Marks & Spencer is launching a range of Solar PV and Solar Thermal water heating solutions in Britain to help customers cut their carbon emissions and reduce their energy bills. M&S is one of the first retailers to offer solar energy packages that enable customers to take advantage of Feed-in-Tariffs.

The tariffs allow Solar PV customers to earn money and a tax free return for every unit of electricity they generate over the next 25 years. M&S is offering two solar packages, Solar Thermal and Solar PV, which will both include the installation of roof mounted solar panels that will contribute to customers’ home energy needs.

The Solar Thermal works by collecting daylight energy to heat a customer’s water supply, for use throughout the day and night. Customers can choose from three different sized panel systems (from 2.05 sq m to 6.15 sq m), allowing users to save up to £85 a year on hot water heating bills, meeting up to 50% of an average household’s hot water requirement. Packages are available from £3,999.

The Solar PV works by collecting daylight energy and converting it into electricity for use within the home. With different sized panel systems on offer (from 10 sq m to 30 sq m), users will be able select the most appropriate solution to help reduce their energy bills by generating free renewable energy for their homes – with combined saving and earnings customers could be over £1000 a year better off. Packages are available from £7,999.

All M&S solar packages include a free assessment to determine the best solution for each home, and a full panel and system installation by an M&S approved installer accredited by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme.

Mr Binman, the regional waste collection and recycling company, and Waterford radio station WLP fm have launched the Mr Binman/Deise AM Bag for Life campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags in the South East.

Mr Binman is the current Repak Recycling Contractor of the Year and is constantly striving to increase the amount of recycling. To mark winning the Repak award for the third time, Mr Binman has decided to spread the recycling message further by providing recycling collections free of charge in Waterford City, Waterford County and South Tipperary.

“The challenge for us all is to make small modifications in our day to day practises. Small but significant steps such as reducing, reusing and recycling our waste can make a big difference. We want to encourage everyone to Make the Change,” says Joe Cleary, sales and marketing director of Mr Binman.

A family run company, Mr Binman employs over 150 people in the South East region.

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Pictured at the launch of the Mr Binman/Deise AM Bag for Life initiative are: Gary O’Keeffe, commercial director of Mr Binman; Billy McCarthy, director of programmes, WLR fm; and Joe Cleary, sales and marketing director of Mr Binman.

Northern Ireland Environment Minister Edwin Poots has approved plans for a biomass fuelled power plant at Glenavy, County Antrim. The power plant will be fuelled by poultry bedding and meat and bone meal (approximately 260,000 tonnes annually) to produce 30MW of electricity as an output of the incineration process.

The planning application by developer Rose Energy was submitted on 4 June 2008, accompanied by an environmental statement.

According to the Minister: “The power plant facility will create in the region of 300-400 construction jobs and approximately 30 permanent jobs in the operation of the facility once constructed. It will also have indirect employment and investment benefits in connection with Belfast Port and the haulage industry in Northern Ireland.”

The poultry industry generates an income of more than £2 million to Belfast Port and the main poultry producers. It imports 680,000 tonnes of feed annually which generates significant haulage work to enable distribution across the region.

A biomass fuelled incineration plant is currently recognised as the only proven technology for processing poultry litter on a commercial scale that significantly reduces the volume of litter to be disposed off. This type of plant can help Northern Ireland comply with the EU Nitrates Directive and avoid potential EU infraction costs.

“I am fully aware of both the opposition and support for the power plant, and that I have a judgement to make between the benefits of the proposal to the poultry industry and the Northern Ireland economy and the potential adverse impacts on residential amenity and the landscape setting,” says the Minister. “Having given the proposal careful consideration, including visiting the site and viewing it from Lough Neagh, I am satisfied that on balance it should be approved.

Dublin City Council has issued a statement reaffirming that is has been, and remains, in a contractual position for the provision of a waste-to-energy facility at Poolbeg to deal with Dublin’s residual waste into the future.

The Dublin Waste to Energy project contract is in line with current EU and Irish Government waste policy. The project, as detailed in the current Regional Waste Management Plan, will provide vital infrastructure to deal with waste arising in the Dublin region in the future as well as attracting significant inward foreign investment, at a time when foreign direct investment is so important to the Irish economy.

The statement follows RTE’s Primetime report on the controversial project, televised on 2nd September, which stated that the Council could “walk away with no cost” on 4th September 2010. This is factually incorrect, stresses Dublin City Council.

