United Kingdom

Foresight Solar and Infrastructure has celebrated encouraging returns from nine months of activity but that is down to acquiring existing solar assets with the nation’s ground mount sector in the doldrums since public subsidies were halted in April 2017.

Canadian fuel cell manufacturer Ballard announces order for a dozen units as part of the European Commission’s JIVE initiative for hydrogen-powered public transport across the EU.

The U.K. is leaping ahead in its deployment of EV charging infrastructure. Box Energi has chosen Australia’s Tritium Veefil-RT technology to ramp up the number of refill sites around the U.K. in a move which will boost not only accessibility and driving range but confidence in emissions-free driving.

Batteries of the type have traditionally been used for long-duration storage applications. Now though, it seems vanadium is making an entry into the fast-paced world of ancillary grid services.

The London-based developer revealed blockbusting annual figures which show it is debt free, has almost £20 million in the bank, raked in more than half that figure in net profits in 2018-19 and expects twice as much in a year’s time.

Box Energi says its planned EV fast charging network in the U.K. will be one of the largest single-country DC networks in the world, and that it will be supplied with 100% renewable energy.

With EV sales continuing their climb, and overall carbon emissions targets getting more ambitious, stakeholders in the energy system will need to consider flexibility options from, among other points, EV charging. A large distribution system operator in the U.K. is now examining the options to remunerate customers for adapting their EV charging patterns to load profiles of the grid. If successful, the exercise may help mitigate grid infrastructure expansion costs.

UK based energy data service provider and consultancy EnAppSys released its quarterly review of the European energy market. While renewables have covered a large chunk of the continent’s demand, that trend will likely change in the second half of the year, as production from renewables falls. Meanwhile, coal generation is being pushed out of the U.K. market, although not fully to the benefit of renewables as gas-fired power plants are picking up momentum.

… and it will be quite an effort. The U.K.’s grid operator, National Grid, released a new report on possible energy system transformation pathways, amidst growing public concern over climate change. Ramping carbon emissions reduction targets up from 80% to 100% prompts technical challenges. These can be overcome but will require full alignment of policy effort and individual awareness and decision making.

The Anglo-American company is the latest utility to enter the utility-scale solar and wind development space by closing on its acquisition of Geronimo Energy.