxonMobil and Chevron also have licences to explore the area. And the Greenland government is in the process of auctioning further licences.
BP has ruled itself out but 13 companies are said to have shown an interest in acquiring drilling rights, among them Shell, Statoil and Tullow Oil.
It is not only the oil industry with its sights on Greenland. The region is also set to be the next major battleground in big oil's on-going fight with environmental campaigners over deep-water drilling. Green groups claim that the risk of an accident in such hostile, iceberg-infested waters is high, and that the resulting pollution in such a cold, remote and pristine wilderness would be worse even than that from BP's Gulf of Mexico spill.
Greenpeace activists boarded Cairn's Greenland drilling rig at the end of last month to protest against its activities. Four people were arrested when they were forced off by bad weather.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Cairn Energy has struck oil off the coast of Greenland, just weeks after an earlier exploration well found traces of gas in the region.
The latest strike found traces of oil and gas "intermittently" in a 400-metre section of rock in the Sigguk block near Disko island. The earlier well, which discovered non-commercial gas volumes, has now been sealed and exploration costs of $84m (£54m) written off. But the two finds are the first positive evidence of hydrocarbons in the region, and Cairn's shares shot up by 2.27 per cent to 436.5p yesterday.
Sir Bill Gammell, the chief executive of Cairn, said: "The presence of both oil and gas confirms an active, working petroleum system and is extremely encouraging at this very early stage of our exploration campaign."
Cairn is making a major bet on Greenland. The Arctic island – three times the size of Texas but home to just 57,000 people – is tipped as one of the world's largest undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves, with some analysts estimating it could hold as much as 20 billion barrels of oil and gas under its freezing coastal waters.
And Cairn is selling a 51 per cent stake in its Cairn India business to the miner Vedanta for $9.6bn (£6.2bn), with a view to ploughing money into its Arctic venture. "For the foreseeable future, it's Greenland, Greenland," Sir Bill said at last month's interim results.
Cairn's two discoveries are far from conclusive. But the company's progress is being closely watched. Cairn is the first to drill in the Baffin Bay Basin, an area the size of the North Sea off Greenland's west coast, but ExxonMobil and Chevron also have licences to explore the area. And the Greenland government is in the process of auctioning further licences.
BP has ruled itself out but 13 companies are said to have shown an interest in acquiring drilling rights, among them Shell, Statoil and Tullow Oil.
It is not only the oil industry with its sights on Greenland. The region is also set to be the next major battleground in big oil's on-going fight with environmental campaigners over deep-water drilling. Green groups claim that the risk of an accident in such hostile, iceberg-infested waters is high, and that the resulting pollution in such a cold, remote and pristine wilderness would be worse even than that from BP's Gulf of Mexico spill.
Greenpeace activists boarded Cairn's Greenland drilling rig at the end of last month to protest against its activities. Four people were arrested when they were forced off by bad weather.
Nord Stream Will Benefit the Whole EU
Regarding Alexandros Petersen's op-ed on Nord Stream ("The Russo-German Energy Pincer," Sept. 8), Nord Stream is being constructed to satisfy Europeans' increasing demand for imported gas that is due to dwindling domestic supplies and increased consumption. Mr. Petersen is simply wrong in claiming that Nord Stream only serves German interests; gas to be transported through Nord Stream has already been contracted to customers in the U.K., the Netherlands, France and Denmark, as well as Germany. Its shareholders are French and Dutch in addition to German and Russian, and financing for the project has been raised on the international capital markets from 28 lenders. The offshore route, although more expensive to construct, will save money in the long term through lower operational costs, and thus fills a gap in the market.
As for Mr. Petersen's assertion that Germany needs to supply Nord Stream gas to Poland for the project to be "worthwhile," neither the Federal Republic of Germany nor any of the German Länder have a stake in the project. Commercial contracts for gas are made between the Russian producer and the purchasers in the European Union. Furthermore, the target markets for Nord Stream gas are those economies in northern and western Europe where demand is expected to significantly increase over the coming years. Nord Stream is not in competition with Polish supply routes.
Nor has Nord Stream been delayed by the process of assessing its environmental impact; from the very start environmental considerations were at the heart of the project and Nord Stream paid over €100 million for the most comprehensive environmental studies ever undertaken in the Baltic Sea.
Mr. Petersen talks about energy solidarity, but fails to understand that Nord Stream, as an official EU priority project, is a key component for energy solidarity and security of supply for the whole EU.