The four Dublin Local Authorities alone have spent substantial sums to date in land acquisition, statutory processes and client representative costs etc. Further major expenditure is committed arising from the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) on part of the original site. These monies have or will be expended in implementing Government policy on waste disposal. This does not take into account any compensation that might be payable to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) company should the contract be terminated. The PPP company will also have incurred substantial costs.

The Dublin Authorities, and its partners in the project, believe that this project is essential to dealing with Dublin’s waste for many years to come; that it provides good value for money for the taxpayer, as certified by the National Development Finance Agency. It will contribute to reducing the carbon footprint and will provide for electricity generation and district heating for a large area of the city.

An update on the current position will be given to the members of the City Council at the City Council Meeting to be held today, 6th September 2010.

Cork-based bio-science energy company Kedco has been given clearance to commence construction of a €45 million waste-to-energy plant at Enfield in North London. Having recently received clearance from Enfield Council, Kedco is due to commence the 18 months construction project shortly. When completed, the new facility will convert 60,000 tonnes of waste wood a year into energy.

An Irish company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Kedco was established in 2005 as an energy group focusing on the production of electricity and heat using clean technologies. Kedco specialises in power generation from biomass fuel sources including agricultural waste.

Kedco currently comprises of two divisions – Kedco Power and Kedco Vudlande. Kedco Power constitutes the principal focus of the group, specialising in electrical power generation from agricultural waste and biomass fuel sources. SIA Vudlande is a Latvian based forestry company that produces biomass and wood products. This division also acts as a backup fuel supply to Kedco biomass plants. Kedco currently has 70 employees in the UK, Ireland and Eastern Europe.

Turkey will connect to the European electrical grid this September using GE’s smart grid technology. The connection will allow for expanded energy and economic opportunities.

The Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEIAS) will now be able to buy and sell power in the European electricity market and the connection will strengthen the reliability and availability of energy throughout all of Europe.

The territory serviced by ENTSO-E (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity) is one of the highest demand regions for energy in the world, according to a report issued in 2009 by the Ministry of Energy. ‘The energy policies of ENTSO-E’s countries are driving a single market model through the synchronization of more networks, thus increasing the reliability of the supply of electricity to maximize the efficiency of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy while minimizing environmental impact,’ says the report.

Connecting Turkey with the rest of the European grid is an important step to help meet these initiatives. The cross-border system may also enable a new, cleaner energy mix for Europe. There is a demand for renewable energy in European countries, and Turkey has massive renewable energy sources, which makes this new relationship mutually beneficial to both TEIAS and ENTSO-E.

“Smart grid solutions are opening energy opportunities in new ways every day,” says Yavuz Aydin, director of GE Energy Services, Turkey. “Our communications and control technologies are enabling international trade and power-sharing breakthroughs that seemed nearly impossible just a few years ago. When Turkey joins the European energy community, it will be a vital step forward for power systems on both sides of the connection.”

GE’s smart grid communications and wide area protection solutions will monitor grid status at the points of connection and automate the control of generation and load within Turkey. The system will optimise power sharing and power quality while improving reliability and preventing cascading outages.  

GE completed the engineering for the system in a matter of months. Currently in the final phases of testing, GE’s wide-area protection solutions should enable the first inter-connection of Turkey’s and European grids in September.

Whether you are looking for a waste-to-energy solution or want to find out what grants and funding might be available, the Recycling and Waste Management Exhibition (RWM 10) taking place at the NEC, Birmingham from 14 to 16 September can help you to turn waste problems into resource opportunities.

Bigger than ever before, RWM 10 features more than 500 organisations exhibiting the latest technologies and recycling solutions. Entry is free and gives visitors access to over 40 seminar sessions offering invaluable legislative and financial advice and first-hand case studies of successful public and private sector projects.

The programme in the Local Authority Seminar Theatre (sponsored by Bywaters and SCA Recycling) will cover food waste collection, recycling solutions for flats and reveal how councils are tackling commercial and industrial waste. Speakers include James Cleverly, chairman of the London Waste & Recycling Board and Linda Chrichton, ROTATE manager for the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Case studies will include Islington Council’s food waste collection scheme for estates, schools and prisons.

In the Business Seminar Theatre (sponsored by Gateway to London, TEG and the Environment Exchange) a full day will be dedicated to carbon and cost reduction through minimising construction waste, with expert speakers from WRAP and Arup, and a panel debate on waste-to-energy plant construction led by Allan Wilen, economics director, Glenigan. Day Three (16 September) is designed for retailers with an insight into how packaging design and procurement can help to achieve zero waste without sacrificing profits and a presentation on Tesco’s energy from waste and renewables programmes.

