Major wind power developers have been invited to bid to build Bristol City Council’s two wind turbines at Avonmouth – the first local authority owned wind farm in the country.

It is hoped that a contract can be awarded in April, and the wind turbines will be up and running by April 2013.

Council officials claim that, once built, the turbines will save an estimated 6,600 tonnes of carbon per year and will cost between £5-6 million. They say costs will be recovered through savings on the council’s energy bills and sales made on the electricity produced.

The site for the turbines is just off Severn Road in Avonmouth on the former Shell oil tank site, which is owned by the council.

Council leader Barbara Janke said: “This is an important step in Bristol becoming the first local authority in the country to develop our own wind turbines. Following our energy services company announcement last week, it highlights how Bristol is forging ahead with an ambitious renewable energy agenda.

“The wind turbines will demonstrate our determination to encourage clean, green energy and make a clear statement of intent in our efforts to reduce the city’s carbon footprint. Bristol now has the lowest carbon emissions of England’s major cities (excluding London) with overall reductions of 15% since 2005, and 20% per capita.

“Wind turbines are already well established in Avonmouth and the public consultation we held for this project showed overwhelming public support for our plans. I’d urge wind developers to come forward to help us deliver this exciting renewable energy project.”

For more information on the project, visit: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/avonmouth-wind-turbines-project. Companies wishing to find out more detail about the tender process for the project should see https://www.proactisplaza.com/SupplierPortal/

Solar panel

The Government has lost its bid to overturn a High Court ruling that its plans to cut subsidies for solar panels on homes are unlawful.

The Court of Appeal this morning rejected Energy Secretary Chris Huhne’s claim that he had the power to go ahead with the controversial scheme.

Bristol24-7 reported in December that the initial judgment came after a challenge by Friends of the Earth and two solar companies who argued that the government’s decision to cut the feed-in tariff – which allowed householders to earn money for extra electricity they generated and provided to the National Grid – with only a few weeks’ notice was premature and unlawful.

The government announced in October that it would cut the subsidy with effect from December 12. This was 11 days before the consultation ended.

Bristol City Council said in October that the decision would reduce potential jobs growth and impact on its energy efficiency and renewable energy plans.

Council leader Barbara Janke said the timing and speed of the announcement was “short-sighted and very frustrating” for authorities like Bristol.

“At a time when we should be supporting growing industries, this cut in tariffs could threaten jobs in the solar energy sector – one that is very strong in Bristol and the South West,” she said.

Today’s ruling has now forced the government to delay its plans, potentially allowing thousands more people to claim the higher subsidy.

Barbara Janke

Plans to establish a citywide energy services company for Bristol will lead to lower household fuel bills, 1,000 new green energy jobs and up to £2billion investment in the city economy.

That was the message from Bristol City Council leader Barbara Janke after the city was awarded a £2.5 million grant from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The plans were launched last week at Redland Green School – the first secondary school in the city to install solar photovoltaic modules on its roof.

As part of this programme, schools will also be installing energy efficiency works such as energy efficient lighting and insulation and rolling out energy awareness activities with staff and pupils in the school. It is planned that the proposals announced will enable this programme to be massively expanded.

The Bristol energy services company will be owned by the City Council. It intends to secure half of its funding – about £70million – from the EIB and the rest from private sector investment. It would be an arms-length organisation and generate income through energy savings and energy generation.

Bristol City Council Leader Barbara Janke said: “This is a bold but necessary move for the city and we will be one of the first local authorities in the country to drive forward with such ambitious energy efficiency and renewable energy plans.

“In practical terms this will lead to cheaper bills for thousands of residents through investment in energy saving measures. This will also mean that as a city we will be generating our own energy, primarily
through a major investment in solar energy generation.

“It will help generate up to 1,000 new jobs in the construction and environmental technologies sectors – many I hope going to local firms and employees. The investment programme should also kick-start and attract much bigger investment in the city potentially up to £2 billion.”

The investment programme will initially be focused on:

• Improving the energy efficiency of over 6,000 homes and public buildings through wall insulation and other measures;
• Installing over 7,000 renewable energy generating systems on homes and public buildings such as solar panels and wood fuelled heating
• Developing small district heating networks where several buildings are heated from a single, efficient boiler. These will be located in areas where there are several high-energy users close together such as in the city centre.

This investment programme would:

• Invest up to £140 million into the city, creating up to 1,000 new jobs, many locally – in the environmental technologies and construction sectors;
• Reduce the carbon emissions from homes by up to 3% – helping to achieve the city’s ambitious carbon targets;
• Improve energy security and reduce fuel poverty in the city by making buildings more energy efficient;
• Support the market for renewable energy systems and develop Bristol’s position in environmental technologies.

