The Government has been accused of destroying 25,000 jobs and “bankrupting a whole industry” after it unveiled plans to cut subsidies for green energy.
By Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent
6:30AM GMT 01 Nov 2011
Hundreds of solar companies were likely to go bust by Christmas, it was claimed, after Greg Barker, the minister for climate change, said “feed-in tariff” subsidies were too generous and would be halved.
Industry bodies warned that many home owners and companies would not sign up to the scheme — under which money was earned for each solar panel — because it could take up to 25 years to earn back their investments.
Gaynor Hartnell, the chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, which represents producers, said: “The installation rate is likely to fall drastically, and many of the 25,000 newly employed in this industry may end up joining the dole queue.”
Daniel Green, the chief executive of Home Sun, a solar company, claimed that the Prime Minister had given him two personal assurances of his support for the solar industry.
"They have effectively bankrupted thousands of companies,” he said. “Most of them will be gone before Christmas.
“We built a business on the back of David Cameron’s promises. He has betrayed us twice. Anybody thinking of investing in government-sponsored green opportunities, I would advise them to run away.
“All my business will stop with immediate effect if this goes through. It’s an extremely black day.”
A coalition of business groups and charities was considering whether to seek a judicial review of the proposals, which are now subject to consultation.
Mr Barker insisted that the subsidy cut was necessary as companies were making too high a return on the panels.
“Although I fully realise that adjusting to the new lower tariffs will be a big challenge for many firms, it won’t come as a surprise to many in the industry who have themselves acknowledged the big fall in costs and the big increase in their rate of return over the past year,” he said.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Renault Fluence ZE – the best pure electric car yet?
It may not be the breakthrough electric car the industry is waiting for, but the ZE makes big strides on range, price and looks
Will Dron
guardian.co.uk, Monday 31 October 2011 15.41 GMT
Jeremy Clarkson doesn't like electric cars. Among his more reasonable objections are that you can't go much further than 100 miles on a charge, and that the batteries might cost a bit to replace when they wear out.
Well, Renault's Fluence ZE might go some way to making him feel a bit warmer towards pure electric cars, at least on these fronts.
First of all, the Fluence "Zero Emissions" manages to look like a normal car. That's really not a given – the G-Wiz, for example, looks like something drawn by a sugar-addled five-year-old. The Fluence, by comparison, is a handsome and quite conventional saloon. Observers won't have a clue that it's powered by electrons instead of petrol.
Based on a petrol car's design, this electric version does 0-62mph in 13secs and a top speed of 84mph. Those aren't sports car numbers of course, but because the Fluence ZE delivers all of its torque from zero revs, it does manage to feel quicker than the numbers suggest.
The five-seat interior feels conventional. It's quite roomy up front and there is space in the back for a couple of adults. But because the battery pack lives between the back seat and the boot, the latter is a bit compromised. Otherwise, the only real clue that you're in a pure-electric car is the charge-level indicator where you'd normally find a rev counter. There is also a meter that shows how much energy you're using at any given moment.
And driving the Fluence ZE couldn't be easier. Turn the key and the word "Go" appears on the dash. Slot the automatic shifter into D and off you go. It really is that simple – once you're underway, the only clue that the Renault is electric is the eerie absence of noise at lower speeds and the seamless acceleration, unbroken by the usual gearshift jerks.
The Fluence ZE is actually quite good fun to drive on twisting roads, too. The ride quality, while firm, is not uncomfortable.
And now, the thing that everybody wants to know about – range. Renault says that the Fluence ZE can go 115 miles on a charge. But drive aggressively, as Clarkson might like to, and that could fall to 50 or 60 miles.
Renault is also attempting to address the battery life issue. When you buy the ZE, you own the car but only lease the battery. That means Renault sorts any problems that might arise and guarantees that the battery in your car will never have less than 75% of its original efficiency. And there's a wide range of battery hire options with Renault – for example, a three-year contract costs £81 per month with a 9,000-mile annual mileage allowance.
