Danish firm Dong Energy has been successful in its bid to construct two offshore wind farms off the Dutch coast, which experts in the industry claim will be the cheapest projects of their kind. The schemes will be constructed for 72.70 Euros per megawatt hour, which is considerably beneath the 103 Euro MWh record which was set in 2015 by Swedish firm Vattenfall for a scheme off Denmark’s coast. A spokesman for the wind industry trade group, WindEurope, Oliver Joy commented: “This is the cheapest we’ve ever seen by a long way and it puts offshore wind on a par with what it costs to build a new coal or gas power station.” Dong is the biggest offshore wind developer in the world, and this latest deal does not include the price of transmission cables and equipment that will link the scheme to onshore power networks. However, executives in the wind industry said that adding in these costs would still leave the project cost at around 87 Euros MWh. Over the life of the project, Dong had set a cost target of 100 Euros MWh in four years’ time and says it is pleased to have already met its goal. Dong’s Head of Wind Power, Samuel Leupold, said: ““We are reaching a critical industry milestone more than three years ahead of time. This demonstrates the great potential of offshore wind.” There were various factors that contributed to the Dutch deal, which will result in the construction of two find farms built just over 20km off the coast of Zeeland, a Dutch province. The cheaper cost of capital available in the Netherlands helped with the low cost, along with the relatively cheap cost of the steel used to construct offshore wind turbines. Leupold added that the firm has reached a significant milestone three years ahead of schedule and shows the huge potential of offshore wind.

The UK solar industry has launched a new initiative in celebration of its third ‘Solar Independence Day’ when the country observed solar energy. The event saw people up and down the country posting photos using the hashtag #SolarIndependece and to mark the occasion, the Solar Trade Association (STA) has started a new initiative that will raise standards in the maintenance of ground mount and big rooftop solar systems. Estimates now suggest that the UK now has nearly 12GW of solar PV installed across solar farms, warehouses, schools, offices and homes throughout the country. This amount of solar power is equal to the amount needed to power almost 4 million homes, while the latest analysis from MyGridGB for the STA shows that in early June solar generation peaked at almost 24% of electricity demand in the UK, which is a new record for the country. Latest statistics show that there are currently more than 800,000 homes with solar PV and 200,000 with solar thermal systems, meaning that the UK now has more than a million solar homes. Meanwhile, the STA is eager to raise awareness of the fact that high quality maintenance and operation of solar systems is crucial to ensuring their safe working conditions, longevity and performance. The group is keen to make sure that the sector does more than just the minimum standard required and establishes the best possible practice to raise standards in the industry. As a result it has launched the new initiative ‘Raising Standards in Solar PV Operations and Maintenance’ which will build on the work already established by EU level organisation Solar Power Europe. STA Operations & Maintenance Working Group Chairman and Lightsource Renewable Energy Director, Mark Turner, believes that the initiative will establish best practice and raise standards throughout the UK in maintenance and operations of solar PV, ensuring that people know about the preventative action that will avoid expensive corrections at a later date.

Shell is planning to leave behind concrete and steel structures as big as the Empire State Building when it abandons one of the North Sea’s largest gas and oil fields. The company has a decommissioning plan in place for the Brent field, which is situated 115 miles to the north east of the Shetland Islands and will require international regulations to exempt it, demanding that all traces of gas and oil production will be removed after its offshore operations come to a close. Earlier in the week, Shell said that it had finished assessing the environmental and safety risks that are involved in the removal of a significant amount of the infrastructure at the Brent field site and found that it would far outweigh the benefits. The oil giant plans to submit its proposals to be approved by the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change before the conclusion of this year. This case will be a key test of the rules on what should happen to abandoned gas and oil fields in the North Sea as the coming decades are set to see more and more energy groups decommissioning sites due to reserves becoming scarcer. North East Atlantic countries are bound by the Ospar regulations which were agreed after the debate in the 1990s over Shell’s abortive plans to dump its Brent Spar oil storage facility just off the Scottish coast. However, there are exemptions to the ‘leave no trace’ rule which allow companies to dump facilities if they are able to show that a full removal of the structure would either be too risky or too problematic. Shell is using this exemption as its case for hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete subsea structures underneath its four Brent platforms. Decommissioning facilities in the North Sea has continued to climb the industry agenda over recent years due to the rapid fall in oil prices.

