Inform Carbon Reduction UK record for wind power generation


Wind turbines generate all- time high of electricity supply


The UK’s wind turbines generated a record 12.2% of all electricity supply during December, accord- ing to new figures.


The record wind power genera- tion was recorded on 28 December as storms hit Britain and powered onshore and offshore wind tur- bines to an all-time high, displac- ing the previous record of 10% of all electricity supply.


Figures released by the trade body Renewable UK show that across the whole of December, UK wind farms were responsible for an average 5.3% of demand


– more than any of the previous three months.


“Wind energy represents a new paradigm in electricity generation, allowing us to harness the power of the weather when it’s available, cutting our fossil fuel bills and lowering our carbon emissions,” said Gordon Edge, director of policy at Renewable UK. The December storms helped to more than double the average load factor – the ratio of average output over maximum capacity during a period of time – of wind turbines to up to 66% on 4 January. The average is around 30%.


Data released by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in


December shows that nine per- cent of the UK’s electricity was generated from renewable ener- gy schemes between July and September.


The UK is dependent on wind power production in helping it meet its legally binding target of cutting carbon emissions by 34% below 1990 levels by 2020. The UK’s wind power capacity is expected to grow by a third this year.


Although the success was


largely put down to high winds, particularly across Scotland where there is the largest concentration of wind farms, Renewable UK acknowledged the National Grid’s


Supply firm trials hydrogen vehicles


Commercial Group considers low-carbon alternative


SME office supply company Commercial Group claims to have become the first business of its


hydrogen delivery vehicles after completing a trial scheme to test the technology.


The company took part in ITM Power's nationwide Hydrogen On Site Trial (HOST) pro- gramme. So far 22 companies, including Carillion, RAC and Tarmac, have trialled HOST. Over the five-day


trial


Commercial ran two HICE (hydrogen internal combustion engine) Transit vehicles, sup- plied by ITM, using its transport- able high pressure refuelling unit (HFuel). HFuel makes hydrogen on site, using only water and electricity, and refills vehicles in just five minutes.


The vans were used to deliv- er goods in the Gloucestershire region, situated within a 40-mile radius of Commercial’s base in Cheltenham.


Commercially viable: one of Commercial Group's hydrogen vehicles


Commercial's environmental strategist, Simon Graham said: “We are currently exploring a number of low carbon vehicle options. “The opportunity to be part of HOST enabled us to see first- hand how hydrogen will work for the company and gain an invaluable insight into the ben- efits this particular technology has to offer.”


Commercial has run its 60-strong fleet on sustainable biodiesel for the past six years and hopes that the results of this particular trial will show a green-


er, more flexible fuel option that will, if taken up by the company, further reduce the environmental impact of its deliveries. “Our award-winning biodiesel system has been a huge success and is one of the main reasons we have been able to reduce our van emissions by 78%. “To reduce our emissions fur- ther we need to look at alterna- tive low-carbon fuels, what were emerging technologies in 2005 are now becoming commercially viable and we will be exploring a number of them to see which fits our business best.”


BRIEFS BRITAIN'S INSTALLED WIND CAPACITY HAS TOPPED 6GW – ENOUGH TO POWER 3M HOMES 12 | Sustainable Business | January/February 2012 www.sustainablebusinessonline.com kind in the UK to use


successful management of wind output during the period. Last year, the company, which is responsible for balancing the output of the UK’s electricity gen- erators with demand from con- sumers on a minute-by-minute basis, launched a new wind power forecasting system to more accu- rately predict output from the UK’s wind farms. “As we’re generating increas-


ingly large amounts of electric- ity from wind, feeding those large volumes of power into the system represents an engineering chal- lenge to the National Grid – a challenge we’re pleased to see they met over Christmas,” added Edge.


BP PULLS OUT OF SOLAR


Oil giant BP will wind down its solar power arm claiming that it has become unprof- itable. Europe’s second- largest oil company will shut its solar power business over the next few months, accord- ing to BP Solar’s CEO Mike Petrucci in an internal letter sent to staff. “The continuing global economic challenges have significantly impacted the solar industry, making it difficult to sustain long-term returns for the company,” he said.


The solar business will shut claiming oversupply and price pressures has made the industry commercially unviable. In July last year, the company announced it would quit manufacturing and focus on developing large-scale solar projects. The business will now sell its stakes in the 158MW of projects it has developed with local partners in countries including Italy, Spain, the UK, Germany and the US.


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