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in England, including new and existing non- residential buildings, to have at least one electric car charger installed if they have a car park for 20 cars or more. The Department for Transport (DfT) has now said
it will only be compulsory for new or refurbished commercial premises. According to a response to a consultation, the
DfT has said the move comes after fears over the costs for businesses.
Government back tracks on EV charging points T
he Government has backtracked on plans which would have required every shop, office or factory
Environmental campaigners and car industry
experts have warned this could lead to charger access lagging behind the growing demand for electric vehicles. According to data from the Society of Motor
Manufacturers and Traders, plug-in cars accounted for 28% of November’s new car sales in the UK.
75% of UK chargers installed in 2021
are classed as non-rapid The Telegraph reported that only one in four electric vehicle chargers installed last year allows for ‘rapid’ charging within half an hour. RAC analysis of government figures on new
chargers showed that over the first three quarters of 2021 4,109 non-rapid chargers were installed compared with 1,043 rapid and ultra- rapid chargers. The newly installed chargers mean that of the
total 25,927 chargers operating in the UK fewer than one in five, 4,923, is rapid or ultra-rapid. Rapid chargers are classed as those operating at 43 kilowatts (kW) or more.
Two new electricity interconnectors planned for UK
O
fgem has opened bids to build two electricity interconnectors
between the UK and continental Europe. The energy regulator said this
would “bring forward billions of pounds of investment” in the subsea cables, which can import cheaper energy when needed and export surplus power from the UK when it is available. Developers will be invited to
submit bids to build the interconnectors later this year. Ofgem will additionally run a pilot scheme for “multiple-purpose interconnectors”, which are used to link clusters of offshore wind farms to an interconnector. This forms part of the UK
Government drive to more than double capacity by 2030, in support of its target of quadrupling
offshore wind capacity by the same date. Interconnectors provide some
7% of UK electricity demand. The UK so far has seven electricity interconnectors linked to Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway. Balfour Beatty won a £90 million
contract for onshore civil engineering works on the Viking Link Norway interconnector, which is due to come into operation in 2023. It said that interconnector
developers have in the past been allowed to propose their preferred design, connection location and sea route to the connecting country. Ofgem has now said it may
decide to consider only those projects that meet its requirements based on an analysis of location and capacity needs by National Grid. Ofgem has not
specified that the new interconnectors must link to any specific place or country, but may do so at a later date.
6 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • DECEMBER 2021/JANUARY 2022
electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk
Sarah Winward-Kotecha, the RAC’s director of
electric vehicles, said: “The number of public chargers isn’t yet keeping pace with the volume of new electric cars coming onto the road, and most devices being installed are still slower ones. “While this is fine for somebody who leaves their
car at an office while they’re at work, they’re pretty unhelpful in other places like shopping centres and supermarkets where a driver’s vehicle will be parked for a shorter period.”
Skanska wins £53m Slough data centre contract
S
kanska has signed a £53 million contract to
build a new data centre in Slough for developer Virtus. The LONDON11 data
centre design and build job includes fit-out of six new data halls, construction of external steelwork plant gantries, plant rooms for mechanical and electrical and public health services, all MEPH infrastructure across the site and office fit out. Construction work begins this month to complete the project by Spring
2023. The construction of LONDON11 will add more than 13MW of new capacity
within 5,500m2 of net technical space at the Slough campus. This increases Virtus’ total data centre estate to more than 178MW and
77,000m2 across its UK locations. This includes the four data centres within Virtus’ Stockley Park Campus,
all built by Bouygues Energies & Services and makes Virtus Data Centres one of Europe’s leading data centre providers. Neil Cresswell, chief executive of Virtus Data Centres said: “The start of
building LONDON11 is a significant milestone in a busy year for Virtus. “Throughout the COVID-19 epidemic our focus on operational excellence
has enabled us to provide safe, reliable service to our valued customers, from our five live data centres, whilst also safely bringing two additional new data centres live in the past six months.”
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