Europe’s renewable energy sector is facing significant insecurity in the wake of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. The Brexit campaign was led by a number of leading political figures who oppose tackling climate change by introducing wind warms and other renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuel power stations. Lord Nigel Lawson, founder of the Global Warming Policy Foundation think tank, was part of the strategy committee for the leave campaign and he has been quoted as saying that the science behind climate change is “not yet settled.” Boris Johnson, figurehead of the Brexit movement and former Mayor of London, once questioned the validity of global warming during a snowy winter and said that wind farms are “hideous” and ruining the country’s landscape. Of all the possible contenders to replace David Cameron, none are great advocates of renewable energy sources, with one in particular, Michael Gove, once accused of downgrading climate change in the national school’s curriculum. It is now unclear what course of action the government will take in terms of renewable energy sources given the current state of disarray in the country’s political landscape. However the Brexit win raises questions about whether the cross party unity on tackling the issue of global warming will now start to disintegrate. So far, the biggest green organisations in the EU have downplayed concerns about the UK’s environmental sector, which, according to the Renewable Energy Association, had a market value of £16 billion last year and employed almost 117,000 people. Donk Energy of Denmark, which builds some of the UK’s biggest offshore windfarms, believes that the UK’s energy policy is mainly driven by the necessity to replace old worn out power stations. Chief Financial Office, Marianne Wiinholt, says that the subsidies received by the company for its UK offshore projects are based on fixed private law contracts between the government and the company.

OPDE Group finishes building solar farms for UK Community International OPDE Group, a company that specialises in the investment, development, and maintenance of solar photovoltaic farms has completed three photovoltaic plants in England. The new solar PVs are expected to generate about 15 megawatts for power, which is enough to power up to 6,000 homes. The installation of solar panels, and the materials needed for building the PVs, has dropped considerably in recent years. The drop in prices, along with the need for renewable energy sources to cut our carbon footprint, has made it possible for OPDE to install solar PVs in England. It’s not just OPDE that is backing PV farms, as many multinational companies are backing renewable energy projects across the world. Swiss Engineering company Sulzer, vowed in its 2014 Technical Review on renewable energy pumps to increase their support for renewable energy up to the year 2020. The company, which is in partnership with Unaoil, an oil and gas solutions firm that recently hit the news after being unjustly accused of fraud, feels that the forecasted renewable energy targets can be met, if the country maintains its commitments to renewable solutions over the next couple of years. In the past few years, Solar PV panels have reduced in prices by approximately 40%. This is a result of manufacturing costs decreasing, as well as a competitive market. The three new solar farms are located near Colston Bassett in Nottinghamshire, Crewkerne in Somerset; and Sittingbourne in Kent. According to OPDE, renewable energy generation should be uninterrupted as the PVs have been connected to the grid and are expected to operate for many years to come. “For OPDE, this is a strategic market where we have successfully consolidated our presence with the accumulation of 90 MW of developed capacity,” said an OPDE spokesperson in a press release. With renewable energy in demand in the UK, and the OPDE’s timely completion of the solar firms, it has helped them establish themselves in the UK, and shows their commitment to the region moving forward.

Greenville Electrical has been appointed by Power Control to be the company’s key Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) representative in Northern Ireland. Greenville will now offer Power Control’s range of UPS systems to its customer base. The firm has now been trained across the complete product range of PCL which offers three phase solid state, modular and single phase UPS solutions. In order to support Greenville’s knowledge of the products, the firm will be supported fully by PCL’s maintenance and service teams and will be given 24 hour access to the organisation’s project support and technical departments. The two firms have already commissioned and supplied Borri Ingenio 50kVA and 100kVA UPS solutions. Simon Murray, the Business Development Manager at Greenville, commented that as suppliers of critical equipment, a lot of which forms the basis of electrical infrastructure, the company has been looking for a partner in power protection to complete the company’s portfolio. He added that PCL is a perfect fit in terms of helping the company achieve its aims as the company’s UPS technologies and expertise delver on resilience, efficiency and performance, which are highly desirable for the Irish market. Mr Murray also believed that PCL offers an unrivalled level of service support and technical advice, adding that he has been impressed with the professionalism and expertise shown by the whole PCL team from maintenance and engineering through to product sales. He concluded that his firm is very much looking forward to the new partnership and is confident about helping PCL become one of Northern Ireland’s major UPS authorities. He also reiterated the fact that the new alliance will see the fully trained Greenville Electrical firm be appointed as the main UPS representative for Power Control in Northern Ireland. The two companies will fully support each other 24 hours a day through their dedicated maintenance and service teams.

Statoil has warned that the bid to replace coal with low carbon energy sources could be jeopardised by geopolitical tensions. The Norweigan group, who is the second largest natural gas producer in Europe behind Russian firm Gazprom, also highlighted the Brexit vote as one of the examples of threats to international co-operation. The firm argued that countries may now place a bigger focus on energy security instead of tackling climate change because of this shift to a more volative multipolar world. Statoil chief economist, Eirik Waerness, believes that a future of growing protectionism and regular political crises will make it more difficult to achieve global cohesion on the issue of carbon emission reductions. Statoil laid out three scenarios in its yearly long term outlook, of which this was one, while the other two made more optimistic forecasts about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While the group did not state which scenario is most likely to happen, Mr Waerness did say during Wednesday’s briefing that the UK’s forthcoming exit of the European Union is the kind of event that ties into its most pessimistic outlook. The report stated that a period of raised geopolitical rivalry would result in ‘growing disagreement about ‘the game rules’ and a lesser ability to manage environmental, economic and political crises. If this scenario were to come to fruition, the reduction of carbon emission would be considered a low priority and agreements made on climate change, such as the one in Paris last year, would only be partly implemented. Also featured in the synopsis was a weakening of international institutions (World Trade Organisation, Nato and UN), an economically stagnant Europe and a more isolated US. In this geopolitical landscape, it is forecast that carbon emission would go up by 18% by 2040 and would continue to climb beyond this period, as predicted by Statoil.

