Communities will be offered council tax discounts or cheaper electricity as part of plans to increase the number of wind farms in Britain, Charles Hendry, the Energy Minister will announce today.
Critics said it was naive to expect communities to give up their opposition to the 'inefficient technology' for a 'bribe'
6:30AM GMT 10 Feb 2011
Thousands of turbines will have to be built across the countryside over the next ten years in order to meet strict climate change targets.
But many of the best sites for onshore wind are also in beautiful landscapes and have been fiercely opposed by local communities.
Mr Hendry said the Labour Government’s approach of “hectoring” people into accepting wind farms has not worked. For example by comparing 'Nimbies' who opposed the new technology to those against seat belts.
Instead, he said communities can be encouraged to accept wind farms by ensuring turbines are built in the right place and bring financial benefits to the local area.
But critics said it was naive to expect communities to give up their opposition to the “inefficient technology” for a “bribe”.
In the past the Tories have sided with those who oppose wind farms because of the visual impact of the 300ft turbines on the surrounding countryside.
But Mr Hendry insisted that the new approach will ensure communities back the wind farms.
“There needs to be a new relationship between wind farms and the communities which host them. At present, too often a community can see what it will lose by having a wind farm in its midst, but it cannot see what it gains,” he said.
A new code of practice for developers will ensure that communities are offered a share of income from the wind farm. Business rates paid by the owners of wind farms will be fed straight back into the local economy, rather than going to the Treasury as at present. And planning reform under the Localism Bill will give councils more powers to reject developers and build their own wind farms for profit.
The money could be used to improve services like schools or leisure centres or to cut council tax.
Communities that own their own turbines could also benefit from cheaper electricity tariffs under the plans.
The Government also plan to reform subsidies so wind farms are encouraged to build in isolated, windy places, rather than close to the grid where there are more likely to be houses.
And a review of the noise and flicker caused by wind farms will be fed into planning rules.
But a spokesman for the National Association of Wind farm Action Groups, said communities will not be “bribed”.
“It is utterly naive of the energy minister to imagine that local communities, who have shown the strength of their opposition throughout the UK to inappropriately sited wind farms, to imagine that community funds can buy off their opposition.”
The Coalition Government is committed to generating 15 per cent of energy from renewables by 2020.
As part of plans to meet the EU target the country will have to boost the number of wind turbines onshore from the current 3,000 to up to 9,000.
Dr John Constable, Chairman of the Renewable Energy Foundation, pointed out that turbines only generate a third of maximum capacity every year. For example during the recent cold snap most wind turbines were still because the high pressure also meant it was still.
Therefore the technology has to be backed up by other power stations like coal or nuclear. Also the grid has to be adapted to cope with the sudden surges in electricity caused by wind.
“We already have more wind than we know how to manage. Why is the Government trying to develop more? I think this is extremely foolish,” he said.
Mr Hendry accepted wind needs to be backed up, as does nuclear and coal in case the power stations shut down. He pointed out that the free resource will reduce dependency on foreign fossil fuels and technology and upgrades will enable the grid to cope.
“No one suggests that wind is the whole solution, but alongside nuclear, clean coal and gas it should continue to be part of the solution to the massive energy security and low carbon challenges we face as a nation,” he said.
“However, to do so, it needs more democratic legitimacy than it has today and it is our intention to ensure that happens.”
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Green light for new wind farm
PA
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
A new offshore wind farm which will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 150,000 homes was today given the go-ahead by the Government.
Energy company E.ON was granted permission to build the 77-turbine Humber Gateway wind farm, which will be sited around five miles off the Holderness coast in Yorkshire.
Chris Huhne, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: "Offshore wind not only provides clean, green, secure energy, the investment that comes with it is great for the UK economy too.
"A new wind farm off the Humberside coast will be a further jobs and investment boost for the region, hot on the heels of Siemens' announcement of plans to develop the Port of Hull."
The wind farm is the first off shore scheme to be given consent since December 2008.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
A new offshore wind farm which will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 150,000 homes was today given the go-ahead by the Government.
Energy company E.ON was granted permission to build the 77-turbine Humber Gateway wind farm, which will be sited around five miles off the Holderness coast in Yorkshire.
Chris Huhne, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: "Offshore wind not only provides clean, green, secure energy, the investment that comes with it is great for the UK economy too.
"A new wind farm off the Humberside coast will be a further jobs and investment boost for the region, hot on the heels of Siemens' announcement of plans to develop the Port of Hull."
The wind farm is the first off shore scheme to be given consent since December 2008.
