Samsung Heavy Industries Chooses Fife As Turbine Base
The Korean manufacturing company, Samsung Heavy Industries is to base its first European offshore wind turbine project in Scotland.
Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is to base its first European offshore wind project in Fife, Scotland, it was announced recently. The project is said to be worth up to £100m and will create around 500 new jobs in Scotland. SHI will develop its new 7MW wind turbine at the Methill Energy Park in Fife.
The Korean company has also signed a deal with David Brown Gear Systems which will supply gearbox systems for its next generation offshore wind turbines. David Brown will design and supply gear box systems for the new turbine. SHI will work with the Scottish Enterprise and Fife Council to develop the project in Fife. If tests and demonstrations are a success then gear box assembly, nacelle and blade manufacturing facilities will develop in Scotland.
Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, said “I am extremely pleased to welcome this inward investment by Samsung Heavy Industries which further reinforces Scotland’s place in the development of the next generation of offshore wind turbines”.
He added “Scottish Enterprise, Fife Council and Scottish Development International are committed to work with Samsung Heavy Industries and David Brown to secure further investment in the form of a new wind turbine facility and associated gearbox plant at the Fife Energy Park at Methil – a significant move in that it could see much needed high-value employment in this area of Scotland”.
The Chief Executive Officer of SHI, Mr Insik Roh, said “We are pleased to be participating in the development of the Energy Park at Methil at such an exciting time for the Scottish renewable energy industry. The testing of the new 7MW offshore wind turbine at the Fife Energy Park signifies a milestone in the development of Samsung’s new wind turbine generator system. We hope to contribute to the Scottish economy through successful testing and certification of our cutting edge offshore wind turbine and ultimately through establishment of our manufacturing facility here in Methil”.
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Will Cold Snap See Rise In Business Gas Prices?
Falling temperatures could mean a rise in business gas prices as demand for gas increases and wholesale prices go up.
Temperatures are set to fall over the weekend and snow is also forecast for some parts of the country. The cold weather’s coming from Siberia and many European countries have been experiencing the cold spell all week. Falling temperatures could mean we start to see a rise in business gas prices.
However, just as we reach the worst of the winter freeze it’s reported that Russia has cut gas supplies to some European countries. Taken along with the cold weather this could have an impact on business gas prices as countries look for alternative gas supplies. This increase in demand for gas will help to push up wholesale energy prices.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for taking more gas than it should although this has been denied by Ukraine. It said it was covering an increase in demand for gas from its own domestic supplies.
Austrian gas supplier OMV said Gazprom supplies were down by about 30% and blamed the severe weather being experienced in Russia at the moment. Temperatures there are down to -35C currently. OMV said it was coping with the cut in supplies with domestic production and its own storage supplies.
German and Italian energy suppliers have also remarked that they are getting less gas than normal from Gazprom.
While this seems to be none of our concern the increase in demand for gas will filter through to businesses in the UK in the form of higher wholesale gas prices and therefore higher business gas rates.
Many businesses have been lucky so far this winter. It’s been a much milder winter than was expected. However, businesses, especially small businesses could be caught out by a sudden increase in business gas and electricity prices which could increase by as much as 30% according to some reports.
The cold weather will mean businesses will begin to use more gas and electricity. They may be in for a shock when their next bill arrives if they don’t prepare for it now, especially if they are not in a fixed rate contract.
The advice then is to prepare for higher business energy bills before the cold weather arrives especially if you are a small business user. Many small business owners don’t spend enough time on their energy costs because they are involved in so many different aspects of their business. However, it’s important that businesses plan what to do when and if cold weather arrives. This may include planning for staff to work from home if they can’t get in or it isn’t safe to travel.
In the current climate, can businesses not afford to spend time on their energy costs?
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Burying Electricity Power Lines Not As Expensive As Claimed
Burying electricity power lines is not as expensive as previously claimed, according to a new report.
It’s long been argued that burying electricity cables underground is far too expensive and pylons are the cheapest way forward. However, an independent report says that burying cables is actually cheaper than claimed by National Grid.
The news is welcomed by countryside campaigners and will especially be good news for those campaigning in Scotland. As Utility Exchange has reported, there have been calls for the new Beauly-Denny power lines to be buried but ScottishPower has rejected the call saying it’s too expensive.
It’s been argued that because burying cables is so much more expensive then it would mean an increase in both domestic and business electricity prices as the increased costs would have to be passed on to consumers.