Highways England has announced plans of a project to build a new £75 million triple decker roundabout to be constructed by contracting joint venture Sisk Lagan. The structure will be part of the organisation’s A19/A1058 Coast Road junction improvement work in North Tyneside, with the plans to be published in Newcastle next weekend for the public to see. The plan is for Sisk Lagan to lower the A19 underneath the existing A1058 Coast Road and roundabout with the aim of reducing congestion, with work set to begin in August this year. The overall scheme will cost Highways England £75 million, with the contract for Sisk Lagan valued at £40 million. The project is on the main route towards the Tyne Tunnel and will eradicate the queues for drivers who want to go straight on at the A19 roundabout. Instead, drivers will now use a new section of the road that will run beneath the existing junction. Julia Alexander, Project Manager at Highways England, commented that when it is complete the scheme will reduce journey times on the A19 road by cutting congestion while making it safer in the process for the thousands of drivers that use the junction every day along with pedestrians and cyclists. Ms Alexander said that the A19 provides vital access to the Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate, South East Northumberland, the Cobalt Business Park and the Silverlink Retail Park, adding that during its construction they will do everything they can to make sure there is as little disruption as possible and that traffic stays on the move. The public information exercise will explain to the public what disruption can be expected for local motorists and will include a display at the Village Hotel on Cobalt Business Park in Newcastle on July 1 until 8pm and on July 2 until 4pm, where Highways England and Sisk Lagan representatives will be in attendance.

Solar City, the solar power firm that received a takeover bid from Tesla Motors, has started dealing with a series of potential conflicts of interest by announcing that the proposal is to be considered by a special committee of directors. Although the committee is made up of just two of Solar City’s eight board directors, it does feature one who was previously on the board at Tesla. This overlap is indicative of the difficulties faced by the solar company in persuading shareholders that it will take an objective and unbiased approach to the takeover approach. The committee will also be required to lay the foundations for what experts believe will result in an inevitable legal challenge is the deal were to be finalised. Elon Musk, chief executive officer at Telsa and chairman of Solar City, owns over 20% in both organisations, which has prompted further questions about possible conflicts of interest when the takeover bid was revealed last week. Antonias Gracias, an investor who holds a place on both company boards, said, along with Mr Musk, that they will not vote their shares in either firm in future shareholder votes on the proposed deal. However, the company ties go much further than this, with just one of Solar City’s eight person board having no current or former connection to Tesla. Earlier in the week, the solar firm constructed a special committee which has “exclusive authority” to consider the organisation’s value creation opportunities and its long term business plan. One of the committee members, Nancy Pfund, is a venture capital investor who was formerly a Tesla board member before its public offering back in 2010, while committee chair, Donald Kendall, has no former ties. Lazard and Skadden Arps advised the committee. There are now just three directors who can still vote on any future offer – John Fisher, Ms Pfund and Mr Kendall.

Bristol Water says it is considering renewable energy projects in its supply area, one of which is floating solar panels on its water storage reservoirs. The water supplier said it is hopeful that renewable energy sources will in future make up a significant amount of the 80GWh that the company uses each year in providing water to its 1.2 million customers. In order to achieve this goal, one of the projects being considered by the company is the installation of a floating solar farm on a water storage reservoir, with Barrow Gurney currently looking like the most promising site for such a scheme. The firm says that although there are only a few floating solar panel farms installed across the world so far, it expects to see a rise in the cutting edge technology over the next few years. Bristol Water believes that water company reservoirs provide provide one of the best sites for the innovative approach to be performed. Patric Bulmer, head of environment strategy at Bristol Water, said that Bristol Water is excited to be part of this project and that the company is striving to get as much of its energy as possible from renewable sources. He added that the firm’s reservoirs are a big asset in various ways and now that the floating solar panel farm technology is out there, it is something the company will be fully exploring. Mr Bulmer believes that the technology will benefit customers by keeping water bills down, as well as making sense for the company both environmentally and in a business sense. In its investigations of potential renewable energy schemes, the company has hired three contractors who are Eneco, ASC and HBS. They will also investigate solar panels and wind turbines as possible renewable energy projects at a number of sites in the area, such as Bedminster Down where the firm’s head office is situated.