Ulrich Lissek
Communications director, Nord Stream
Zug, Switzerland
As for Mr. Petersen's assertion that Germany needs to supply Nord Stream gas to Poland for the project to be "worthwhile," neither the Federal Republic of Germany nor any of the German Länder have a stake in the project. Commercial contracts for gas are made between the Russian producer and the purchasers in the European Union. Furthermore, the target markets for Nord Stream gas are those economies in northern and western Europe where demand is expected to significantly increase over the coming years. Nord Stream is not in competition with Polish supply routes.
Nor has Nord Stream been delayed by the process of assessing its environmental impact; from the very start environmental considerations were at the heart of the project and Nord Stream paid over €100 million for the most comprehensive environmental studies ever undertaken in the Baltic Sea.
Mr. Petersen talks about energy solidarity, but fails to understand that Nord Stream, as an official EU priority project, is a key component for energy solidarity and security of supply for the whole EU.
Ulrich Lissek
Communications director, Nord Stream
Zug, Switzerland
How Hillary Clinton's clean stoves will help African women
Poorly ventilated small fires are claiming millions of lives – as wood for them wrecks the environment
Madeleine Bunting guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 September 2010 13.30 BST
One of the most powerful women in the world is talking about cooking stoves. Thank God. Today, Hillary Clinton will describe the huge impact that something as simple as cooking fuel has on millions of lives. Want to know what is one of the leading causes of death for women and small children? You might imagine HIV/Aids or, given the focus on maternal mortality at the UN Summit in New York, you might suggest that women's greatest risk is death in childbirth. But just as dangerous and much less well publicised is the risk of inhaling smoke from cooking on open fires which leads to lung and heart diseases. According to the United Nations, smoke costs 1.9 million lives a year.
Think about it; every day, millions of women across Africa and India spend several hours crouched over small fires cooking. Often their homes have no chimneys and poor ventilation. This daily proximity destroys lungs. Small children staying close to their mothers are equally vulnerable. Finally, this huge story is percolating through to the mainstream. Clinton is due to announce $50m (£32m) in seed money to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, to supply 100m fuel-efficient stoves across Africa.
What makes this situation so frustrating is that it is as destructive of the environment as it is of human tissue. In many countries, chopping trees for firewood is leading to long-term environmental degradation. When I visited western Uganda, the results were shockingly evident. The beautiful hills are now largely stripped bare of trees, much of the deforestation has occurred in the last 50 years, and the results are long run-off scars across the hills where rain has washed the soil away. Further environmental damage is done by the tons of soot spewed into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
Clean, sustainable energy supplies are going to become a crisis issue across eastern Africa. The pace of deforestation and population growth is such that experts predict that within 25 years, supplies of firewood – the main source of cooking fuel – will have largely run out. Given that the staple foodstuffs of these African countries require cooking (for example millet, sorghum), the impact on nutrition and hunger will be huge. And fuel impacts on women's lives in other ways; as the supplies become more scarce, they have to walk further and further to collect what they need, as the collecting of firewood is a woman's task. In places of conflict such as Darfur or Congo, it is collecting firewood which exposes women and children to the risk of rape.
This is a problem that does not require expensive technology. It is about using fuel efficiently. Watch this video by one manufacturer of clean stoves in China now exporting to Africa. We know exactly how to make these stoves at relatively low cost. The challenge is to distribute them fast enough to pre-empt the kind of crisis predicted for east Africa. One really interesting possibility is linking clean stoves to microfinance schemes enabling small local businesses to develop who will be able to sell the stoves. Millions are needed, and there is no time to waste.
Aid follows fashions – over the last few years millions of malaria nets have been flooding in to Africa with dramatic results – hopefully Clinton's initiative will set a new trend. And this is a subject that people ought to really get behind in the way that the Alliance for Safe Motherhood has mobilised campaigners on maternal mortality. Stoves are a feminist issue – where are you Mumsnet?
Madeleine Bunting guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 September 2010 13.30 BST
One of the most powerful women in the world is talking about cooking stoves. Thank God. Today, Hillary Clinton will describe the huge impact that something as simple as cooking fuel has on millions of lives. Want to know what is one of the leading causes of death for women and small children? You might imagine HIV/Aids or, given the focus on maternal mortality at the UN Summit in New York, you might suggest that women's greatest risk is death in childbirth. But just as dangerous and much less well publicised is the risk of inhaling smoke from cooking on open fires which leads to lung and heart diseases. According to the United Nations, smoke costs 1.9 million lives a year.
