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Leaders of BP, Drax, Engie, EON UK, Subsea 7 and Wood have signed up to the Energy Leaders’ Coalition, a public commitment to improve gender diversity and inclusion within their own organisations and across the UK energy sector. Louise Kingham OBE FEI, Board Member of POWERful Women and Chief Executive of the Energy Institute, commented on the announcement: "We’re delighted...

A new initiative launched by UCL and the Local Government Association will help councils and universities address climate challenges at a local level. The Net Zero Innovation Programme will bring together partnerships of researchers and climate change officers from councils across all the regions in England for an initial period of 12 months. It seeks to lead action at a local...

A new report unveils progress that has been made in two years since the Nuclear Sector Deal was launched, and goals for 2030 under the scheme. The Nuclear Sector Deal was established in 2018 as a partnership between the UK Government and the nuclear industry, designed to 'make nuclear power an integral part of the UK's Net Zero energy future.' Tom Greatrex,...

There are significant changes in the technology type that has been providing balancing actions to the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), with activity from newer asset types seeing the greatest year-on-year increase, according to Cornwall Insight’s new ‘Balancing Mechanism' report. Accepted volumes in the Balancing Mechanism (BM) from identified batteries, gas reciprocating engines and aggregated units across June –...

Grants from £50k to £5 million are now available to help the nation build back greener from the coronavirus pandemic, the government has announced. The £40 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund, part of the government’s wider green economic recovery, jobs and skills package, brings forward funding for environmental charities and their partners to start work on projects across England to...

Batteries can provide the missing link in the road to Net-Zero, Andy Hadland, Chief Product Officer at Arenko Group, writes in his blog post to ICON following their recent Dynamic Reserve trial with National Grid ESO.   PART 1: CONVENTIONAL RESERVE The ESO uses the balancing mechanism (BM) to manage electricity demand and supply while managing a variety of issues (energy,...

Forecasts from Cornwall Insight’s ‘Benchmark power curve’ suggests that up to ~46GW of new build renewable technology, ~11GW onshore wind, ~10GW solar and ~25GW offshore wind, may need to be developed by 2030 to keep pace with 2050 net zero targets. This large-scale deployment of very low/zero marginal cost wind and solar technologies, as well as increasing interconnection in the...

Global agriculture is facing some serious challenges over the next century, with decades of reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides beginning to take their toll. As a result, the industry looks to move towards more sustainable ways to boost yields and new methods of crop protection. In response to this, the market for agricultural biologicals, biostimulants, biopesticides and biofertilisers is growing...

The suppliers to develop over 40 new public electric vehicle (EV) charging hubs across Lanarkshire have been announced. The first EV-charging hub delivered through a strategic partnership between the Scottish Government and SP Energy Networks has already been installed at Strathclyde Country Park and the organisations which will continue to bring ‘Project PACE’ to life have been unveiled. One of Scotland’s...

The UK’s International Environment Minister Lord Goldsmith discussed how the UK could partner and support Bangladesh build adaptation and resilience capacity to tackle climate change during his virtual visit on 25 August. Bangladesh, located on the delta of three major rivers and with a dense population, is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change. More...