UK electric car grants 'not good enough' says Shai Agassi
Head of pioneering sustainable transport firm Better Place says UK lags behind in encouraging electric car use or investment
Alok Jha guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 February 2011 17.48 GMT
UK government grants for electric vehicles are not good enough to give consumers and investors confidence, the head of Californian sustainable transport company Better Place said on Wednesday.
Shai Agassi told the Guardian he was interested in bringing his pioneering business to the UK, but that the government's policy on electric vehicles was too small and short-term to make the required investment. The government's climate watchdog, the committee on climate change, wants to see 1.7 million electric cars on UK roads by 2020 to meet the country's legally binding carbon targets.
Listen to the Better Place founder, Shai Agassi, speak about how the UK is financially neglecting electric cars Link to this audio Last month, the UK government launched a scheme to subsidise electric car purchases by up to £5,000 each. It was part of a £230m incentive by the Labour government to cut the upfront cost of electric vehicles, which typically cost at least a third more than conventional combustion engine cars. The subsidy survived the coalition government's budget cuts but its status will be reviewed 2012. This means that only the first year of funding – £43m or about 8,600 cars – is guaranteed.
"One thing that's missing in the UK is clarity of government regulations," he said. "When we come in and do a project like [Better Place], it's a fairly intensive infrastructure project with a lot of investment. Investors want to see clarity on the regulatory framework that would indicate that the government would support this for a long period of time, not just for a small number of cars or a short period of time."
Agassi pointed to several countries around the world that were already creating suitable incentives for major electric car investments. "That support comes in the form either a tax incentive – Israel put 72% tax on petrol cars and a 10% tax on electric cars, Denmark have 180% tax on petrol cars and zero on zero-emission cars. In France there's a €5,000 incentive towards electric cars, in China there's a $8,800 incentive towards electric cars, Japan it's $12,000, US it's $7,500. In all these places, the incentives [take the] place of hundreds of thousands of cars. In the US, it's 200,000 cars by brand."
He continued: "You're looking at a significant long-term signal by the government that says, if you put the infrastructure in and convince the consumers, we're not going to pull the rug from underneath you. We need something like that from the UK government."
Globally, road vehicles generate around a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions, and the figure is roughly the same for the UK. According to a study for the Department for Transport, widespread adoption of electric vehicles with a range of 30 miles or more could halve these road transport emissions. One of the biggest challenges, however, to the large-scale implementation of electric cars is the problem of infrastructure for recharging.
With Better Place, Agassi came up with a model that involves building networks of charging points and battery-switch stations, where a robotic mechanism will swap the empty battery in a car for a fully charged one. This means electric cars can be "refilled" in minutes, rather than taking several hours to charge their batteries. In tests, each fully-charged battery has been able to run a car for around 100 miles and, last year, the company trialled its battery-switching stations in Tokyo with one of the city's largest taxi operators, Nihon Kotsu.
Before publishing its electric car strategy in 2008, the Labour government had expressed an interest in Better Place's model. In the event, the strategy focused on further research on the technology and infrastructure needed to make electric and low-carbon cars a reality, and the £5,000 incentives to persuade early adopters to buy low-emission cars.
Better Place will launch its first public trials in Israel later this year and is also building networks of switch stations in Denmark, Australia and Hawaii. The company is also involved in a $1bn public initiative to bring green transport infrastructure to the bay area in northern California Рencompassing the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jos̩, as well as Silicon Valley.
"The purpose of incentives and taxes is to pull the levers so the consumer makes rational decisions for the global economy," said Agassi. "The job of a government is to say if you you're using a liquid [oil] that is becoming a drainage on our economy, we want to push you away from it."
He also pointed to lessons from other countries in kickstarting the required green transport infrastructure. In China, for example, the government has brought together all the firms that relate to electric transport – from car manufacturers to grid infrastructure companies – and provided cities with the money to start building the required infrastructure.
"By in large if you look at history, every infrastructure project that the Chinese have embarked on has been done within time," Agassi said. "China this year will make more cars than Europe and the US combined ... They've got an opportunity to leapfrog the global car industry and then, with their volumes, nobody will ever be able to catch up. And they can get off their dependency on oil."
Alok Jha guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 February 2011 17.48 GMT
UK government grants for electric vehicles are not good enough to give consumers and investors confidence, the head of Californian sustainable transport company Better Place said on Wednesday.
Shai Agassi told the Guardian he was interested in bringing his pioneering business to the UK, but that the government's policy on electric vehicles was too small and short-term to make the required investment. The government's climate watchdog, the committee on climate change, wants to see 1.7 million electric cars on UK roads by 2020 to meet the country's legally binding carbon targets.