The report comes from Parsons Brinckerhoff, engineering consultants who looked at the comparative costs of different ways of routing transmission cables. National Grid has often said that underground cables would be 10-20 times more expensive than overhead power lines but the report from Parsons Brinckerhoff found that it was 4.5-5.7 times more expensive.
The latest figures mean that it would be reasonable for the Government to insist that when cables have to go through a national park or areas of outstanding natural beauty, they are buried underground. However, the fact is that it will still be more expensive to bury power cables and therefore these extra costs may well be passed on to consumers through higher electricity prices.
A spokesman for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said “We are not saying that you should bury all cables, and we accept that this is a more expensive option, but we think people would be prepared to pay a few extra pounds a year to have them buried in treasured landscapes like national parks and areas of outstanding beauty”.
However, National Grid said the report’s findings were largely in line with costs it had been quoting. Infrastructure Development Manager at National Grid, David Mercer, said “This report will be a valuable contribution to the public debate on the right balance between visual impact and costs that must ultimately be paid for by consumers”.
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Smart Meter Installation To Become Voluntary
Energy smart meters are set to become voluntary as plans to install them in every home in the UK are cancelled.
The Government had wanted every household in the country to have an energy smart meter by 2019 to ensure gas and electricity bills were more accurate. However, the £19 billion programme has been cancelled amid concerns over health and safety and privacy.
Campaign groups and back bench MPs have campaigned against the introduction of compulsory smart meters over concerns that they emit electromagnetic radiation and because they transmit 24 hours a day they can’t be turned off. Concerns have been raised in both the US and Canada about the potential health effects of smart meters.
In addition, concerns have been raised that data transmitted by the devices could give authorities an idea about how people live. It’s been argued that this was an invasion of privacy. For example, the devices would show when someone was away on holiday, at work or asleep.
Consequently the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has decided to cancel the roll out to avoid legal battles. Utility Exchange reported last year that British Gas had started its smart meter roll out. Around 400,000 have already been installed in British homes although most of the smart meters installed emit a similar amount of radiation as that from a mobile phone or a micro-wave.
It’s been argued that smart meters enable consumers to monitor their energy use and make immediate changes to cut their energy consumption. They show how much energy each individual appliance uses making it easy for consumers to see how much they are spending on electricity. As both domestic and business electricity prices increase this would allow consumers to take action in reducing their energy bills.
Smart Meters would make it less likely that a business or homeowner would suddenly get a huge energy bill because their meter hadn’t been read for years. Smart Meters send information back to the energy supplier constantly and therefore they ensure more accurate bills for both home owners and businesses. But not only do they help to ensure more accurate billing, smart meters also enable homeowners and business owners to see what’s using the most energy and make changes to ensure energy efficiency and to lower their bills.
Regulators say smart meters are perfectly safe but in the United States utility companies have been fighting lawsuits from people who have had them fitted in their homes and who claim they have made them ill.
Plans are now being drawn up to enable people to reject smart meters and make their introduction voluntary. The energy minister, Charles Hendry, said “We believe people will benefit from having smart meters. But we will not make them obligatory”.
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Businesses Don’t Take Energy Management Seriously
A Siemens report says UK businesses don’t take energy management seriously.
A report published by Siemens says that 1 in 3 of those responsible for energy management in UK businesses say that their organisation doesn’t take it seriously.
At a time when business electricity prices and gas tariffs are rising and when economic conditions are tough, energy management is something which businesses should be taking into consideration. However, according to the report this doesn’t appear to be the case.
The report, the Siemens Green League report, looked at the views of 600 businesses. The report showed that those in the boardroom were much more confident about how the company dealt with energy management while energy managers were less confident. The report showed that 83% of board directors thought their organisation was serious about energy management.
Energy is a critical area of cost for UK businesses. Therefore it came as a surprise to find that 27% of board directors didn’t know what their business energy bill was and 9% said they couldn’t afford to invest in energy management projects.
Thirty per cent of directors blamed a lack of obvious return on investment for the reason they avoided committing to energy efficiency measures. This lack of enthusiasm for energy management at board level filtered down to managerial level according to the report. Around 43% of energy managers said they only spent 10% of their time on energy management. They said that other duties including health and safety took up most of their time.
There were some positive findings from the report however. It found that 70% of businesses were planning to invest in energy efficiency projects over the next three years. The industries which appeared most committed to investing in energy efficiency measures included food and automotive manufacturing.
MD of Siemens Industry Sector in the UK and Ireland, Juergen Maier said “These results do give cause for concern. Not only is the UK subject to strict legislative carbon reduction targets, but many businesses are neglecting the impact that effective energy management can have on the bottom line. With significant costs attached to energy and indicators suggesting that high energy costs are here to stay, it really is in the interest of all businesses to take energy management seriously and look at the potential savings that can be achieved”.