At £17,850 after the £5,000 government plug-in car grant, the Fluence ZE will be the least expensive pure-electric family car on sale mid-2012. Bear in mind, though, that you'll need to stump up another £799 to install the recommended home charging unit, as well as the monthly battery lease fee. Against that, running costs will be much lower than for a diesel or petrol-powered alternative.
I'm pretty sure that the Fluence ZE wouldn't convert Clarkson, but it could win over a great many others.
• Will Dron is managing editor of electric car site TheChargingPoint.com
Will Dron
guardian.co.uk, Monday 31 October 2011 15.41 GMT
Jeremy Clarkson doesn't like electric cars. Among his more reasonable objections are that you can't go much further than 100 miles on a charge, and that the batteries might cost a bit to replace when they wear out.
Well, Renault's Fluence ZE might go some way to making him feel a bit warmer towards pure electric cars, at least on these fronts.
First of all, the Fluence "Zero Emissions" manages to look like a normal car. That's really not a given – the G-Wiz, for example, looks like something drawn by a sugar-addled five-year-old. The Fluence, by comparison, is a handsome and quite conventional saloon. Observers won't have a clue that it's powered by electrons instead of petrol.
Based on a petrol car's design, this electric version does 0-62mph in 13secs and a top speed of 84mph. Those aren't sports car numbers of course, but because the Fluence ZE delivers all of its torque from zero revs, it does manage to feel quicker than the numbers suggest.
The five-seat interior feels conventional. It's quite roomy up front and there is space in the back for a couple of adults. But because the battery pack lives between the back seat and the boot, the latter is a bit compromised. Otherwise, the only real clue that you're in a pure-electric car is the charge-level indicator where you'd normally find a rev counter. There is also a meter that shows how much energy you're using at any given moment.
And driving the Fluence ZE couldn't be easier. Turn the key and the word "Go" appears on the dash. Slot the automatic shifter into D and off you go. It really is that simple – once you're underway, the only clue that the Renault is electric is the eerie absence of noise at lower speeds and the seamless acceleration, unbroken by the usual gearshift jerks.
The Fluence ZE is actually quite good fun to drive on twisting roads, too. The ride quality, while firm, is not uncomfortable.
And now, the thing that everybody wants to know about – range. Renault says that the Fluence ZE can go 115 miles on a charge. But drive aggressively, as Clarkson might like to, and that could fall to 50 or 60 miles.
Renault is also attempting to address the battery life issue. When you buy the ZE, you own the car but only lease the battery. That means Renault sorts any problems that might arise and guarantees that the battery in your car will never have less than 75% of its original efficiency. And there's a wide range of battery hire options with Renault – for example, a three-year contract costs £81 per month with a 9,000-mile annual mileage allowance.
At £17,850 after the £5,000 government plug-in car grant, the Fluence ZE will be the least expensive pure-electric family car on sale mid-2012. Bear in mind, though, that you'll need to stump up another £799 to install the recommended home charging unit, as well as the monthly battery lease fee. Against that, running costs will be much lower than for a diesel or petrol-powered alternative.
I'm pretty sure that the Fluence ZE wouldn't convert Clarkson, but it could win over a great many others.
• Will Dron is managing editor of electric car site TheChargingPoint.com
India plans 'safer' nuclear plant powered by thorium
Use of relatively low-carbon, low-radioactivity thorium instead of uranium may be breakthrough in energy generation
Maseeh Rahman in Mumbai
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 November 2011 16.09 GMT
India has announced plans for a prototype nuclear power plant that uses an innovative "safer" fuel.
Officials are currently selecting a site for the reactor, which would be the first of its kind, using thorium for the bulk of its fuel instead of uranium – the fuel for conventional reactors. They plan to have the plant up and running by the end of the decade.
The development of workable and large-scale thorium reactors has for decades been a dream for nuclear engineers, while for environmentalists it has become a major hope as an alternative to fossil fuels. Proponents say the fuel has considerable advantages over uranium. Thorium is more abundant and exploiting it does not involve release of large quantities of carbon dioxide, making it less dangerous for the climate than fossil fuels like coal and oil.
