It is hoped that a survey will form a clearer picture of the UK solar industry. The Solar Trade Association (STA) has set up an online survey to gather information about the UK’s solar industry following significant changes to the UK’s solar power policy framework. The survey is available to be returned by all UK based solar companies over the course of the next two weeks, with the findings to be presented to Ministers ahead of a public report that will be published early in the summer. Respondents to the survey, which is found at www.solar-trade.org.uk/pwc-and-sta-survey, will remain anonymous and confidential. Leonie Greene, head of external affairs at STA, said that solar power has suffered the loss of a vast amount of support recently and has been knocked back significantly since it was almost on a par with fossil fuels. She said that the STA understands that several solar companies are going through difficulties at the moment, with many ceasing trading and highly skilled workers made redundant. Ms Greene added that the survey is therefore paramount in aiding their understanding of where the UK solar industry is at following the impact of the policy changes. She commented that the results of the survey will be crucial in the organisation’s discussions with Parliament and Government, where there is sure to be a keen interest in the current state of the solar industry. The industry has seen its Renewables Obligation cut short, as domestic solar deployment has fallen by 80% under the Feed-In Tariff in comparison to last year. There is also uncertainty around the extent that Corporate Social Responsibility concerns are going to maintain short-term investment, while deployment of commercial solar roofs has been capped at 15MW per quarter. The STA will also be in contact with 200 companies who responded to last year’s survey so that they can assess the progression or regression of their solar companies.

Fracking in the UK still has a long way to go despite an energy company’s plans getting the green light, according to industry experts. This week North Yorkshire Councillors voted in support of Third Energy’s plan for exploratory fracking in the village of Kirby Misperton. David Cameron has been a long-time advocate of the fracking process, but his attempts to emulate the US model have thus far been thwarted by public hostility due to the industry’s suspect environmental record. The North Yorkshire scheme represents the first shale gas planning approval in Britain in five years and supporters hope other companies will follow suit. However, national fracking in the UK remains a distant prospect, partly due to changing economic situation of an industry inundated with cheap energy mainly caused by the US shale glut. Chief Executive of the UK Onshore Operators Group, Ken Cronin, said that he does not anticipate widespread extraction to take place until at least 2020. He added that what we will see prior to then is a series of ‘exploration wells’ that will give people chance to analyse the results and decide whether or not to proceed with production. However, green groups have condemned the Yorkshire vote, whose councillors came to their decision on the back of advice from planning officers. Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth are pushing for a judicial review of the decision. Energy Minister, Andrea Leadsom, spoke in support of the vote as she hailed shale gas as a good opportunity for the county and that fracking will benefit energy security, the economy and create more jobs. Although they have already received planning permission, Third Energy will now need the Oil and Gas Authority to approve its plans, as well as Energy Secretary, Amber Rudd. The company has endeavoured to reassure the local community and has promised not to drill on Sundays or at night.  

The Chartered Association of Building Engineers has appointed Benjamin Charles Bradford as its new President. Earlier this month, the Earl of Lytton played host at the Chartered Association of Building Engineers Presidential Inauguration at the Palace of Westminster. This event was held to pay homage to the departing President, David Kitcatt, before the inauguration of Benjamin Charles Bradford as the new President of CABE. Reflecting on his tenure as President, Kitcatt said he always endeavoured to get as many young people as possible to consider the possibility of a career in Building Engineering. He said this has been shown to be a successful mission as student membership of CABE has gone up by 102%, despite overall membership falling 7.7%. He said CABE’s vision is to raise standards, develop individuals and share knowledge. Mr Kitcatt’s final duty as President was to introduce his successor, Mr Bradford, who founded his specialist consulting firm, BB7, of which he is now Managing Director. The firm has gained national recognition for its specialist Fire and Security Engineering services, including major projects in Middle East and Africa. As a result, Mr Bradford has become known as a key figure in security and fire. Mr Bradford laid out his primary ambitions for the association, which included: boosting membership, increasing awareness of ethical and professional standards and encouraging communication with fellow professional groups to build thinking across different disciplines. He continued by saying that CABE’s vision is to be well known for making valuable contributions to all levels of society and to be the association of choice for progressive organisations and individuals. He also endeavours to make CABE members grasp the idea of “globally responsible building engineering”, while cementing the clear principles of public, environment and human rights which the engineering profession should always acknowledge and be working towards achieving.

