2020 was a record-breaking year, with wind generation, solar, and coal-free records helping to make it the greenest year ever for Great Britain’s electricity network. The record for wind generation was broken on several occasions last year, with the final record set on 18 December when wind generated 17.2GW, National Grid ESO announced in its
After years of build up, a giant battery storage project is online in Moss Landing, California, and a huge one is on the way in Florida. Just five years ago, a 20 megawatt battery storage project was considered big. Now a 300 megawatt project, the largest in the world, has gone online in California, and
The government should reverse the VAT rise for home energy storage to help deliver up to 86,000 jobs and boost UK manufacturing. In an open letter to the government, the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) and a coalition of 30 industry groups have called for changes to the controversial rise in VAT
A new wind generation record was set over the weekend, hitting a high of 17.278GW during a half hour period on Saturday. This allowed a combination of onshore and offshore wind to produce 43.2% of the electricity mix, however this does not break the record set in August of 59.9%. Between 1pm and 1:30pm wind
Belfast and Manchester have both revealed climate change plans, with the latter targeting a 2038 net zero target. Having signed a cities pledge that outlines the actions Manchester will take to meet its environmental targets in its Race to Zero, leader of Manchester City Council Sir Richard Leese said the council was taking the climate
Driven by technological advances, facilities are being built with storage systems that can hold enough renewable energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes. The advent of “big battery” technology addresses a key challenge for green energy — the intermittency of wind and solar. The twin smokestacks of the Moss Landing Power Plant tower over
I’ve been covering the solar power industry for more than a decade. I recall writing about the industry blowing up way back at the beginning, because annual installations did indeed climb rapidly compared to previous years. The nice thing about technology learning curves is that you can tell such stories over and over, and they
Incentivising people to use power when renewable output is surplus but demand is low helps balance out peaks and keep the grid in equilibrium Zero-carbon power outstripped fossil fuel in the UK’s electricity mix in 2020 for the first time since the industrial revolution. Back then, Thomas Edison’s Holborn Viaduct coal plant – opened in
It might sound like science fiction, but your home could soon be generating its own electricity. The ‘good life’ used to be all about growing your own vegetables, but in the brave new world of the 21st century, even self-sufficiency has had an upgrade. Although the advent of putting solar panels on the roof of
Snowy winters could become a thing of the past as climate change affects the UK, Met Office analysis suggests. It is one of a series of projections about how UK's climate could change, shared with BBC Panorama. It suggests by the 2040s most of southern England could no longer see sub-zero days. By the 2060s