Simon Brooks, EIB vice president said: “The launch of the European Local Energy Assistance programme in Bristol will
both improve energy efficiency and ensure supply of low carbon and renewable energy in the city. The broad range of projects planned in Bristol will inspire similar cities in the UK and across Europe to look at ways to accelerate deployment of feasible energy efficiency and renewable energy schemes.”

Bristol Business News

Climate change minister Greg Barker

Bristol’s reputation as the UK’s green capital is underpinned today when it becomes the launchpad for the UK’s first marine energy park.

The decision to designate an area stretching from Bristol through to Cornwall and as far as the Isles of Scilly as the South West Marine Energy Park places the region on the international map for leadership in marine renewable energy.

Climate Change Minister Greg Barker will make the announcement on a visit to Bristol today where he will meet key members of the new initiative.

The park will create a collaborative partnership in the region between national and local government, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the Universities of Plymouth and Exeter and industry including Cornwall’s Wave Hub. The aim of the partnership will be to speed up the progress of marine power development.

Energy from the waves or tides has the potential to generate up to 27GW of power in the UK alone by 2050, equivalent to the power generated from 8 coal-fired power stations, as well as helping to reduce emissions to fight climate change.

Ahead of today’s announcement, Mr Barker said: “This is a real milestone for the marine industry and for the South West region in securing its place in renewables history as the first official marine energy park. The South West can build on its existing unique mix of renewable energy resource and home-grown academic, technical and industrial expertise.

“Marine power has huge potential in the UK not just in contributing to a greener electricity supply and cutting emissions, but in supporting thousands of jobs in a sector worth a possible £15bn to the economy to 2050.

“The UK is already a world leader in wave and tidal power, so we should capitalise on this leadership to make marine power a real contender in the future energy market.”

Bristol City Council leader Barbara Janke, who is attending today’s launch, added: “This is very good news for Bristol and the South West and further reinforces our international reputation as a hub for renewable energy in the UK. Being part of the first Marine Energy Park will support Bristol’s growing environmental technologies sector and help us attract further investment and jobs.”

Householders in Bristol will receive lower gas bills after EDF Energy announced it will cut its prices by 5%.

EDF Energy increased its gas bills by 15.4% in November but said it would now cut them by 5% after a 9.2% decline in the one-year wholesale gas price.

The move follows speculation over the weekend that British Gas owner Centrica was considering a 10% reduction in households energy bills.

The company was the last of the major suppliers to raise its energy prices in the autumn and is the first to announce a cut, in reaction to the wholesale price fall.

Vincent de Rivaz, Chief Executive of EDF Energy, said: “What customers want more than anything else is fair, clear and transparent prices. We know they want action rather than words. That is why we are the first major supplier to announce a cut and were the last to increase prices.

“Today’s price cut is further evidence of our commitment to be fairer, simpler and more transparent. This is vital for consumer trust. We are working on a range of further steps as a responsible energy company to continue to build trust.”

The lower gas price announced today will come into effect on February 7.

Since EDF Energy’s last price change on 10 November 2011, the one-year wholesale gas price has decreased by 9.2%. Industry analysis shows wholesale prices make up about half of the final domestic gas bill.

The move comes on the day that an annual energy company satisfaction survey carried out by Which? showed that EDF finished second bottom in a table of the biggest six energy suppliers. Only 43% of its customers said they were satisfied with the company’s service or likely to recommend it to others.

The result comes after the introduction of a new billing system led to a surge in complaints from customers.

EDF said an average dual fuel bill customer with typical consumption paying by monthly direct debit will face a bill of £1,137 a year, compared with the current figure of £1,218 a year for British Gas.

A council project that aims to save millions of pounds worth of energy from council buildings is being launched tomorrow.

SmartSpaces is a European-wide project, which will involve Bristol City Council’s energy management team working in partnership with 11 local authorities across Europe and a number of ICT partners including IBM and BT.

The EU-funded project is worth over €7million over the next three years, of which Bristol will receive around €138,000.

The city council’s part in the project will focus on maximising the data provided by Automatic Meter Readers, which provide data on energy consumption every half hour for almost all of the council’s 500 buildings.  There are more than 2,100 electricity, gas, oil and renewable energy metered points and the challenge is to create a system that can make better, smarter use of all of this data and report both locally and internationally in a simple and understandable format.

The aim is to achieve better energy monitoring of all council buildings, improved communications to all staff about the energy usage of their building, and, ultimately, considerable energy savings.

