Local Energy Matters | September 2019
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Local Energy Matters Covering the EPN area In this issue: Focus on: East of England energy news | East of England energy tariffs| Region’s largest windfarm generates first power| Renewable Energy Centre to open in Cambridge | Anaerobic digestion plant bought in Norfolk | Electric Vehicles update 1 | P a g e Issue 28 | September 2019 Local energy news Region’s largest windfarm generates first power East Anglia ONE, an offshore windfarm situated 30 miles off the Suffolk coast in the North Sea, generated power for the first time on 12 September. Power from one turbine is now flowing to the onshore substation at Burnstall, Suffolk. This is the first of the 102 turbines that are planned to be fully operational in 2020. So far, 25 turbines have been constructed. Once operational, the 102 7MW Siemens Gamesa wind turbines will produce enough energy to power over 630,000 homes. Charlie Jordan, East Anglia ONE Project Director, said: “First power being generated at East Anglia ONE is a huge achievement. We are continuing to progress towards completion of the offshore windfarm and reaching this point is down to the incredible efforts of everyone involved, from local contractors and employees through to national and international businesses. We’ve worked hard to get to this point and look forward to continuing to work together to bring each turbine online. Once operational, East Anglia ONE will produce clean energy the UK needs, whilst also providing long-term jobs and opportunities to the people and businesses of East Anglia both now and in the future.” Anaerobic digestion plant bought in Norfolk Listed environmental infrastructure fund, JLEN, recently announced the acquisition of Warren Power Limited, which runs an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Methwold, near Thetford. The deal, thought to be worth an estimated £14.8mn, signifies the long- term viability of green gas and marks the second AD plant in East Anglia, said a spokesperson for JLEN. Anaerobic digestion works by breaking down organic materials using micro-organisms to produce biogas. Biogas is a methane rich gas and can be used to provide power and heat to the plant. The vast majority of biogas produced by AD at the Methwold plant is put into the national gas grid. Chris Tanner, investment advisor at JLEN, commented on the investment and AD technology saying “AD plants are popular in farming areas such as East Anglia because they offer farmers the ability to derive an income from waste products, which are fed into the digesting plant, such as sugar beet pulp, grain husks and animal slurry, as well as break crops like rye and maize.” The by-products of the AD process can be used as fertiliser and a soil improver, lending itself to a resource that has multiple uses and that can utilise its potential to the maximum amount possible. There are currently over 40 AD plants in East Anglia and several hundred more across the rest of the UK. 2 | P a g e Offshore wind farm bids include East Anglian sites The Crown Estate released the seabed bidding areas for new offshore wind developments at the beginning of September. The North Sea off the East Anglian coast has been noted as a large area of potential development. Wind Leasing Round 4 will give developers will get the chance to bid on these areas. As well as East Anglia, the other released bidding areas are Dogger Bank, a sand bank in the North Sea, the South East, Northern Wales and the Irish Sea. These areas have the potential to power 6mn homes across the UK if wind farms are granted and developed. As well as a renewable energy supply to local homes, potential new windfarms in the East of England could generate hundreds of new jobs in the area with projects starting as early as next year. Huub den Rooijen, director of energy, minerals and infrastructure at the Crown Estate, said: "The UK is home to the world's largest offshore wind market, attracting global investment, meeting UK electricity needs, and playing a crucial role in the transition to a net zero economy. Leasing Round 4 is the next chapter in this remarkable transition, developed and refined through extensive engagement with the market and stakeholders, to deliver an attractive, fair, objective process, which helps to balance a range of interests in the marine environment.” Norfolk ‘Life Map’ to encourage clean energy use An environmental project, called the Life Map for Norfolk aims to improve wellbeing in Norfolk by mapping sustainability indicators. Launched on 10 September at the Enterprise Centre, University of East Anglia, the project will map land use, population