In a rare interview, Ratan Kumar Sinha, the director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, told the Guardian that his team is finalising the site for construction of the new large-scale experimental reactor, while at the same time conducting "confirmatory tests" on the design.
"The basic physics and engineering of the thorium-fuelled Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) are in place, and the design is ready," said Sinha.
Once the six-month search for a site is completed – probably next to an existing nuclear power plant – it will take another 18 months to obtain regulatory and environmental impact clearances before building work on the site can begin.
"Construction of the AHWR will begin after that, and it would take another six years for the reactor to become operational," Sinha added, meaning that if all goes to plan, the reactor could be operational by the end of the decade. The reactor is designed to generate 300MW of electricity – about a quarter of the output of a typical new nuclear plant in the west.
Sinha added that India was in talks with other countries over the export of conventional nuclear plants. He said India was looking for buyers for its 220MW and 540MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs). Kazakhastan and the Gulf states are known to have expressed an interest, while one source said that negotiations are most advanced with Vietnam, although Sinha refused to confirm this.
"Many countries with small power grids of up to 5,000 MW are looking for 300MW reactors," he said. "Our reactors are smaller, cheaper, and very price competitive."
Producing a workable thorium reactor would be a massive breakthrough in energy generation. Using thorium – a naturally occurring moderately radioactive element named after the Norse god of thunder – as a source of atomic power is not new technology. Promising early research was carried out in the US in the 1950s and 60s and then abandoned in favour of using uranium.
The pro-thorium lobby maintains this was at least partly because national nuclear power programmes in the US and elsewhere were developed with a military purpose in mind: namely access to a source of plutonium for nuclear weapons. Unlike uranium, thorium-fuelled reactors do not result in a proliferation of weapons-grade plutonium. Also, under certain circumstances, the waste from thorium reactors is less dangerous and remains radioactive for hundreds rather than thousands of years.
That is a considerable plus for governments now worried about how to deal with nuclear waste and concerned about the possibility of rogue governments or terrorists getting their hands on plutonium. Also, with the world's supply of uranium rapidly depleting, attention has refocused on thorium, which is three to four times more abundant and 200 times more energy dense..
"Given India's abundant supply of thorium it makes sense for her to develop thorium reactors," said Labour peer Baroness Worthington who is patron of the Weinberg Foundation, which promotes thorium-fuelled nuclear power.
She added: "However, many of the advantages of thorium fuel are best realised with totally new reactor designs such as the molten salt reactor developed Alvin Weinberg in the 60s. I hope India will also commit to exploring this option."
India has the world's largest thorium deposits and with a world hungry for low-carbon energy, it has its eyes on a potentially lucrative export market for the technology. For more than three decades, India's nuclear research programme had been subject to international sanctions since its controversial 1974 nuclear tests. But after losing its pariah status three years ago as a result of the Indo-US nuclear deal, India is keen to export indigenous nuclear technology developed in research centres such as the BARC.
There are still restrictions though. One problem is the "trigger fuel" the reactor needs to initiate operation. In the original design, this is a small quantity of plutonium. Instead the new reactor's trigger will be low-enriched uranium (LEU) – which India is permitted to import under the 2008 Indo-US deal.
"The AHWR will eventually have design flexibility, using as fuel either plutonium-thorium or LEU-thorium combinations," said Sinha. "The LEU-thorium version will make the AHWR very much marketable abroad, as it would generate very little plutonium ... making it suitable for countries with high proliferation resistance."
The LEU-thorium design is currently at pilot stage. For the first time last year, the BARC tested the thorium-plutonium combination at its critical facility in Mumbai, but is still some way from doing the same for the thorium-LEU combination.
Maseeh Rahman in Mumbai
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 November 2011 16.09 GMT
India has announced plans for a prototype nuclear power plant that uses an innovative "safer" fuel.
Officials are currently selecting a site for the reactor, which would be the first of its kind, using thorium for the bulk of its fuel instead of uranium – the fuel for conventional reactors. They plan to have the plant up and running by the end of the decade.
