Also announced is the new rule that all future recipients of the RHPP must undergo a Green Deal assessment to qualify – a process which will typically cost homeowners £100-£150.

Therefore, payments for ground source heat pumps will nearly double from £1,250 to £2,300 whilst those who install air source heat pumps will now receive £1,300, up from £850. Biomass support has increased from £950 to £2,000 and solar thermal £300 to £600.

To read the full press release, click here.

Read the full blog post here.

The 1.2MW system comprises 4,113 modules and was installed for Alan Bartlett and Sons, a family-owned company specialising in the large scale supply of carrots and parsnips on the roof of their state-of-the-art processing and packaging plant at Chatteris, in Cambridgeshire.

The project was noteworthy for the innovative use of an export-limiting system on site. Because of a large wind farm nearby the local distribution network could not accept additional energy export from the site , and UK Power Networks would only grant consent if they could be assured that the system would not export onto the grid.

This looked like being a significant obstacle to the project, however Ardenham Energy’s engineers worked in conjunction with White Solar to develop an electronic control system to measure the level of import to the site.The site has a large consumption, and when there is potential for the generation to exceed the site demand the system will reduce the level of generation in a sequential manner  until the site consumption raises again.

The installation was completed ahead of schedule, despite Ardenham Energy’s installers being hampered by snow and severe cold. This was critical in order for Alan Bartlett and Sons to register the installation before the new ROC bandings come into force.

Click here to read the Press Release

The following is from DECC’s press release:

“The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme, launched for industrial and commercial customers in November 2011, is a key part of the Government’s approach to cutting carbon and spurring on the uptake of renewable heating kit. As recently announced, DECC is planning to carry out a review of the tariffs under this scheme to drive forward further uptake and has today set out which technologies will be included in this review.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said:

“The Renewable Heat Incentive, which has been available for non domestic investors for over a year, is a key part of our approach to cutting carbon and driving forward the move to more sustainable low carbon heating alternatives.

“So far over 1,000 groups have got on board, and today we have outlined details of our tariff review to help encourage even more organisations to invest.

“We remain committed to introducing an incentive scheme for householders too, and have today set out an updated timetable for its launch alongside plans to extend our renewable heat voucher scheme in the meantime.”

Ardenham Energy will be exhibiting at Facilities Show from 14-16th May at the NEC in Birmingham.

Come and see us on stand G97!

Ardenham Energy will be attending the Renewable Energy Exchange networking event in Newmarket on 1st May2013.

Renewable Energy Exchange (REX) networking events create a market-place that enables those interested in investing in renewable or energy efficiency technologies to have a series of pre-arranged appointments with potential suppliers. Buyers can then review their options and so make well-informed and timely decisions as to the best technology to utilise and the right installer to work with.

REX networking events are ideal for landowners, businesses, housing associations, schools and all others looking to take advantage of the FiT, RHI and Green Deal schemes.

Ardenham Energy will be exhibiting at Sustainability Live from 16-18th April at the NEC in Birmingham.

Come and see us on stand K53!

Ardenham Energy will be exhibiting at the National Homebuilding & Renovating Show, which is being held at the NEC in Birmingham from 21st-24th March.

Come and see us on stand A173!

EDDIE MARTIN summed up with a flourish. “I am not going to be a puppet dancing to the government’s tune,” the Cumbria county councillor told a packed public meeting on Wednesday. “I’m exhausted and it’s time to call a halt.”

Placard-toting protesters, huddled under a public address system set up outside, nodded in agreement.

They had gathered to oppose a £12bn plan to build an underground nuclear waste dump at Ennerdale and Eskdale within the Lake District national park. Cumbria is already home to Europe’s biggest nuclear waste dump, at Sellafield, but the protesters won the day. The council voted 7 to 3 against adding another one.

The rejection neatly encapsulates Britain’s huge energy challenge — and the government’s fumbling attempts to meet it.

