Wind Energy and renewable energy blog

More Wind Turbine Factory Jobs on their Way

Siemens is the latest wind turbine manufacturer to announce plans for a new UK factory. The factory is expected to create 700 new green collar jobs.

Siemens is looking at sites for the plant in the North East and East of England with good harbour access being a fundamental requirement.

Tesco to Sell Feed in Tariff Solar Panels

Supermarket giant Tesco is to start selling solar panels in the UK according to the Timesonline today.

The UK Feed In Tariff is programmed to start on Thursday 1st April and expected to result in a substantial number of people starting to generate their own green electricity. Under the scheme

GE to Create 2000 Green Jobs in the UK

Wind turbine manufacturer GE announced this week that it plans to spend 110m Euros (US$147m) and create up to 2000 green jobs in the UK. The company is to join other wind turbine manufacturers who have recently decided to invest heavily in the UK offshore wind energy market.

GE plans to build an offshore wind turbine manufacturing base in the UK and will also create application and service engineering centres around the country. GE say the investment will follow the successful outcome of the UK governments grid infrastructure competition which is intended to make the roll out of Round 3 UK offshore wind a reality. The company wants to develop a 4 Megawatt capacity wind turbine.

President and CEO of GE International Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco said;

Conservative Energy Policy Goes Live

The Conservatives want to put in place an offshore wind energy grid and “take the poison out of onshore wind” according to their energy policy released this week.

Shadow Prime Minister David Cameron says the Conservative policy paper “Rebuilding Security” sets out the party’s would-be programme for a reform of British energy policy. They say their policy would facilitate action to combat the looming collapse in energy supply from 2013-2017 and 12 action points are outlined.

To encourage renewable energy, the Conservatives say:

Europe’s Biggest Wind Farm Loses Turbine Blade

A wind turbine at Europe’s biggest wind farm lost a blade last Friday according to wind farm operator Scottish Power Renewables.

All of the 140 turbines at the Whitelee wind farm were switched off further to the incident whilst engineers investigated possible causes.

Scotland Dubbed Potential Saudi Arabia of Marine Power

Scotland’s first Minister Alex Salmond has described Scottish waters as the Saudi Arabia of marine power in response to the announcement of a new marine project.

The Scottish Government has been working with The Crown Estate who owns the sea bed off Scotland and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Orkney Islands Council and Highland Council on the offshore marine project aimed at delivering 1.2 gigawatts (GW) electricity from sites off Caithness and Orkney.

Areas of seabed with potential for marine energy have now been leased by the Crown Estate to

Anti- Wind Turbine Councillor Flees to Spain

A local councillor who won his seat at Kings Lynn & West Norfolk Council due to his anti- wind turbine stance mysteriously disappeared to Spain after getting planning restrictions on his house removed and selling it.

According to the Wisbech Standard Cllr Markinson had previously been refused permission to lift the agricultural occupancy restriction but after he was elected in October 2007 he tried again with more success.

Factory Wind Turbine Turned Down

Princes Soft Drinks proposal for a wind turbine at its factory in Bradford was rejected last week due to impact on inhabitants of neighbouring properties.

Planning Inspector Elizabeth Ord said that wind turbine noise levels experienced by nearby residents, both at night and during the day would be lower than the limits recommended in nationally recognised guidance (ETSU R 97 “The Rating and Assessment of Noise from Wind Turbines” ). Despite this she believed that the wind turbine could still lead to sleep disturbance.

Second Challenge to Essex Wind Farm Proposals

A second challenge has been made to an Essex wind farm proposal this week leading to questions about the effectiveness of UK planning and legal systems.

The Bradwell wind farm proposal submitted by wind energy company npower renewables has been subject to two public inquiries at which planning consent was granted on both occasions.

China Pilots Battery Storage Project

The Chinese State Grid company is to join the energy storage seekers this year according to state news agency Xinhua this week.

The State Grid is set to build a pilot integrated renewable energy power storage system this year utilising battery technology. The demonstration project is to be built in Zhangjiakou, Hebei and speculators predict the build costs will be circa 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion).

Micro Renewable Energy Generators Seek Higher Feed in Tariff

UK guaranteed green electricity price tariffs are creating serious interest in small scale renewable energy generation this year.

There is however a group of people not so happy about the detail of the feed in tariff proposals.

For the pioneers who installed their renewable generator before July 15th 2009 the government is offering much lower payments compared with those available to new generators. The original renewable generators will earn 9 pence (US 14 cents) per unit compared with the tariff offering up to 41.3p (US 65 cents) a unit for newly installed generators.

Infrastructure Planning Commission Lift Off

The UK’s new Infrastructure Planning Commission opened its doors to major infrastructure planning applications this week.

The first applications are anticipated from the energy and transport sectors including several wind farm proposals (Atlantic Array offshore wind farm – RWE npower, Irish Sea offshore wind farm – Centrica and Nant-y-Moch wind farm, Wales – Airtricity).

€2.4m needed for Offshore Wind Farm Ship Investments

Measures to make investment in offshore wind vessels more attractive are being urged by European Shipyard and Wind Energy Associations.

The Community of European Shipyards Association (CESA) and the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) want the European Commission and European Investment Bank to help stimulate the funding of new ships to build offshore wind farms.