Highways England has released a short video showing giant steel beams being lifted into place over the M1 near Dunstable as part of the £162m A5-M1 link road project. A Costain Carillion joint venture is building a new 2.8-mile dual carriageway to improve the east-west connection between the A5 and the M1, north of Dunstable. It includes three new junctions, including a new motorway junction, and six new bridges. During March and April 2016, the contractors lifted in 38 beams, each weighing 100 tonnes, to form a new junction 11A interchange bridge and Highways England project manager Karen Green said: “The A5-M1 Link scheme is progressing well and to plan. Lifting the beams for these two bridges was an important milestone for the A5-M1 Link Road project, which will offer motorists better and safer journeys and help reduce congestion through Dunstable as well as unlock land for new homes and businesses. “The two new bridges will be opened to traffic closer to the scheme completion in spring 2017.”

Drives specialist Danfoss Drives has won the Environmental and Energy Efficiency Award at the inaugural Motion Control Industry Awards held at the National Conference Centre. The organisers recognised Danfoss Drives for generating surplus power from wastewater treatment. The project that won Danfoss this prestigious accolade was rolled out in Marselisborg wastewater treatment plant where the focus had shifted from minimising energy consumed to maximising net energy surplus. Water and wastewater treatment processes are characterised by high load variation during the 24-hour cycle, and seasonally throughout the year. The use of variable speed drives has consistently increased in the last 25 years in order to control motorised equipment and adapt to the changing demand. And as an additional benefit, thanks to the newly installed VLT drives, processes run right at their limit but not beyond it, ensuring safety and security at all stages. This can only be achieved thanks to the outstanding precision control of the VLT drives. Danfoss VLTs were implemented in virtually every rotating application inside the plant – blowers, pumps, mixers and dewatering equipment – with over 100 VLT frequency converters installed to date. As a result, the plant has had record levels of electricity production, reaching 130% generation in 2015. This is an annual net surplus of 30% after internal consumption and excess heat production of 2.5 GWh/year.  

Rail links to the Port of Liverpool will be upgraded as part of a scheme to improve the port’s capacity. The Department for Transport will invest in adding a second line on the Bootle to Port link, increasing the line speed and improving signalling at Earlestown West. The schemes are due to be complete by 2019 and will double the number of trains that can enter the port every day to 48, or two every hour. Transport minister Andrew Jones MP, who visited the Port of Liverpool today to view two new options for increasing road capacity to the port, said: “We are determined to improve access to the Port of Liverpool so we can deliver a Northern Powerhouse by creating new jobs and an economic boost to the region.” The rail upgrades will be used to support the Liverpool2 port development, which will allow the port to simultaneously handle two vessels carrying the equivalent of 13,000 20ft containers each. It can currently only support vessels carrying up to 4,000 containers, and the new development is expected to create 1,000 new jobs in the area and up to 5,000 more in the wider supply chain. Warren Marshall, group planning director at Peel Ports, which operates the port, said: “Upgraded road connections are essential but it’s also important to recognise the benefits of other modes.” Port of Liverpool also recently opened a biomass terminal, which will supply up to 3m tonnes of wooden pallets from North America for rail transport to Drax Power Station in Yorkshire.