Listen to the Better Place founder, Shai Agassi, speak about how the UK is financially neglecting electric cars Link to this audio Last month, the UK government launched a scheme to subsidise electric car purchases by up to £5,000 each. It was part of a £230m incentive by the Labour government to cut the upfront cost of electric vehicles, which typically cost at least a third more than conventional combustion engine cars. The subsidy survived the coalition government's budget cuts but its status will be reviewed 2012. This means that only the first year of funding – £43m or about 8,600 cars – is guaranteed.
"One thing that's missing in the UK is clarity of government regulations," he said. "When we come in and do a project like [Better Place], it's a fairly intensive infrastructure project with a lot of investment. Investors want to see clarity on the regulatory framework that would indicate that the government would support this for a long period of time, not just for a small number of cars or a short period of time."
Agassi pointed to several countries around the world that were already creating suitable incentives for major electric car investments. "That support comes in the form either a tax incentive – Israel put 72% tax on petrol cars and a 10% tax on electric cars, Denmark have 180% tax on petrol cars and zero on zero-emission cars. In France there's a €5,000 incentive towards electric cars, in China there's a $8,800 incentive towards electric cars, Japan it's $12,000, US it's $7,500. In all these places, the incentives [take the] place of hundreds of thousands of cars. In the US, it's 200,000 cars by brand."
He continued: "You're looking at a significant long-term signal by the government that says, if you put the infrastructure in and convince the consumers, we're not going to pull the rug from underneath you. We need something like that from the UK government."
Globally, road vehicles generate around a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions, and the figure is roughly the same for the UK. According to a study for the Department for Transport, widespread adoption of electric vehicles with a range of 30 miles or more could halve these road transport emissions. One of the biggest challenges, however, to the large-scale implementation of electric cars is the problem of infrastructure for recharging.
With Better Place, Agassi came up with a model that involves building networks of charging points and battery-switch stations, where a robotic mechanism will swap the empty battery in a car for a fully charged one. This means electric cars can be "refilled" in minutes, rather than taking several hours to charge their batteries. In tests, each fully-charged battery has been able to run a car for around 100 miles and, last year, the company trialled its battery-switching stations in Tokyo with one of the city's largest taxi operators, Nihon Kotsu.
Before publishing its electric car strategy in 2008, the Labour government had expressed an interest in Better Place's model. In the event, the strategy focused on further research on the technology and infrastructure needed to make electric and low-carbon cars a reality, and the £5,000 incentives to persuade early adopters to buy low-emission cars.
Better Place will launch its first public trials in Israel later this year and is also building networks of switch stations in Denmark, Australia and Hawaii. The company is also involved in a $1bn public initiative to bring green transport infrastructure to the bay area in northern California Рencompassing the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jos̩, as well as Silicon Valley.
"The purpose of incentives and taxes is to pull the levers so the consumer makes rational decisions for the global economy," said Agassi. "The job of a government is to say if you you're using a liquid [oil] that is becoming a drainage on our economy, we want to push you away from it."
He also pointed to lessons from other countries in kickstarting the required green transport infrastructure. In China, for example, the government has brought together all the firms that relate to electric transport – from car manufacturers to grid infrastructure companies – and provided cities with the money to start building the required infrastructure.
"By in large if you look at history, every infrastructure project that the Chinese have embarked on has been done within time," Agassi said. "China this year will make more cars than Europe and the US combined ... They've got an opportunity to leapfrog the global car industry and then, with their volumes, nobody will ever be able to catch up. And they can get off their dependency on oil."
WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough oil to keep a lid on prices
US diplomat convinced by Saudi expert that reserves of world's biggest oil exporter have been overstated by nearly 40%
• Peak oil alarm revealed by secret official talks
• Datablog: Are we running out of oil?
John Vidal, environment editor guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 February 2011 22.00 GMT
The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show.
The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%.
The revelation comes as the oil price has soared in recent weeks to more than $100 a barrel on global demand and tensions in the Middle East. Many analysts expect that the Saudis and their Opec cartel partners would pump more oil if rising prices threatened to choke off demand.
However, Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, met the US consul general in Riyadh in November 2007 and told the US diplomat that Aramco's 12.5m barrel-a-day capacity needed to keep a lid on prices could not be reached.
According to the cables, which date between 2007-09, Husseini said Saudi Arabia might reach an output of 12m barrels a day in 10 years but before then – possibly as early as 2012 – global oil production would have hit its highest point. This crunch point is known as "peak oil".
Husseini said that at that point Aramco would not be able to stop the rise of global oil prices because the Saudi energy industry had overstated its recoverable reserves to spur foreign investment. He argued that Aramco had badly underestimated the time needed to bring new oil on tap.
