News

From today (July 12) Floyd Lewis, former director of Solar Technik, has been banned for nine years following the way he run his business.

Solar Technik which traded from Hinton Road, Bournemouth, Dorset went into voluntary liquidation in March 2007owing creditors £1,381,456.

But, before going bust the firm had been the subject of numerous investigations following customer's complaints over advertsing claims, sales techniques and other issues.

A solar powered plane has made its first night flight in an attempt to prove the technology could be commercially viable.

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA has four electric motors powered by 12,000 solar cells built into wing span as wide as a Boeing 747's.

Soon after take off the plane reached an altitude of 8,500 metres, and about two hours before sunset on Tuesday (July 6) started a slow descent.

Eventually reaching an altitude of around 1,500 metres where it carried on flying, using the energy stored in its batteries, until the next sunrise and landing in the early hours of Wednesday.

The uptake of renewable heat technologies has really dropped off with the renewable heat incentive (RHI) still looming, but no confirmation of the final tariffs or criteria, and the recent removal of the LCBP grants.

No doubt things will pick up once the RHI details have been announced there. However, based on the response to the feed-in tariff this has the potential to be very dangerous.

The Northern Ireland Government Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster together with Noel Crowe, Managing Director of the Environmental & Renewables division for Kingspan Group, presents the new Varisol collector at the inauguration of the new factory in Portadown on 19th of May 2010.
Photo: Kingspan Renewables

Closure of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme to new Applications Effective from Monday 24th May 2010

• Government has announced that it is committed to delivering £6bn of departmental spending cuts in 2010/11.
• The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is contributing £85m to this total. The sum reflects the fact that DECC operates with relatively small admin costs but still delivers against a big and challenging agenda.
• Cuts of this level are never going to be easy. They come from two sources:

This week the three main political parties launched their election manifestoes, with each detailing how they plan to drive the production of renewable energy. All three parties agreed on the introduction of some form of Green Investment Bank to encourage investment in the sector.

LABOUR: Labour was the first party to publish its manifesto, which promised an early decision on the Severn tidal project.
http://www.newenergyfocus.com/do/ecco/view_item?listid=1&listcatid=32&li...

A prototype solar-powered plane has made its first full test flight - coming closer to the goal of using solar energy to fly around the world.
The Solar Impulse, with a wingspan similar to that of a super-jumbo jet but weighing the same as a saloon car, took off from a Swiss airfield.
The plane's wings are covered by solar cells which power four electric motors.
Its designers hope a slightly larger production model will circumnavigate the globe in two years' time.
The test flight was intended to verify that the plane's behaviour tallied with simulations.

This consultation seeks views on the proposal to combine and update existing planning policy on climate change and renewable energy from two documents into one. Building from current approaches, the new policy reflects the latest legislative and policy context.

Local councils will be allowed to start generating and selling electricity back to the grid, in legislation being planned to bring about a local energy revolution.
Ed Miliband, the climate change secretary, intends to help councils to become energy providers, individually or jointly, by setting up renewable energy companies. The plan is the latest attempt to shake up the energy provision and encourage sustainable sources. Councils are responsible for some 10% of UK carbon emissions and Miliband thinks they need incentives to move to lower carbon energy.

The Solar Trade Association (STA) have expressed dismay that funds in the Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP) programme (Phases 1 and 2) are set to expire within the next 2 months, a full 10 months ahead of the introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which could lead to job losses and bankruptcies within the renewable heat industry.Currently, the Low Carbon Building Programme Parts 1 and 2 provides grants to householders and public sector buildings to encourage the uptake and installation of renewable heat technologies including Solar Thermal technologies.