Ofgem relax the rules and National grid speed up connections

On Friday last week Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, said it would be relaxing the rules on connection to the national grid for renewable energy projects in order to speed up the process. The new rules allow projects to be connected to the grid as soon as their local connection is ready instead of having to wait for national review. This has brought forward 450MW of renewable energy that has been waiting to get online.

The new rules have allowed the National Grid to get renewable energy projects connected more quickly, with 16 installations being brought forward by an average of six years, and one wind farm being brought forward from 2018 to 2009.

Both the National Grid and Ofgem are keen to plough ahead with renewables as quickly as possible, but whilst this is good news there is still 1.3GW of capacity waiting in the queue. If the government wants to meet its own energy targets it needs to maintain momentum, and then some!

Scottish community welcomes turbines and ask for more

There was a refreshing story in the Guardian yesterday that stood out amidst the prevailing nimbyism which often derails wind farm developments. Not only did the residents of Fintry in Stirlingshire welcome a wind farm in their town, they asked for more turbines!

When developers from West Coast Energy turned up to Fintry they expected the usual barrage of protests and setbacks from passionate anti wind campaigners (they are always the minority, albeit a vocal one!). Instead the village asked the developers to build another turbine that they would fund themselves and then benefit from the energy generated.

As with many of the communities we work with at Good Energy, Fintry saw the huge benefits of a cooperative investment that will not only be good for the environment but also a great source of income. A year on the turbine has generated £140,000 for local residents and has enabled the launch of the Fintry Development Trust which helps the community with energy-saving and low-carbon investments. Now 150 homes have been fitted with cavity wall or roof insulation, local centres have been switched to energy-efficient lighting, and the group is looking into transport and food production.

Good Energy works with many other community energy projects such as Westmill Wind Farm. These projects are great ways to finance wind farms and can bring significant benefits to the community.

If you are interested in developing a project of your own, Good Energy can support you along the way. Get in touch with us on generation@goodenergy.co.uk.

Green Energy Republic