Changes to Network Rail’s Enhancements Delivery Plan (EDP) following the Hendy Review – including further delays to ETCS commissioning on the East Coast and Great Western main lines – mean that phase 1 milestones are likely being pushed back to CP6, “inevitably” creating uncertainty about the entire delivery of the Digital Railway, Hitachi has said. In its evidence submission to the Transport Select Committee’s inquiry into rail technology, Hitachi Rail Europe outlined a series of concerns around the many ambitions for delivering the Digital Railway proposals. It cited, for example, reductions in the ETCS Cab Fitment Fund, delays to ETCS commissioning and the revision of the Innovation Fund for CP5 from £52m to £19m and the Strategic Research and Development Fund from £50m to £13.5m. “Beyond the above references to ETCS infrastructure plans, there is no mention of Network Rail’s plans to implement an accelerated vision for a digital railway, including the traffic management pilot scheme in Norwich and Great Yarmouth. This is in contrast to Network Rail’s Digital Railway plans for CP5 and CP6-7, as well as the DfT’s focus on digital solutions,” the company added. Hitachi, which has been contracted to provide the Traffic Management System (TMS) for Thameslink as well as a portfolio of train builds across the country, argued that rolling out TMS can increase railway capacity by around 40%. But the current plan “lacks the pace, prioritisation and scope needed to meet passenger and freight growth”, as has been pointed out by the Digital Railway Programme Steering Group. “There is a real need to address the capacity challenges for fare paying customers today – by rolling out TMS capacity enhancement can be achieved more quickly,” the company said. “This current plan is based on making the most use out of existing signalling infrastructure and achieving the lowest whole-life cost approach. It therefore fails to account for the range of economic benefits that could be derived from a faster programme of implementation.” It added: “Given the various complex elements involved in a digital railway, an effective joined-up approach to ERTMS is crucial. The current slow development of ETCS-enabled signals means that ETCS-enabled trains and TMS developments cannot fully take advantage of the capacity and reliability benefits proposed.” While the full business case of the accelerated Digital Railway programme is still being drawn up – with a target submission date of September for the CP6 initial industry plan – there is already “too much uncertainty” around the programme at present, Hitachi said, as well as around subsequent tender opportunities. In addition to that, a lack of information about existing assets and access to date is “discouraging the supply chain from investing in research and development, new services and skills”. “It is also a barrier to businesses within the supply chain to developing collaborative working arrangements on digital solutions,” it added. “Given the complex technologies involved, it is vital that suppliers across each of the different digital railway systems collaborate to better understand the challenges and interoperability of their technologies, and achieve stated milestones. “Likewise, supplier input needs to be greater on the Digital Railway Programme Steering Group. At present, industry representation is largely comprised of train operating companies, rather than those who would be providing the technology.” As well as including greater supplier input in the steering group, the entirety of Network Rail’s Digital Railway team must also operate “with a degree of separation” from the rest of Network Rail in order to “prevent any operational conflict with the day-to-day rules and organisational structure”. Greater supplier input and training To break down current barriers to achieving a digital railway in the UK, Hitachi recommended that Network Rail and the DfT publish a clear programme of works for this programme for CP6 and beyond, as well as develop a supplier steering group linked to the current general steering group “to drive collaborative and innovative approaches”. “In order to deliver the accelerated Digital Railway proposals, more extensive supplier collaboration is required at a technical level, and decision-making level within the Steering Group,” it said. “International expertise from companies such as ProRail can help to understand some of the challenges experienced with implementation in other European countries, looking at lessons learned and the most appropriate actions necessary to improve procedural developments.” But the Digital Railway programme will also require a digitally-talented workforce, Hitachi said, of which the requisite skills exist in the industry at the moment, but not in the necessary amounts to “bring innovation to scale”. “Greater visibility on plans for rolling out the digital railway will allow the supply chain to invest in the talent and training required,” it added. As well as placing greater focus on suppliers, Network Rail must work closely with TOCs to develop efficient plans for training on integrated systems. Read more about this in the April/May edition of RTM, where leaders from Network Rail and NSAR discussed the fundamental need to support suppliers to invest in skills and training.

A CONSTRUCTION chief believes the apprenticeship model is “back in fashion” – and feels the future of the sector is in good hands because of it. Kevin Byrne is Managing Director at Seymour Civil Engineering, and has worked his way to the top having started off at the other end of the ladder. Kevin, who has spent 27 years at Seymour, has seen steady stream of apprentices work their way through the ranks at his firm and says they form a key part of his team. Kevin, who moved the North East specialist to a new headquarters at Hartlepool Marina earlier this year, said: “The whole issue around apprenticeships is very interesting. “I think there has been a sea change. People are getting to the crossroads of further education and giving it some serious consideration rather than going to university. “Different people have different beliefs, but I think that a degree is nowhere near as valuable as it used to be. Why fund an expensive university degree – and pick up the debt at the end of it – when you can come straight into an organisation like ourselves, get on the job training and earn a professional qualification at the end of it? “Graduates are equipped for later life rather than the here and now, whereas apprentices have to learn quickly and within a couple of years they have been given a headstart.” Kevin thinks industry in general could be in a better position in the future if employers adopt the approach used by the likes of Germany. And he welcomes schemes such as National Apprenticeship Week to help spread the word about the benefits of apprenticeships. He added: “There was a big drive into IT in the 1990s when the recession hit. All of a sudden, it wasn’t credible to be a standard plumber or an electrician anymore, and everyone was pushed towards technology. “That, in my view, was the biggest political mistake this country ever made. If you look at somewhere like Germany, there is a model in place. People start on the shop floor, there is a mutual respect and appreciation and doors open along the way to allow them to progress. You will find that a lot of people in the senior positions up at the top have worked their way up from the very bottom. “But now, back in our country, it seems to be coming back into fashion. As I said, the financial aspect plays a big part. But employers are becoming more receptive now, they can see the benefits. “If that continues, and I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t, then I think it benefits everyone. Campaigns like National Apprenticeship Week highlight the opportunities which are available to businesses and students, and I think that is very positive. “From my own point of view, at Seymour if we get an apprentice through the door then they learn from their very first day. They know the Seymour way, and pick up the good habits. It’s easier to give someone good habits than to try and take the bad habits they’ve learned away from them. “The other positive for me is that we are recognised as a local company, and we feel we have a responsibility to help people. The biggest asset to our business is our team, and the apprentices we have are a key part of that team.” Seymour is recognised as one of the North East’s leading civil engineering businesses, and employs a workforce in excess of 230 throughout the region. The firm specialises in drainage, urban renewal projects, restoration and development work as well as sea defence and coastal protection work.