One cable said: "According to al-Husseini, the crux of the issue is twofold. First, it is possible that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described, and the timeline for their production not as unrestrained as Aramco and energy optimists would like to portray."
It went on: "In a presentation, Abdallah al-Saif, current Aramco senior vice-president for exploration, reported that Aramco has 716bn barrels of total reserves, of which 51% are recoverable, and that in 20 years Aramco will have 900bn barrels of reserves.
"Al-Husseini disagrees with this analysis, believing Aramco's reserves are overstated by as much as 300bn barrels. In his view once 50% of original proven reserves has been reached … a steady output in decline will ensue and no amount of effort will be able to stop it. He believes that what will result is a plateau in total output that will last approximately 15 years followed by decreasing output."
The US consul then told Washington: "While al-Husseini fundamentally contradicts the Aramco company line, he is no doomsday theorist. His pedigree, experience and outlook demand that his predictions be thoughtfully considered."
Seven months later, the US embassy in Riyadh went further in two more cables. "Our mission now questions how much the Saudis can now substantively influence the crude markets over the long term. Clearly they can drive prices up, but we question whether they any longer have the power to drive prices down for a prolonged period."
A fourth cable, in October 2009, claimed that escalating electricity demand by Saudi Arabia may further constrain Saudi oil exports. "Demand [for electricity] is expected to grow 10% a year over the next decade as a result of population and economic growth. As a result it will need to double its generation capacity to 68,000MW in 2018," it said.
It also reported major project delays and accidents as "evidence that the Saudi Aramco is having to run harder to stay in place – to replace the decline in existing production." While fears of premature "peak oil" and Saudi production problems had been expressed before, no US official has come close to saying this in public.
In the last two years, other senior energy analysts have backed Husseini. Fatih Birol, chief economist to the International Energy Agency, told the Guardian last year that conventional crude output could plateau in 2020, a development that was "not good news" for a world still heavily dependent on petroleum.
Jeremy Leggett, convenor of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security, said: "We are asleep at the wheel here: choosing to ignore a threat to the global economy that is quite as bad as the credit crunch, quite possibly worse."
• Peak oil alarm revealed by secret official talks
• Datablog: Are we running out of oil?
John Vidal, environment editor guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 February 2011 22.00 GMT
The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show.
The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%.
The revelation comes as the oil price has soared in recent weeks to more than $100 a barrel on global demand and tensions in the Middle East. Many analysts expect that the Saudis and their Opec cartel partners would pump more oil if rising prices threatened to choke off demand.
However, Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, met the US consul general in Riyadh in November 2007 and told the US diplomat that Aramco's 12.5m barrel-a-day capacity needed to keep a lid on prices could not be reached.
According to the cables, which date between 2007-09, Husseini said Saudi Arabia might reach an output of 12m barrels a day in 10 years but before then – possibly as early as 2012 – global oil production would have hit its highest point. This crunch point is known as "peak oil".
Husseini said that at that point Aramco would not be able to stop the rise of global oil prices because the Saudi energy industry had overstated its recoverable reserves to spur foreign investment. He argued that Aramco had badly underestimated the time needed to bring new oil on tap.
One cable said: "According to al-Husseini, the crux of the issue is twofold. First, it is possible that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described, and the timeline for their production not as unrestrained as Aramco and energy optimists would like to portray."
It went on: "In a presentation, Abdallah al-Saif, current Aramco senior vice-president for exploration, reported that Aramco has 716bn barrels of total reserves, of which 51% are recoverable, and that in 20 years Aramco will have 900bn barrels of reserves.
"Al-Husseini disagrees with this analysis, believing Aramco's reserves are overstated by as much as 300bn barrels. In his view once 50% of original proven reserves has been reached … a steady output in decline will ensue and no amount of effort will be able to stop it. He believes that what will result is a plateau in total output that will last approximately 15 years followed by decreasing output."
The US consul then told Washington: "While al-Husseini fundamentally contradicts the Aramco company line, he is no doomsday theorist. His pedigree, experience and outlook demand that his predictions be thoughtfully considered."
Seven months later, the US embassy in Riyadh went further in two more cables. "Our mission now questions how much the Saudis can now substantively influence the crude markets over the long term. Clearly they can drive prices up, but we question whether they any longer have the power to drive prices down for a prolonged period."
A fourth cable, in October 2009, claimed that escalating electricity demand by Saudi Arabia may further constrain Saudi oil exports. "Demand [for electricity] is expected to grow 10% a year over the next decade as a result of population and economic growth. As a result it will need to double its generation capacity to 68,000MW in 2018," it said.
