The world of renewables has been buzzing so there’s plenty of news to report on…

Study says renewable energy can create 2.7 million new jobs by 2030

As if carbon-free, clean, secure electricity weren’t enough, renewable energy could create 2.7 million new jobs worldwide over the next 20 years. So say Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). Working for Climate predicts that with support the renewable energy industry could be hosting 6.9 million jobs, up from 1.9 million today.
“Business as usual” with power generation would actually see a decline in the power workforce by 500,000 over the same time. Take a look for yourself here.

The first Smart Grid becomes operational

The world’s first working Smart Grid is now operational in Boulder City, Colorado. A Smart Grid is an electricity network with highly advanced features. It allows increased reliability by reducing power fluctuations, provides customers with live and accurate information about their usage, and even allows home appliances to interact with the energy grid.

We will cover Smart Grid’s in more detail soon, but for now the real reason we are interested in them is that smart grids are much better suited to renewable energy than standard grids. They allow consumption to work hand and hand with demand by linking energy generators to household goods. For example, imagine your dishwasher being connected to the national grid and able to exchange information. You could load up your dirty dishes and the dishwasher could decide when it is best to start washing – i.e. when there is most power on the grid. So the dishwasher would essentially start washing when the wind is blowing. This helps iron out the peaks and troughs of wind power.

There are also huge energy saving benefits where consumers can design their own power management systems and work with their provider to reduce consumption.

In fact, there are loads of benefits. Learn more from this update by Excel Energy who have built the grid. They’ve overhauled the entire grid in Boulder City and connected 16,000 homes up with smart meters to boot. So far so good (according to them at least – we’ll be digging a little deeper to see how it’s gone with the residents and local businesses.) To see this working is very encouraging for the future of Smart Grids around the world.

New offshore wind developments

Here’s another exciting first…Some months ago we wrote about the concept of an offshore floating wind turbine. A huge lump of offshore wind investment goes into surveying and building deep sea foundations for the turbines. So StatoilHydro, a Norwegian energy firm, is trying to cut this cost by building a device that would allow the turbine to float. Last week they announced the world’s first functioning Hywind 2.3MW turbine prototype, built in the North Sea and launched for a two year testing period.

If all goes to plan, the floating method will allow turbines to be placed further out to sea where winds are stronger and more consistent.


And then there’s the research being carried out by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) in Loughborough on monitoring systems to bring down the cost of offshore wind. The ETI has launched a £5 million project to develop systems for monitoring the health and performance of offshore turbines and forecast maintenance or failure before it happens. It believes that this will save each turbine up to £50,000 a year.

DECC announces £7.2 million fuel cell competition

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has kicked off a huge competition to encourage UK companies research into hydrogen fuel cells. The cash will fund research and development costs for prototypes and demonstration projects using cost effective hydrogen technology, and will be overseen by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB).

60MW biomass plant approved for Tilbury

A £250 million 60MW biomass and solid waste recovery plant has been given the DECC green light for construction at a Tilbury docks in Essex. To be housed in already existing disused buildings (ticking all the green boxes!), the plant will generate enough power for around 100,000 homes a year and prevent 175,000 tonnes of coal being burnt.

Bike Belles

Finally, check out the new site of our partner Sustrans by the name of Bike Belles. bikebelles.org.uk sets out to encourage women to get cycling as transport and has some fantastic ideas and resources.

Green Energy Republic