News 43
Three hundred local authorities across England and Scotland will share the £562m package to fund upgrades to some of the nation’s least energy efficient and fuel-poor homes. The funding will enable investments in low-income households and those living in social houses to solutions such as insulation and replacing gas boilers with low-carbon alternatives, such as heat pumps. As well as benefiting 50,000 households, the Government claims it will also support more than 8,000 energy sector jobs, such as plumbers or builders.
The new subsidiary, located in Ballycastle, will be spearheaded by Pearse McHenry, a longstanding business partner of myenergi. The move will bring the brand’s product range to the masses, helping residents benefit from a more sustainable lifestyle, as well supporting the government’s commitment to cleaner living.
Under the partnership Fleetsolve will represent the MAN industrial brand as service partner and distributor of MAN parts in the UK via Fleetsolve’s Wirral based office and its five regional service centres around the UK, as well as the UK customer services centre.
The webinar will be chaired by Nicholas Doyle, Co-Founder of Chirpy Heat. Nicholas has worked in housing for nearly 30 years and has been responsible for award-winning housing, energy, and environmental initiatives nationally and internationally. In 2018 he was a Co-Founder of Chirpy Heat, the leading provider of services to housing providers on heat networks.
Ireland’s residential retrofitting programme should ensure ventilation is carefully considered to avoid an increase in levels of radon gas in homes, researchers at NUI Galway have found.
Comprising 18 videos divided into three playlists, the videos have been developed to assist both heating engineers and end-users.
The report ‘Longer-Duration Energy Storage: The missing piece to a Net Zero, reliable and low-cost energy future’ estimates that the UK will need at least 30GW of longer-duration energy storage by 2050. However, the report concludes that this target is currently undeliverable based on the present market and regulatory framework.
Two 50MW solar projects have secured planning permissions this week. The first, being EDF Renewables’ Sutton Bridge solar photovoltaic project, granted permission by South Holland District Council and the second being Pegasus Group’s solar and battery storage scheme near Telford.
We stand at the edge of transformation in our energy system and this investment will support that change. Just as the communications industry has been transformed within a generation, from the first land lines at a household level to mobile phones and internet for all in a lifetime, we will see the same degree of transformation to our energy industry. From Altelium’s success in renewable energy and applied battery data – itself the result of an Innovate UK grant win – we know that practical solutions can be developed quickly with the right support. Lithium-ion battery storage though BESS is already working effectively and efficiently, and will transform local community and small-scale commercial energy creation, storage and application. Hydrogen technology coupled with wind and wave energy has the capacity to deliver change on a national scale, with the potential it offers to store energy for longer periods of time or transport it across greater distances. We welcome this investment and the focus it gives on areas where the opportunity for change and benefit for the good of all is greatest.
A multi-partner plan involving the Port of Cromarty Firth has been launched to establish a green hydrogen hub in the Highlands that will see Scotland lead the world in hydrogen technology.
In response to the Chancellor’s announcement that £126m of funding will be made available to create 40,000 new traineeships, along with cash incentives for firms to take on apprentices and a new apprenticeship programme, Mark Wilkins, Technologies and Training Director at Vaillant, comments:
MCS is to consult on a new route to certification, removing one of the current barriers to participation in the scheme.
The National Gas Centre for Excellence (NGCFE) has opened the doors of its 6,000 sq. ft state-of-the-art centre in Featherstone, West Yorkshire to tackle the national shortage in qualified heating engineers with high-quality training focused on the needs of the installers and engineers.
The UK’s first houses to demonstrate the use of hydrogen-fuelled appliances in a real-world setting are to be built by Northern Gas Networks (NGN), the company has announced.
Northern Gas Networks (NGN) has completed the project as part of H21, in collaboration with fellow gas distribution networks Cadent, Scottish Gas Networks and Wales & West Utilities. It builds on the earlier H21 Leeds City Gate project, which established a hydrogen conversion of the gas grid was technically possible and economically viable.
The well-known issue with many renewable technologies is inconsistency in supply. Whilst the UK might have pledged to create 40 GW of installed offshore capacity by 2030, the supply is very dependent on it being windy. On days when it isn’t, we must fall back on stored electricity.
Panasonic are currently offering installers £800 and their customers an additional £600 as part of their Green Install Cashback Scheme and Green Homes Cashback scheme.
To help installers to prepare for the future of heating NIBE Energy Systems has announced a new training scheme. The launch of the scheme, NIBE Pro, follows the Government’s latest pledge for 600,000 heat pumps to be installed per year by 2028.
The government has re-stated its commitment to rolling out heat pump technologies across the UK housing stock
The UK’s solar industry body has today unveiled a comprehensive rebrand, including a new name and website and an annual impact report to demonstrate the value it has driven for its members.
Ecuity’s extensive expertise in energy, mobility and environmental policy complements Gemserv’s established role as a manager of high-profile projects in the energy and other sectors.
A zone dedicated to specifiers and architects is now available on the Grant eLearning Academy, providing these professionals with online training content focused on renewable heating technologies. This includes access to Grant’s RIBA approved online Air Source Heat Pump CPD course.
Managing director of NIBE Energy Systems, Phil Hurley, has been appointed as the new chairman of the Heat Pump Association (HPA), replacing Graham Wright. Stepping into Phil Hurley’s former position as vice-chairman, a role held by Hurley since April 2019, is Max Halliwell of Mitsubishi Electric.
Building services training provider, GTEC, in partnership with the MCS, has won an almost £1M bid to help existing trades people access discounted training in heat pumps and solar thermal, in order to meet the demand presented by the Green Homes Grant (GHG) – the government’s scheme to improve the energy efficiency of UK housing stock.