and clean energy. The Life Map project aims to help people make informed decisions about the use of resources in Norfolk to encourage sustainability. Programme founder Edward Darling, also chief executive of conservation charity Redlist Revival, said he wants to give people access to information which can help them decide how to sustain the earth's resources for future generations - by understanding the balance of resources in their own area, divided into 10km x 10km grid squares.” The Life Map are working with Norfolk County Council, Natural England and the University of East Anglia. Renewable Energy Centre to open in Cambridge On 4 September, Cambridge Science Park unveiled plans to establish an Energy and Renewables Centre on its campus. It is looking for innovative energy companies and start ups to locate to the new site. Cambridge CleanTech is leading the way to establish this project. They, along with the Cambridge Science Park, held a conference on 17 September with expert speakers in the fields of renewable technologies and energy storage. The project aims to recruit leaders in the field as tenants on the site, in areas such as battery storage and battery-based innovation, hydrogen fuel cells, electricity generation from hydrogen and smart energy technologies. The aim is to create a world leading centre for innovation with a forward-looking vision. The centre is planned to open in the Spring of 2020. 3 | P a g e Energy tariff headlines Suppliers get ready for 1 October price caps From 1 October the default price cap will fall by £75 to £1,179/year on average, while the prepayment price cap will fall by £25 to £1,217/year on average. At 30 August, five of the large suppliers (British Gas, E.ON UK, EDF Energy, SSE and npower) together with ENGIE had decreased the price of their capped tariffs ahead of the impending cap change. The large suppliers have all priced at or within £2 of the price caps. Since this date, at least a further 10 suppliers have all amended their prices (Scottish Power, Co-op Energy, E, Shell, Ovo, Utilita, Utility Warehouse, TitleRobin Hood Energy, Green Network Energy and Tonik Energy). We note three suppliers are yet to alter their prices as their standard variable tariffs remain above 1 October cap levels. Despite the decrease in the cap (and recent increase in wholesale prices), there continues to be a large range of savings available. Currently a customer on a default capped tariff can save £333/year if they switched to the cheapest tariff in the market, compared to a saving of £374/year at April. The cheapest tariff in both cases was offered by Outfox the Market. Exiting supplier tariff positions So far in 2019 there have been seven suppliers exit the market either through the supplier of last resort (SoLR) process or via acquisition. The figure below shows monthly price for the cheapest dual fuel direct debit tariffs offered by the suppliers that have exited the market so far this year. It shows that after a period of stable prices to June 2018, Solarplicity implemented a series of price increases before holding its price for four months prior to its exit. Eversmart Energy implemented a sharp price increase in August 2018 and then in the two months prior to its exit it sharply dropped its prices before increasing them again in the exiting month. Meanwhile, in the nine months prior to the exit of Our Power the supplier’s prices showed a rising trend. However, it should be noted that between April 2018 and October 2018 wholesale costs rose by around £180/year on our measure for dual fuel tariffs, with a rise in average fixed tariff prices of £132/year. Tariffs over time of exiting suppliers £1,500 £1,400 £1,300 £1,200 £1,100 £1,000 £900 £800 £700 01/09/2017 30/04/2019 11/01/2017 09/02/2017 24/02/2017 31/03/2017 14/04/2017 30/04/2017 12/05/2017 31/05/2017 09/06/2017 23/06/2017 07/07/2017 21/07/2017 31/07/2017 11/08/2017 25/08/2017 15/09/2017 29/09/2017 16/10/2017 20/11/2017 31/12/2017 28/02/2018 30/04/2018 29/06/2018 31/08/2018 31/10/2018 21/12/2018 28/02/2019 28/06/2019 30/08/2019 Brilliant Energy (Fixed) Solarplicity (Fixed) Eversmart Energy (Variable) Our Power (Variable) Solarplicity (Variable) Cheapest tariff in market Most expensive tariff in market 4 | P a g e East of England energy tariffs Overview In this section, we illustrate the cheapest tariffs in August for various customer types (A-G) in the East of England. Customer types are described in our ‘Best buys’ section overleaf and are based on typical annual electricity and gas consumption. The three main types of tariff are explained in the table below. August prices The average price of the lowest cost SVT decreased this month to £810.