Paul Isbell, energy manager at Bristol City Council in charge of the project, said: “By working with a range of European partners on this unique project, for the first time ever we are hoping we will be able to take ICT to the next level in this field, to use  all this data on energy consumption in buildings and create a system so that we can use it meaningfully. We are estimating that we should be able to reduce the council’s energy usage by about 10% – approximately £1 million of
savings – every year.”

Leader of the council, Cllr Barbara Janke, added: “There is huge potential for energy savings to be made from buildings, and with public buildings making up more than 10% of the overall EU building stock, this is a truly significant project that could play a major part in reducing energy usage throughout Europe.

“As it is a public project, it will be an open source system too, which means it can be shared with other companies and local authorities to then use in their own buildings.”

The eight countries involved in the project are the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey and  Serbia. The 11 SmartSpaces pilot sites where the energy saving services will be implemented and operated are located in Milan, Birmingham, Bristol, Istanbul, Belgrade, Leicester, Hagen, Lleida, Murcia, Venlo and Moulins. The range of public buildings will include office buildings, museums, university buildings, schools and sports centres. The project will be coordinated by empirica, an internationally active research and consulting firm from Bonn, Germany.

Werner B Korte, SmartSpaces project coordinator from empirica, said: ”SmartSpaces is the largest of the projects to be launched by the European Commission in the area of saving energy in public buildings using ICT, and a very ambitious one.

“The expectations are high. With its 26 partners from all over Europe and the 11 pilot sites in eight countries, this project is unique and will make the public authorities in Bristol and the other pilot site cities European frontrunners in the area  of energy efficiency services.”

The project will be officially launched at Bristol’s Create Centre tomorrow, with a special three-day session with all the partners.

Wessex Exploration, the Bristol-based hydrocarbon prospecting company, has won licenses to investigate five exploration blocks in the English Channel off the coast of southern England.

The awards by the Department of the Environment and Climate Change will give Wessex and partner NWE Mirrabooka two years to make geological and geophysical studies at the end of which there will be an option to drill or drop their commitment.

The blocks lie to the east and southeast of the shore-based giant Wytch Farm oil field. The acreage is believed to contain at least six different structural leads with a geological chance of success of these leads ranging from 15% to 32%. Wessex already holds 50% and 25% stakes in two southern England exploration blocks.

Wessex managing director Frederik Dekker said: “We have every intention with the support of our partner NWE Mirrabooka to bring at least one of the leads to a drillable status as soon as possible.”

Last month Wessex raised £12m in a placing to fund its participation in a multi-billion dollar oil find, known as the Zaedyus discovery, off the coast of Guyane (French Guiana) in South America. The company – which also has interests in projects in the Mozambique Channel and Western Sahara – has a 1.25% working interest in the Guyane Maritime Exclusive Exploration Licence.

Its shares were up 3% or 0.15p this morning at 5.15p.

Barbara Janke

Bristol has been awarded £2.2million for a low-carbon project to help mange energy in homes, schools and workplaces.

The electricity regulator Ofgem has awarded the funding to a joint project between Western Power Distribution and Siemens, working with Bristol City Council.

The Smart City Bristol Programme was launched in March this year, aimed at using ‘smart technology’ to reduce the city’s carbon emissions.

Welcoming the announcement council leader Barbara Janke said: “Bristol has led the way in recognising the importance of using smart technology to reduce the city’s carbon emissions, launching the Smart City Bristol Programme in March 2011.

“Bristol and the South West has a strong micro-electronics sector, with particular expertise in smart grid, so there are significant economic opportunities for the city. Today’s announcement of this £2.2 million investment is very welcome news and we look forward to working with Western Power Distribution, Siemens, the University of Bath and Knowle West Media Centre to deliver this pioneering project.”

Cllr Janke is in Brussels today and tomorrow to put forward Bristol’s
case for utilising European funding to support the roll out of superfast
broadband across the city.

The European Commission have invited Ms Janke  to meet with them to discuss the potential for Bristol to access the initial stage of a 9.1 billion Euro fund for ICT that will start in 2012.

Cllr Janke will be meeting with South West MEP Graham Watson to look at ways the council can work with him to lobby for Bristol and its interests.

In particular Cllr Janke will be asking him to support the council’s bid for European Green Capital Award, how we can encourage more foreign inward investment into the city, particularly from China, and to encourage him to lobby the UK Government to reconsider the feed in tariff review for solar.

Cllr Janke will also showcase Bristol’s efforts to become one of the greenest cities in Europe through a meeting of the Covenant of Mayors organisation.

Bristol was chosen to feature in a special video produced by the  Covenant of Mayors that will be shown during the conference. It will illustrate in particular Bristol’s efforts to use ICT in the delivery of the climate change agenda.

