Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Exiled_Tyke said:

Interesting article on how PV can help poorer households but also very interesting (especially as the public are frequently gearing up to oppose large scale PV farms) a little section at the end reports that the RSPB are claiming they are good for bio-diversity and rare bird species.  
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/13/solar-panels-could-cut-energy-bills-by-quarter-fuel-poor-uk-families-study

Saw this article, and thought of your posting:

Research shows solar can meet UK electricity demand four-fold without loss of farmland

[I found the title a little confusing, I think the four-fold relates to the proportion of UK leccy expected to come from PV.]

A new research study from the University of Sheffield has revealed that combining solar panels with farming practices can enable the UK to meet its solar energy targets without sacrificing farmland.

The research paper, which has been published in the academic journal Science Direct, shows that well-managed agrivoltaics (Agri-PV) projects can support the simultaneous production of crops, livestock and renewable energy. Furthermore, the research demonstrates that agri-PV has such high coverage potential in the UK that it alone could help meet UK solar deployment targets, with around 55.5% of British land proving suitable for deployment of agri-PV.

For clarification, here is the study and an extract:

The spatial potential for agrivoltaics to address energy-agriculture land use conflicts in Great Britain

This study quantifies the extent that existing solar parks overlap with different grades of agricultural land, and forecasts where PV-agriculture land use conflicts may occur in the future. Where agrivoltaics could alleviate these conflicts is determined based on expert stakeholder insights, revealing that this technology could theoretically generate 338 TWh/year while maintaining outputs from 20,272 km2 of high-grade farmland.

To put that purely theoretical 338TWh in context, total UK leccy demand is approx 315TWh pa.

wakeupalarm

UK’s offshore windfarms to be painted black to protect birds

A study in Norway which examined the effects of dyeing one wind turbine blade black found it resulted in a 70% fall in associated bird deaths.

Accompanying Music

Coastalwatch

NESO seeking to bolster the Grid through international cooperation.

Joining the Renewables Grid Initiative

We’ve joined the Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI) to strengthen our relationships with international transmission system operators on our shared journey to decarbonising global energy systems.

Greater collaboration with Non-Government Organisations in the climate and grid space internationally gives us an opportunity to discuss and monitor emerging challenges to achieving net-zero together.

https://www.neso.energy/news/joining-renewables-grid-initiative

70sbudgie

This is a big step towards decarbonising the electricity network. Not only is this Europe's largest battery to date, providing grid balancing services to some large and media hungry windfarms, it is also a world first with the grid stability services it will provide. (Inertia has traditionally been provided by rotating fossil fuel generators).

https://www.zenobe.com/news-and-events/blackhillock-battery-storage-launch/

QrizB

70sbudgie said:

This is a big step towards decarbonising the electricity network. Not only is this Europe's largest battery to date, providing grid balancing services to some large and media hungry windfarms, it is also a world first with the grid stability services it will provide. (Inertia has traditionally been provided by rotating fossil fuel generators).
https://www.zenobe.com/news-and-events/blackhillock-battery-storage-launch/

I agree it's impressive, but 600MWh seems quite small compared to the 1.9GW of wind farms it's being fed by (and is expected to arbitrate).

Magnitio

Coastalwatch said:

NESO seeking to bolster the Grid through international cooperation.

Joining the Renewables Grid Initiative

We’ve joined the Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI) to strengthen our relationships with international transmission system operators on our shared journey to decarbonising global energy systems.

Greater collaboration with Non-Government Organisations in the climate and grid space internationally gives us an opportunity to discuss and monitor emerging challenges to achieving net-zero together.

https://www.neso.energy/news/joining-renewables-grid-initiative

Hopefully they put in some defences against Russian ship anchors.

Exiled_Tyke

Not only good news for RE development but also for international relations.  

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/06/uk-and-ireland-announce-deal-connecting-offshore-windfarms-to-energy-networks

(This may be the same facts that CW picked up but told from a slightly different perspective) 

70sbudgie

Does anyone else see the NESO monthly updates on energy?
https://www.neso.energy/energy-101/great-britains-monthly-energy-stats

February:
25TWh consumed
48% from zero carbon 

And lots of other stats.

Martyn1981

Some news, a bit boring, but as a 'twofer deal' thought it worth posting.

So, we have some news on the investment plans to upgrade our grid for the all-leccy future we are moving towards:

National Grid awards £59bn in HVDC contracts

National Grid has awarded two parts of a £59bn high voltage direct current (HVDC) supply chain framework that will help integrate more clean energy generation.

Launched in 2023, the HVDC supply chain framework aims to establish long-term, strategic, contractual relationships and secure the critical equipment needed for current and future projects.

Six HVDC cable suppliers being awarded positions on the Framework Agreement totalling approximately £21.3bn, and four suppliers are being awarded places on the HVDC Converter Framework, totalling approximately £24.6bn.

Both Frameworks cover both confirmed and anticipated projects.

And a news piece on a PV farm with battery. Nothing special, so to speak, but it's a biggie, so I thought I'd mention as a reminder that these schemes are rolling out all over the World now, as energy generation and storage changes/develops.

Copia Power closes on US$1.71 billion debt facility for 2,200MWh Arizona energy centre

The centre, located in Maricopa County, Arizona, US, consists of 550MW of solar and 2,200MWh of battery energy storage capacity. The project, which will be constructed in two phases, has secured power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the utility Arizona Public Service (APS) and is expected to be operational in 2026-2027.

Exiled_Tyke

Is this part of the same National Grid awards,  Martyn?   Either way it's pretty significant news for SAE which made expensive mistakes with it's investment in  Uskmouth . Hopefully it has turned a corner now, which is particularly important as it's one of the big innovators in tidal energy so we really need it to do well. 

https://saerenewables.com/sae-successfully-secures-contract-in-latest-capacity-round-auction/