The development of workable and large-scale thorium reactors has for decades been a dream for nuclear engineers, while for environmentalists it has become a major hope as an alternative to fossil fuels. Proponents say the fuel has considerable advantages over uranium. Thorium is more abundant and exploiting it does not involve release of large quantities of carbon dioxide, making it less dangerous for the climate than fossil fuels like coal and oil.
In a rare interview, Ratan Kumar Sinha, the director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, told the Guardian that his team is finalising the site for construction of the new large-scale experimental reactor, while at the same time conducting "confirmatory tests" on the design.
"The basic physics and engineering of the thorium-fuelled Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) are in place, and the design is ready," said Sinha.
Once the six-month search for a site is completed – probably next to an existing nuclear power plant – it will take another 18 months to obtain regulatory and environmental impact clearances before building work on the site can begin.
"Construction of the AHWR will begin after that, and it would take another six years for the reactor to become operational," Sinha added, meaning that if all goes to plan, the reactor could be operational by the end of the decade. The reactor is designed to generate 300MW of electricity – about a quarter of the output of a typical new nuclear plant in the west.
Sinha added that India was in talks with other countries over the export of conventional nuclear plants. He said India was looking for buyers for its 220MW and 540MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs). Kazakhastan and the Gulf states are known to have expressed an interest, while one source said that negotiations are most advanced with Vietnam, although Sinha refused to confirm this.
"Many countries with small power grids of up to 5,000 MW are looking for 300MW reactors," he said. "Our reactors are smaller, cheaper, and very price competitive."
Producing a workable thorium reactor would be a massive breakthrough in energy generation. Using thorium – a naturally occurring moderately radioactive element named after the Norse god of thunder – as a source of atomic power is not new technology. Promising early research was carried out in the US in the 1950s and 60s and then abandoned in favour of using uranium.
The pro-thorium lobby maintains this was at least partly because national nuclear power programmes in the US and elsewhere were developed with a military purpose in mind: namely access to a source of plutonium for nuclear weapons. Unlike uranium, thorium-fuelled reactors do not result in a proliferation of weapons-grade plutonium. Also, under certain circumstances, the waste from thorium reactors is less dangerous and remains radioactive for hundreds rather than thousands of years.
That is a considerable plus for governments now worried about how to deal with nuclear waste and concerned about the possibility of rogue governments or terrorists getting their hands on plutonium. Also, with the world's supply of uranium rapidly depleting, attention has refocused on thorium, which is three to four times more abundant and 200 times more energy dense..
"Given India's abundant supply of thorium it makes sense for her to develop thorium reactors," said Labour peer Baroness Worthington who is patron of the Weinberg Foundation, which promotes thorium-fuelled nuclear power.
She added: "However, many of the advantages of thorium fuel are best realised with totally new reactor designs such as the molten salt reactor developed Alvin Weinberg in the 60s. I hope India will also commit to exploring this option."
India has the world's largest thorium deposits and with a world hungry for low-carbon energy, it has its eyes on a potentially lucrative export market for the technology. For more than three decades, India's nuclear research programme had been subject to international sanctions since its controversial 1974 nuclear tests. But after losing its pariah status three years ago as a result of the Indo-US nuclear deal, India is keen to export indigenous nuclear technology developed in research centres such as the BARC.
There are still restrictions though. One problem is the "trigger fuel" the reactor needs to initiate operation. In the original design, this is a small quantity of plutonium. Instead the new reactor's trigger will be low-enriched uranium (LEU) – which India is permitted to import under the 2008 Indo-US deal.
"The AHWR will eventually have design flexibility, using as fuel either plutonium-thorium or LEU-thorium combinations," said Sinha. "The LEU-thorium version will make the AHWR very much marketable abroad, as it would generate very little plutonium ... making it suitable for countries with high proliferation resistance."
The LEU-thorium design is currently at pilot stage. For the first time last year, the BARC tested the thorium-plutonium combination at its critical facility in Mumbai, but is still some way from doing the same for the thorium-LEU combination.
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