Think about it; every day, millions of women across Africa and India spend several hours crouched over small fires cooking. Often their homes have no chimneys and poor ventilation. This daily proximity destroys lungs. Small children staying close to their mothers are equally vulnerable. Finally, this huge story is percolating through to the mainstream. Clinton is due to announce $50m (£32m) in seed money to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, to supply 100m fuel-efficient stoves across Africa.
What makes this situation so frustrating is that it is as destructive of the environment as it is of human tissue. In many countries, chopping trees for firewood is leading to long-term environmental degradation. When I visited western Uganda, the results were shockingly evident. The beautiful hills are now largely stripped bare of trees, much of the deforestation has occurred in the last 50 years, and the results are long run-off scars across the hills where rain has washed the soil away. Further environmental damage is done by the tons of soot spewed into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
Clean, sustainable energy supplies are going to become a crisis issue across eastern Africa. The pace of deforestation and population growth is such that experts predict that within 25 years, supplies of firewood – the main source of cooking fuel – will have largely run out. Given that the staple foodstuffs of these African countries require cooking (for example millet, sorghum), the impact on nutrition and hunger will be huge. And fuel impacts on women's lives in other ways; as the supplies become more scarce, they have to walk further and further to collect what they need, as the collecting of firewood is a woman's task. In places of conflict such as Darfur or Congo, it is collecting firewood which exposes women and children to the risk of rape.
This is a problem that does not require expensive technology. It is about using fuel efficiently. Watch this video by one manufacturer of clean stoves in China now exporting to Africa. We know exactly how to make these stoves at relatively low cost. The challenge is to distribute them fast enough to pre-empt the kind of crisis predicted for east Africa. One really interesting possibility is linking clean stoves to microfinance schemes enabling small local businesses to develop who will be able to sell the stoves. Millions are needed, and there is no time to waste.
Aid follows fashions – over the last few years millions of malaria nets have been flooding in to Africa with dramatic results – hopefully Clinton's initiative will set a new trend. And this is a subject that people ought to really get behind in the way that the Alliance for Safe Motherhood has mobilised campaigners on maternal mortality. Stoves are a feminist issue – where are you Mumsnet?
Chris Huhne urges Liberal Democrats to back new nuclear power stations
Huhne tells delegates at the Lib Dem conference there is an important place for new nuclear stations 'as long as there is no public subsidy'
Hélène Mulholland, political reporter guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 September 2010 15.27 BST
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate secretary, today urged his party to back new nuclear power stations as part of the "give and take" of being in government with the Conservatives.
Huhne used a keynote speech to tell delegates that almost 250,000 jobs in green industries would be created as part of the government's "green deal" which would help offset the economic "drag anchor" of budget cuts.
Huhne highlighted the proposals as he became the latest senior figure to urge the party to accept less palatable policies in the coalition agreement.
Yesterday, Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister, urged party members to "hold their nerve" and stick with the coalition deal during the difficult period ahead.
A key policy area in the partnership deal likely to arouse strong feeling involves plans to allow the building of nuclear power stations – a policy to which the Lib Dems, and Huhne himself, have long been opposed.
In recognition of the party's stance, the coalition deal stipulates that Lib Dem ministers would be free to maintain their opposition to nuclear plant construction as one of several opt-outs agreed by the parties on policy areas that are seen as red-line issues within their own camps.
But Huhne told delegates at their party conference in Liverpool that "a deal is a deal".
"I expect George Osborne [the chancellor] to take more millions of the low-paid out of income tax even though he is a Conservative minister implementing a Liberal Democrat pledge.
"And George Osborne expects me to deliver our agreement on nuclear power, which is that there is an important place for new nuclear stations in our energy mix as long as there is no public subsidy. A deal is a deal, and I will deliver."
Three years ago Huhne, then shadow energy spokesmen, urged ministers to stop the "side-show" of new nuclear power stations. "Nuclear is a tried, tested and failed technology and the government must stop putting time, effort and subsidies into reviving this outdated industry. The nuclear industry's key skill over the past half-century has not been generating electricity, but extracting lashings of taxpayers' money."
Aides to Huhne insist his opposition was based on the subsidies to the nuclear industry.
Today, the energy secretary said nuclear was now a "mature technology, not an infant needing nurture" as he emphasised that government plans to wave through construction would be done without subsidies from the state.
"I'm fed up with the stand-off between renewable and nuclear which means we have neither – we will have both. We will have low-carbon energy and security of supply."
He told delegates the government's "green deal", which is due to be presented in legislation in late autumn, would present a "green revolution" for the country.