David Cameron has made lavish promises about what the government’s £200bn low-carbon overhaul of the energy industry can deliver — jobs for workers, big returns for companies. The problem is that few believe his government can deliver on its promises. Fears are growing of a supply crunch that could lead to rolling blackouts as soon as four years from now as old power plants are retired.

By the end of this winter coal-fired plants capable of powering 6m homes will be mothballed to comply with European pollution regulations, according to Utilyx, the energy consultant. Yet only one gas plant is being built to fill the gap.

Uncertainty over policy has paralysed the industry. No fewer than 27 consultations are being carried out by the regulator and the energy department on different aspects of the industry. These include reviews of key aspects of the central “electricity market reform” legislation, which will introduce subsidies for new nuclear, wind and gas power.

Mark Powell, head of power and utilities at AT Kearney, the consultancy, said: “Nobody is building anything. There are no new nukes, and very little movement on wind [development]. No one has the confidence to make the investments because the policy environment is so unclear.”

The stasis has become so severe that some power companies have begun to look at how they could “un-mothball” old fossil-fuel stations if replacements do not get built in time.

Centrica will bring the issue to a head this month. At its annual results the British Gas owner is expected to reveal it is pulling out of the project to build Britain’s first new nuclear power plant in two decades.

Its partner EDF, the power giant controlled by the French state, is locked in talks with the government over the subsidy it claims it needs before it breaks ground on the plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

Industry sources estimate that the government will guarantee a power price at least twice the current rate. Given that annual household bills have doubled in the past five years to more than £1,300, the subsidy, which will be fed through to taxpayers, is sure to cause outrage.

That is unlikely to sway Centrica, however. The company has the option to take a 20% share of the new plant. Since it inked the agreement in 2009 the estimated cost has soared from £9bn to £14bn, and the projected completion date has slid by at least four years.

Citi, the investment bank, said: “Centrica would need to spend [about] £3bn over the next 10 years yet realise little, if anything, by way of returns in the current decade.”

Two other factors have transformed the picture since the government began talking up its plans to “green” Britain.

The first is the recession. Four of the big six energy utilities are foreign-owned giants that have been hit hard by troubles in their home markets. Eon and RWE of Germany, EDF, and Iberdrola, the Spanish owner of Scottish Power, are lumbered with nearly £120bn of debt between them.

All have launched global asset sales to shore up their balance sheets. Piling on more debt to build expensive new plants in Britain is not a high priority. Powell said: “Are the current power companies really the best ones to fund the [next generation of power plants]?”

He suggests a new model may emerge that sees the utilities take a back seat. Deep-pocketed investors, such as the Chinese state or pension funds, could fund the construction of new plants. Utilities could then outsource the customer service function — something the industry has long struggled with — to savvy operators such as Tesco or Virgin, which have a better track record at handling large customer rolls.

This would leave the big six as the owners of large industrial operations without the headache of complaining customers or the need to fork out tens of billions for new plants.

The other game-changer is shale gas. America’s gas price has plummeted to less than half of Britain’s thanks to vast new resources unlocked there.

Few believe Britain will repeat America’s trick. Yet the technology that has been perfected there is likely to open up huge resources elsewhere, such as China and Argentina.

The upshot is that the world is entering what the International Energy Agency has dubbed the “golden age of gas”. That is why energy traders think gas will be cheaper in 2019 than it is today (see chart).

Britain has invested billions in building gas importing facilities, making it one of only a handful of countries able to benefit from the boom. That possibility — and it is only a possibility — raises fresh questions over whether the government should favour offshore wind farms that cost six times as much as gas-fired plants.

Amid such seismic changes, Whitehall appears at a loss as to how best to achieve its goal — or indeed to know what that goal is. Is it security of supply? Affordability? Less pollution?

Andrew Horstead, an analyst at Utilyx, said: “The energy bill aims to drive [£200bn of] investment in new low-carbon power, but can it come in time to avoid blackouts before the end of the decade? With just one gas plant currently being built, it could prove too little, too late to keep the lights on.”

Danny Fortson, The Sunday Times, February 3rd, 2013