He praised the manufacturing industry though. He said “It is, however, great to see manufacturers coming out so positively in this research. As an energy-intensive sector that has been governed by legislation for some time, there will be numerous examples of best practice across our industrial base that other sectors can adapt for their own organisations and reap the benefits”.
He finished by saying “It is important to note that the research does highlight evidence of good work being done by companies of all sizes across all sectors, but the overriding message is the need to do so much more. Now is the time for action or businesses risk falling behind in an increasingly competitive global marketplace”.
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Rise In Wholesale Energy Prices Threatens Business Gas Prices
Wholesale energy prices are increasing as forecasters warn that there’s cold weather on the way and as a result business gas prices could start to rise.
The news over the last few weeks has been about the Big Six energy companies cutting domestic electricity and gas prices as a result of the fall in wholesale energy prices since last summer. However, wholesale energy prices are now rising as forecasters warn cold weather is on the way.
The forecast of cold weather for the next month has seen power and gas markets driven up as cold temperatures raise concerns about supplies. Business gas prices and electricity prices differ from domestic prices partly because energy is bought for business use largely from the day ahead market. However, day ahead power has increased by £0.60/MWh to £44.00/MWh because the markets expect demand to increase.
There’s been even more movement in longer term prices. Summer 12 power has risen by a significant amount – £3.10/MWh to £45.30/MWh. This is the highest it’s been for 5 weeks, so it’s not an insignificant increase.
International energy markets are also higher largely as a result of uncertainty over the situation regarding Iran. In addition EU power prices have risen and as a result coal prices have also gone up.
The message is clear. With the threat of a prolonged cold spell and concern over power supplies, if your business energy contract is due for renewal, compare business gas rates and electricity prices now. Prices are on their way up so renew before they start to increase.
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Businesses Need To Cut Energy Costs
Business energy prices are rising and it’s never been more important for businesses to cut their energy costs.
Businesses are facing both energy price rises and the need to reduce their carbon emissions so it’s no surprise that it’s never been more important for businesses to cut their energy costs.
Average wholesale electricity prices have doubled over the last 10 years but it’s still possible to cut energy costs in a few ways. For example, many businesses are looking at generating their own electricity via sources of renewable energy. Some businesses are having solar panels installed to help reduce electricity costs and any extra electricity generated can be sold to the grid.
Many businesses, if they are unable to generate their own electricity are choosing green energy suppliers such as Ecotricity or Good Energy. Some are choosing to go green even if this isn’t the cheapest option. Policy adviser at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said “The growing importance of ‘being seen to be green’ means that even the smallest of businesses want to demonstrate their green credentials to their customers. We have seen a growing interest in small businesses wanting to source their energy from smaller green energy suppliers”.
However, if you’re a small business and not in a position to install energy generation systems and find green energy suppliers too expensive then the least you should be doing is shopping around for energy suppliers. However, most SME’s are not acting and research suggests that small businesses are wasting £2bn a year by not comparing energy prices.
In addition to comparing business electricity prices and business gas prices small businesses can also cut energy costs through improved efficiency. This is something the smaller energy suppliers are keen on and the CEO of Good Energy, Juliet Davenport, said “Good Energy places a strong emphasis on offering energy efficiency advice and customer service. Our customer care team was the first to be trained in the EST (Energy Savings Trust) endorsed energy efficiency advice standard”.
Ecotricity tries to install smart meters at all of its business customers’ sites as does First Utility. Smart meters ensure businesses only pay for what they have used and mean more accurate billing. They also enable businesses to identify where they could cut down on energy costs.
Monitoring energy usage will help businesses to cut their energy consumption and therefore their energy costs. But it’s still the case that the majority of businesses don’t compare business electricity or gas and therefore are paying far more than they should be for their energy. In the current economic climate can anyone afford not to compare prices and switch if necessary?
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Time To Compare Gas And Electricity Prices
Energy suppliers cut electricity and gas prices last week and it’s now time to compare gas and electricity prices.
Despite suppliers cutting gas and electricity prices by around 4% last week, prices are still high after energy companies increased prices by as much as 19% during the summer of 2011.
The average household energy bill has doubled over the last six years and the average cost of lighting and heating for a year is around £1,200, but it’s still a fact that more than 50% of consumers have never switched energy supplier. In fact only around 5 million people switch energy supplier each year and many of these are people who regularly compare and switch. There are very few new switchers.