Ms Janke added: “It is vital that we use our influence to secure invaluable European investment to promote economic
growth in the city.

“Our past record shows this pays off. Bristol secured £8 million European funding to provide investment in the most deprived parts of the city. We’re in close negotiations with the European Investment Bank for a major energy investment programme in the city and now we have a further opportunity to make Bristol’s case for European funding to help our digital ambitions for the city.

“Superfast broadband infrastructure is vital if we’re to keep and attract businesses in the future, particularly in the creative and digital industries. This potential EU funding, combined with broadband investment through the Enterprise Zone will further enhance our digital credentials.”

Small businesses across the UK are spending £235million more on fuel than they were a year ago, new figures have revealed.

The average price of a gallon of fuel has risen from £5.50 to £6.23 in just a year. And if the government implements its 3p price hike in January then the UK’s 4.5 million SMEs can expect to pay a further £10million per day on fuel.

More than 100,000 members of the public have now signed an e-petition to trigger a Commons debate with MPs unanimously supporting a backbench motion to take action on rising prices.

Edward Rimmer, CEO of Bibby Financial Services which carried out the research, said: ”The Government really cannot ignore the reaction to this issue from businesses, which has been vocal and persistent, including more than 100,000 signatures on an e-petition and a debate in Parliament.

”Businesses cannot run without essentials such as fuel, so these extra costs will only serve to damage any prospects for businesses looking to move forward as we wait and work towards economic recovery.”

Meanwhile, the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers (FPS) have joined the call for the scrapping of the planned fuel duty increase.

The government plans to increase fuel duty by 3p a litre in January – meaning an extra £1.50 to fill an average car – and Chancellor George Osborne is under pressure to scrap that as part of his autumn statement on the economy later this month.

FPS chief executive Mark Askew said: “Given that the OFT identified many of our members customers are in the fuel poverty bracket, and DECC have informed us that this number is increasing, any additional costs which are passed on to the end user is only going to make the situation worse.

“It is really bad news for consumers at the moment because everywhere they turn they are faced with increases in essential household bills.  While the green deal may provide energy bill reductions going forward, it will not be effective until well after the fuel levies are increased. Also given the relatively small size of our market the income would not be significant and the lowering of the end users quality of life would not be worth the extra revenues raised.

“The FPS strongly opposes any duty increases to the fuels which it’s members supply.”

Company car drivers “abusing” their vehicles

New research from uSwitch.com reveals that drivers behave differently when driving a company car. Two thirds (67%) are more likely to take bigger risks when they’re driving a company car, while over half (52%) are more likely to speed than when driving their own car. 

And the bad behaviour doesn’t end there. Some 67% are also more likely to lane hop in company cars while more than six in ten (62%) say they’re more likely to jump the lights. And despite the dangers and the fact that it’s illegal, over eight in ten (83%) are more likely to use a mobile in their company car. 

With employers having to foot the bill for any repairs, drivers are also less likely to worry about the general wear and tear of their company car. Less than three in ten (27%) are more worried about knocking or scratching their work car than their personal car and less than a quarter (24%) bother to check the oil or water. And although they’re being trusted by their employer to look after it, just a fifth (21%) are concerned about the security of their work car more than their personal one.

Solar power Bristol

Bristol Business News

The proposed cut in government incentives for the solar energy industry will reduce potential jobs growth and impact on Bristol’s ambitious energy efficiency and renewable energy plan, according to Bristol City Council.

The government plans is to cut feed-in tariffs that support the installation of solar PV and also introduce reduced new tariffs for multi-installations. But in written evidence to the government’s consultation process, the council argues that the reduction is too drastic and implementation – by next month – too fast.

Council leader Barbara Janke said: “The timing and speed of this announcement is short-sighted and very frustrating for authorities like Bristol who have ambitious plans for solar roll-out. Multi-installation tariffs disadvantage local authorities and registered social landlords who play an important role in achieving energy bill savings for those in fuel poverty. We need the right level of financial incentive to be in place to get large-scale sustainable energy schemes off the ground – without it we are very hampered.

“At a time when we should be supporting growing industries, this cut in tariffs could threaten jobs in the solar energy sector – one that is very strong in Bristol and the South West. This is why we are calling on the government to introduce a gradual reduction in the tariff and implement it over a time scale that supports local authorities and the low carbon industry.

“We are all in agreement that we want to reduce carbon and encourage renewable industries, and Bristol is in the vanguard of cities doing so. We therefore need a framework in place that encourages these ambitions.”

The council says there are 30 solar companies in the Bristol area – of which about half have registered over the last year and have carried out almost 500 installations in the city this year alone.