It also reported major project delays and accidents as "evidence that the Saudi Aramco is having to run harder to stay in place – to replace the decline in existing production." While fears of premature "peak oil" and Saudi production problems had been expressed before, no US official has come close to saying this in public.
In the last two years, other senior energy analysts have backed Husseini. Fatih Birol, chief economist to the International Energy Agency, told the Guardian last year that conventional crude output could plateau in 2020, a development that was "not good news" for a world still heavily dependent on petroleum.
Jeremy Leggett, convenor of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security, said: "We are asleep at the wheel here: choosing to ignore a threat to the global economy that is quite as bad as the credit crunch, quite possibly worse."
British windfarms blow Vestas towards 25% profit rise
World's biggest turbine manufacturer took 8,673MW of orders last year, including 530MW from UK windfarms
Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 February 2011 16.39 GMT
Strong demand from British windfarms helped the world's biggest turbine manufacturer, Vestas, raise profits by 25% over the past year and have boosted future prospects.
UK equipment deliveries totalled 530MW – a leap from 120MW over the previous year – helped in particular by shipments for the 300MW Thanet windfarm, which is currently the largest offshore windfarm ever built.
Shares in Vestas soared 5% as the Danish-based group reported net income of €156m for 2010, compared with €125m for the previous 12 months, while the overall order intake almost tripled to 8,673 MW.
Vestas will claim its own world first later this spring, when it opens a £50m turbine research and development facility on the Isle of Wight, and is still weighing up the construction of a new manufacturing plant. In 2009 it closed Britain's only major wind turbine plant, which was based at Cowes, despite several weeks of protests.
Ditlev Engel, the Vestas chief executive, is upbeat about new orders but said Britain was still failing to take advantage of the full potential of its wind resources, and he remained unconvinced that all the major "round 3" offshore wind farms would be built.
Competitors Siemens and Gamesa have unveiled firm plans for blade construction factories on the east coast of Britain, but Engels said Vestas was still taking a wait-and-see approach.
"We have taken no decision yet but we still have ample time as we do not expect to see any round 3 blades installed until 2014 or 2015," he explained.
Separately, the government has given the green light for the first offshore wind farm for two years with permission granted to Germany's E.ON to construct a 230MW windfarm off the coast of Humberside.
"A new wind farm off the Humberside coast will be a further jobs and investment boost for the region, hot on the heels of Siemens' announcement of plans to develop the Port of Hull, " said Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary.
The Humber Gateway windfarm will generate enough electricity to power up to about 150,000 homes. The announcement came as energy minister Charles Hendry co-chaired the Offshore Wind Developers Forum in London, where windfarm developers discussed how the government's proposals for reforming the electricity market might help remove barriers to investment.
Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 February 2011 16.39 GMT
Strong demand from British windfarms helped the world's biggest turbine manufacturer, Vestas, raise profits by 25% over the past year and have boosted future prospects.
UK equipment deliveries totalled 530MW – a leap from 120MW over the previous year – helped in particular by shipments for the 300MW Thanet windfarm, which is currently the largest offshore windfarm ever built.
Shares in Vestas soared 5% as the Danish-based group reported net income of €156m for 2010, compared with €125m for the previous 12 months, while the overall order intake almost tripled to 8,673 MW.
Vestas will claim its own world first later this spring, when it opens a £50m turbine research and development facility on the Isle of Wight, and is still weighing up the construction of a new manufacturing plant. In 2009 it closed Britain's only major wind turbine plant, which was based at Cowes, despite several weeks of protests.
Ditlev Engel, the Vestas chief executive, is upbeat about new orders but said Britain was still failing to take advantage of the full potential of its wind resources, and he remained unconvinced that all the major "round 3" offshore wind farms would be built.
Competitors Siemens and Gamesa have unveiled firm plans for blade construction factories on the east coast of Britain, but Engels said Vestas was still taking a wait-and-see approach.
"We have taken no decision yet but we still have ample time as we do not expect to see any round 3 blades installed until 2014 or 2015," he explained.
Separately, the government has given the green light for the first offshore wind farm for two years with permission granted to Germany's E.ON to construct a 230MW windfarm off the coast of Humberside.
"A new wind farm off the Humberside coast will be a further jobs and investment boost for the region, hot on the heels of Siemens' announcement of plans to develop the Port of Hull, " said Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary.
The Humber Gateway windfarm will generate enough electricity to power up to about 150,000 homes. The announcement came as energy minister Charles Hendry co-chaired the Offshore Wind Developers Forum in London, where windfarm developers discussed how the government's proposals for reforming the electricity market might help remove barriers to investment.