Wholesale gas prices have fallen by 19% since August 2011 while electricity prices have fallen 25%. Many commentators suggest that wholesale electricity prices are set to fall even further. However, despite this, ScottishPower, EDF Energy and npower have only cut gas prices by 5% and SSE has cut gas prices by 4.5%. The other Big Six energy suppliers, E.ON and British Gas have cut electricity prices – E.ON by just 6% and British Gas by only 5%.
The Big Six blame costs other than wholesale gas and electricity prices such as transportation and government levies for why they can’t cut prices further. The other argument is that many of these companies buy their energy months in advance so that much of their electricity and gas being used now was bought when wholesale costs were higher.
If you have access to the internet it’s easy to compare electricity prices and gas tariffs whether they are domestic or business prices. But even if you can’t get on the internet many comparison companies will allow you to send in your energy bills so that they can compare them. Or if you prefer to talk to someone about, for example, business electricity prices, then you can phone a company such as Utility Exchange on 0800 4118830 and a customer adviser will take your details and find the right deal for you.
Much still depends on where you live and how much energy you use. There’s no one supplier which can be said to provide the cheapest prices across the country. Many suppliers will offer a discount if you choose to pay by direct debit which could save around 10% on your energy bill. It may similarly pay to choose a dual fuel tariff because most suppliers offer dual fuel discounts.
With finances being squeezed from all directions at the moment this is an expense which consumers can actively influence. Many people worry that they’ll end up without any electricity or gas but this won’t happen, even with business energy transfers. However, consumers must ensure that they are not in debt with their current energy supplier otherwise they may block the transfer.
Now is the time to compare energy prices, especially if you’ve never compared and switched before. You may be surprised how much you can save!
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Ecotricity Invests In Sea Power
Ecotricity, the green energy supplier is adding sea power to its portfolio of renewable energy generation.
Ecotricity is working on a new device called Searaser which will harness the constant power of the sea and will be able to generate green electricity on demand.
The device has been invented by a Devon engineer, Alvin Smith. It uses the power of ocean swells to generate electricity. It uses the rise and fall of a large float to drive seawater through an onshore turbine. There’s no need to use wave power and Ecotricity said it could potentially be cheaper than current sources of electricity such as gas, coal and nuclear.
The problem with many devices based in the sea is that sea water is very corrosive and as a result devices are very expensive to manufacture. Because the Searaser doesn’t generate electricity in the water but merely uses the swell of the ocean to push seawater through an onshore turbine the units should be cheaper to construct.
Mr Smith said “If you put any device in the sea, it will get engulfed in storms, so it all has to be totally sealed. Water and electricity don’t mix – and sea water is particularly corrosive – so most other devices are very expensive to manufacture and maintain”.
The Searaser technology means that salt water and the equipment generating the electricity don’t actually meet.
Founder of Ecotricity, Dale Vince said “We believe Searaser has the potential to produce electricity at a lower cost than any other type energy, not just other forms of renewable energy but all conventional forms of energy too”.
The company believes it will be possible for around 200 of the Searaser devices to be installed around the country within five years and say they will generate enough renewable electricity to power 236,000 homes.
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Opus Energy Poll Finds Cost Deters SME’s From Renewable Energy
Research by Opus Energy has found that many UK small and medium sized businesses (SME’s) would like to buy their business electricity and gas from sources of renewable energy but are deterred by the cost.
A poll of SME’s in the UK found that only 12% of businesses are buying renewable energy and that the rest are put off by the cost. Business electricity prices have increased over the last year but despite this, renewable energy is still more expensive than conventional energy generation.
The survey found that around 75% of small businesses which are not on a green tariff at the moment said they would consider renewable energy in the future. However, around 47% said they would not choose renewable energy because of the cost and the complexity of getting renewable energy. Meanwhile 25% of respondents said they were not interested in renewable energy.
The Managing Director of Opus Energy, Charlie Crossley Cooke, said of the findings “We estimate that around 10% of every customer’s bill is made up of green subsidies and that the proportion of renewable subsidies that all UK businesses pay will rise by around 25% over the next 12 months. SMEs are paying for renewable energy whether it’s clear to them or not”.
He added “There needs to be more transparency for small businesses around the contribution they are already making to renewables – and perhaps then there’ll be greater take up by SMEs”.
Opus Energy said that over the last few years a large percentage of the business electricity it supplies to customers is actually from cleaner and low-carbon energy sources. In fact over the last two years 70% of the energy supplied by Opus comes from low carbon sources with 33% from combined heat and power. Around 37% comes largely from small scale hydro power.