Comedian and impressionist Alistair McGowen has cut the ribbon to open the Practical Installer zone at Ecobuild. Plumb Center has teamed up with other renewables manufacturers to create an area for live practical demonstrations where visitors to London’s Excel Centre will be entertained by 36 installation presentations over the next three days. “You may wonder what I’m doing here,” said McGowen. “But, this was too good an opportunity to turn down. “This is the third year Plumb Center has organised Practical Installer and it will be a busy few days and an informative few days. “Today more than ever we are encouraged to do our bit. Personally, I think the best way to reduce our emissions would be to get Jeremy Clarkson to stop breathing. He added: “I am an ambassador of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) because it combines my love of the environment and wrestling. So I try and walk the walk as well as talk the talk. “I have been a green spokesman for many years so I am thrilled to see this event generate so much innovation and interest. “Many of the technologies are not just futuristic concepts but are real and here today and will stop us trying to kill Jeremy Clarkson.”

At a Pre-Ecobuild reception in the Houses of Parliament hosted by the BPVA, Minister of State Greg Barker once again spoke of the importance of the PV industry to be one of the major “transformational technologies” that drives Britain towards a lower Carbon Future. He said the Government were committed to working with manufacturers and installers to build a long-term sustainable business, rather than a smaller cottage industry reliant on finite Government subsidies. He said the Government’s targets of 1 million roofs by 2015, and 22GW of PV power by 2020 were challenging but achievable. The Government’s role would be to provide long-term certainty and transparency for the market to take informed decisions. Opening the event, BPVA Chair Reza Shaybani spoke of the importance of Ecobuild in the PV calendar, emphasising that the Uk remains a safe an succesful place for investment and growth.

Suzi Perry will be the guest speaker at this year’s NICEIC Live South.

102 of the UK’s most prominant entrepreneurs, investors, economists, scientists, engineers, energy providers, community builders and MPs have co-signed a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron questioning the government’s support for renewables.

This September’s Renewables Awards will be hosted by television presenter, Gabby Logan.

PV distributors Waxman Energy has promoted Mark Powell to the role of national sales director.

Reacting to news today (Thursday 8 March 2012) that the HQ of the Green Investment Bank will be in Edinburgh, Friends of the Earth’s economics campaigner, David Powell, said: “Choosing the HQ for the Green Investment Bank has been like arguing about where to put the cherry on a half-baked cake.

BSI has launched a new standard in support of the government’s Green Deal initiative which will enable households and commercial properties to improve their energy efficiency.

The scale of the challenge to upskill and accredit the workforce and training providers in time for the Green Deal cannot be under-estimated – but SMEs can profit from the scheme, new research has found.

• £3.5m to train Green Deal assessors and installers • £10m to improve the energy efficiency of non-domestic buildings A total of £3.5million in funding has been announced today to help train hundreds of people in key green skills ahead of the launch of the Green Deal, delivering on the Deputy Prime Minister’s announcement in March last year to create 1,000 Green Deal apprenticeships.

With a shortage of accredited biomass training courses, Plumb Center’s first HETAS approved course was an instant success, with staff from SSE (formerly Scottish and Southern Energy) flying down from Scotland to take part. The five-day training course, held in Sevenoaks, covered theory as well as the practical aspects of installing, commissioning and maintaining biomass heating systems for both domestic and commercial applications.