Wind News

Monday 16 November 2009

John Hall has been appointed managing director of Waste2Tricity

Waste2Tricity appoints new managing director

Energy-from-waste venture Waste2Tricity has appointed John Hall as managing director to see the company through the next wave of growth.

Mr Hall has worked in marketing and commercial management for 27 years. Established to implement the most efficient energy conversion process available, Waste2Tricity uses a combination of new generation alkaline fuel cells with plasma assisted gasification and other existing proven technologies. Most recently the company announced its appointment by Alter NRG, the owner of Westinghouse Plasma Corp, as its exclusive UK sales representative for its plasma assisted gasification technology.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Hall said: "With 35% of baseload generation capacity coming off line by 2015, the UK is entering a period of criticality for electrical energy supply. While there have been a number of positive moves towards efficient and sustainable energy production, commercial-scale technology is on the cusp of making a significant contribution to UK electricity supply. This is a unique opportunity to lead a company in what will be one of the most important industries of the 21st century and I look forward to taking Waste2Tricity through its next phase of expansion."

Work to start on 800kW AD plant in Lancashire

Planners have given the green light for Blackpool-based anaerobic digestion (AD) specialist Farmgen to start work on a £2.5million AD plant at Carr Farm, near Warton, on the Fylde, which is due to be fully operational and supplying electricity to the National Grid by November 2010.

The 800kW plant will create enough continuous power for around 1,000 homes and will use maize and other crops from fields surrounding the farm to create biogas, which will then be used to generate electricity. Lytham St Annes-based energy and environmental consultancy Inenco acted as a consultant for the Carr Farm scheme, which complements Fylde council's strategy to become one of the greenest boroughs in Britain.

Ed Cattigan, chief operating officer of Farmgen, said: "We are pleased to have received planning permission for the Carr Farm operation and will continue to work with local residents. We believe when the farming community sees what we are creating at Carr Farm, and the benefits it will bring, they will become more and more interested in exploring AD as a way of diversifying and of bringing marginal land back into production."

Lotus Wind Park approved

A High Court Judge has ruled in green electricity company Ecotricity's favour after a challenge was lodged against the planning approval of Lotus Wind Park in South Norfolk.

Dale Vince is pleased Ecotricity has been granted planning approval for Lotus Wind Park

The Judge threw out the arguments presented by those against the wind turbines at Lotus, and determined that the decision made by South Norfolk council to approve the application back in July 2008 was wholly legal. Dale Vince, MD of Ecotricity said: "This decision is a graphic demonstration of how ridiculous the planning system for onshore wind energy is in the UK. The project was approved by a forward-looking South Norfolk local council, which is pretty rare itself these days - but was then subjected to what is in my opinion an abuse of process, a speculative legal challenge, costing tens of thousands of public money and wasted time."

He added: "We can now get on with the real job of getting these turbines up and running, powering the Lotus factory 100% from local wind energy: exactly the kind of positive thinking the UK needs right now."

Ceres Power joins Bord Gáis for residential CHP in Ireland

West-Sussex-based fuel cell company Ceres Power has announced that it has signed an agreement with Irish energy supplier Bord Gáis Éireann (BGE) to supply residential combined heat and power (CHP) products operating on natural gas for the Irish market.

This marks the first international contract for Ceres Power outside mainland UK and forms part of the Group's expansion plans into Europe, initially targeting highly adjacent growth markets. Bord Gáis Energy, the retail arm of Bord Gáis, is Ireland's leading dual fuel energy supplier selling natural gas and electricity to all market segments. Under the terms of the agreement, BGE will pay Ceres £1.6 million in milestone payments during the development and trialling of the CHP products, including an up-front payment of £1 million. BGE has also agreed to place a call-off order for 16,000 CHP products in aggregate over a four-year period for the Irish market.

Peter Bance, CEO of Ceres Power, said: "We are delighted to have formed this relationship with Bord Gáis Éireann which builds on Ceres Power's leadership position in the residential CHP market and marks the beginning of our expansion plans internationally. Our technology has the potential to address exciting markets across Europe as well as North America and Asia."

Progress on Pelamis ‘sea snake' wave device

Edinburgh-based wave energy technology manufacturer Pelamis Wave Power has completed the installation of the accumulators, transformer and associated switchgear for its P2 Pelamis wave device.

Progress has been made on the P2 Pelamis wave device

The P2 is the next generation "sea snake" wave device, developed by Pelamis from its model currently deployed in Portugal. The accumulators store and smooth the fluctuating energy absorbed from waves to allow Pelamis to generate at a steady continuous rate. The transformer is used to step up from Pelamis's generating voltage of 690V to its current export voltage of 6.6kV. Once the modules are complete they will be joined to the tubes to complete each section. Pelamis claims that the P2 configuration allows more energy storage to be included at a lower cost, as longer individual accumulator vessels can be used. This reduces the cost of energy and further improves power quality.

The build method is very similar to that commonly used in shipbuidling and submarine assembly where systems are installed in ‘slices' which are subsequently welded together. This speeds up the assembly, minimises confined space work, and allows all systems to be modular. Hence the ‘slices' can be fabricated in several locations if required and shipped to final assembly sites around the world.