He said his department was pioneering ways of turning this government into the "greenest ever" with thousands of green jobs being created as part of the drive to improve insulation in homes across the country.
Under the policy, companies will pay upfront to insulate homes, with householders paying back from the energy savings that will result.
Huhne promised it would mean a "revolution" and was "the most ambitious energy-saving plan ever put forward".
He expected the energy efficiency sector to employ 246,000 people in installation and supply-chain roles by 2030, he told delegates.
"Under the green deal consumers will save energy and save money. But the green deal could also create a whole new industry that will help offset the drag anchor of the budget squeeze. Not just the 26,000 people working in insulation now, but up to 250,000 jobs in every part of the country, working on 26 million homes. And going into commercial premises too, so that small businesses also save money."
As part of the switch to low-carbon energy, Huhne backed the construction of giant wind farms around the coast of Britain.
A new wind farm at Gwynt y Mor off the north Wales coast will have the potential to power a third of Welsh homes, he said. "I want to see this again and again round Britain's coasts."
Huhne also announced a new "government-wide carbon plan" setting out policies and deadlines for each department to "ensure real action on climate change".
Hélène Mulholland, political reporter guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 September 2010 15.27 BST
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate secretary, today urged his party to back new nuclear power stations as part of the "give and take" of being in government with the Conservatives.
Huhne used a keynote speech to tell delegates that almost 250,000 jobs in green industries would be created as part of the government's "green deal" which would help offset the economic "drag anchor" of budget cuts.
Huhne highlighted the proposals as he became the latest senior figure to urge the party to accept less palatable policies in the coalition agreement.
Yesterday, Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister, urged party members to "hold their nerve" and stick with the coalition deal during the difficult period ahead.
A key policy area in the partnership deal likely to arouse strong feeling involves plans to allow the building of nuclear power stations – a policy to which the Lib Dems, and Huhne himself, have long been opposed.
In recognition of the party's stance, the coalition deal stipulates that Lib Dem ministers would be free to maintain their opposition to nuclear plant construction as one of several opt-outs agreed by the parties on policy areas that are seen as red-line issues within their own camps.
But Huhne told delegates at their party conference in Liverpool that "a deal is a deal".
"I expect George Osborne [the chancellor] to take more millions of the low-paid out of income tax even though he is a Conservative minister implementing a Liberal Democrat pledge.
"And George Osborne expects me to deliver our agreement on nuclear power, which is that there is an important place for new nuclear stations in our energy mix as long as there is no public subsidy. A deal is a deal, and I will deliver."
Three years ago Huhne, then shadow energy spokesmen, urged ministers to stop the "side-show" of new nuclear power stations. "Nuclear is a tried, tested and failed technology and the government must stop putting time, effort and subsidies into reviving this outdated industry. The nuclear industry's key skill over the past half-century has not been generating electricity, but extracting lashings of taxpayers' money."
Aides to Huhne insist his opposition was based on the subsidies to the nuclear industry.
Today, the energy secretary said nuclear was now a "mature technology, not an infant needing nurture" as he emphasised that government plans to wave through construction would be done without subsidies from the state.
"I'm fed up with the stand-off between renewable and nuclear which means we have neither – we will have both. We will have low-carbon energy and security of supply."
He told delegates the government's "green deal", which is due to be presented in legislation in late autumn, would present a "green revolution" for the country.
He said his department was pioneering ways of turning this government into the "greenest ever" with thousands of green jobs being created as part of the drive to improve insulation in homes across the country.
Under the policy, companies will pay upfront to insulate homes, with householders paying back from the energy savings that will result.
Huhne promised it would mean a "revolution" and was "the most ambitious energy-saving plan ever put forward".
He expected the energy efficiency sector to employ 246,000 people in installation and supply-chain roles by 2030, he told delegates.
"Under the green deal consumers will save energy and save money. But the green deal could also create a whole new industry that will help offset the drag anchor of the budget squeeze. Not just the 26,000 people working in insulation now, but up to 250,000 jobs in every part of the country, working on 26 million homes. And going into commercial premises too, so that small businesses also save money."
As part of the switch to low-carbon energy, Huhne backed the construction of giant wind farms around the coast of Britain.
A new wind farm at Gwynt y Mor off the north Wales coast will have the potential to power a third of Welsh homes, he said. "I want to see this again and again round Britain's coasts."
Huhne also announced a new "government-wide carbon plan" setting out policies and deadlines for each department to "ensure real action on climate change".
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