Meanwhile energy from waste, wastewater reuse and carbon efficiency will be tackled in the Energy & Water Theatre (sponsored by Motherwell Bridge and Grundon Waste Management). The Environment Agency will outline the available energy from waste resources in the UK and the Renewable Fuels Agency will give an update on the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation and the Renewable Energy Directive. There will be a case study of Nottingham City Council’s waste to energy schemes.

Further advice on resource efficiency can be found in the free seminars running in the Waste Minimisation Zone (sponsored by Rubbermaid Commercial Products and SITA UK and in association with WRAP and the Environment Agency). On Day One (14 September) Dr Michael Warhurst, senior campaigner on resource use, Friends of the Earth will discuss incineration versus recycling and Steve Newton, materials recycling manager at WRAP will share new guidance for dealing with Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) plants. The programme also features innovative examples of how local authorities are reducing commercial and industrial waste to landfill.

To register to attend free of charge, complete the form on www.rwmexhibition.com/edie2 – you will get a unique reference number which you can use to collect your badge at the event.

The installation of an AC drive with an advanced software tool has dramatically cut call-outs for blockages at an Irish County Council pumping station. Control Techniques’ IPC Lite software has been fitted to a replacement Commander SK AC drive at a pumping station at Kelly’s Bay, Skerries in North County Dublin, and has cut callouts from ‘ragging’, the fouling of the pump’s impeller, from a weekly occurrence to just once since it was installed six months ago.

Ragging is a long-standing nuisance that eats up thousands of hours of maintenance time in sewage pumping stations and wastewater treatment plants worldwide. At the Kelly’s Bay pumping station, two variable speed drives control main and standby pumps. “The pumping station would run for a couple of weeks and then we’d get three or four call-outs in a week,” explains Fingal County Council’s mechanical supervisor Jim McGuiness.

He continues: “So, when it was time to replace one of the existing 15kW AC drives, Control Techniques’ Drive Centre in Newbridge suggested that we had IPC Lite software loaded. It has worked extremely well, before the software we switched between the two pumps weekly to spread the load from a maintenance point of view. However since August we have just run the one pump with the IPC Lite software and monitored its performance by telemetry, maintenance costs have dramatically reduced.”

Call-outs for blockages to Kelly’s Bay, a distance of some 11 miles, took a team of two an average of two hours each time, a significant maintenance burden and one that has now been virtually removed. The pump now runs around the clock, with flow rates varying between 20 and 70 cu.m/hr with IPC Lite providing early warnings of ragging and initiating cleaning routines when required.

IPC Lite is an in-drive solution to ragging that provides very early ‘predictive’ detection of a problem as well as initiating a client-defined cleansing cycle. It measures on-board active current unlike other systems that measure the motor’s nominal current – a measurement that can give an error of 30-40% on the real torque figure. Control Techniques’ system measures real torque every millisecond. As soon as IPC Lite sees a change in the active current profile, remedial action is taken to remove the potential blockage.

In the event of a blockage, the cleaning routine is initiated. The cleaning routine is user configurable via parameters and, in addition, a manual cleanse can be triggered by staff if required.

The IPC programming can be tailored to suit individual pumping stations in this case a level sensor has been added to system to trigger the pump into high speed in times of flooding.

The fund managed by BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners has acquired 100% of Gortahile Windfarm, which owns and operates a 20 megawatt wind farm in County Laois, from ABO Wind Ireland. The Gortahile Windfarm began commercial operation at the end of August 2010. It is forecast to produce about 70 GWh of electricity per year, enough to meet the annual needs of over 11,200 households.

“This acquisition represents the cornerstone of a larger portfolio that we intend to build in Ireland,” says Joost Bergsma, chief executive of the fund. “Ireland is a very attractive renewables market for financial investors because of its strong wind regime, its robust REFIT support policy, and its commitment to achieving its 2020 renewable energy target.”

As part of its geographically diversified investment portfolio, the team aims to acquire additional assets of wind generation capacity in Ireland over the course of its investment period. “We are securing a deep pipeline of projects with a number of developers and owners to enable us achieve our target investment size in Ireland,” says Francesco Cacciabue, chief financial officer and investment director. “We target both operational wind farms and wind farms under construction.”

The Gortahile Windfarm acquisition is the first in a partnership agreement between BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners and ABO Wind in which the parties have agreed to transact 50 megawatts of generation capacity over the next 16 months.

German-based ABO Wind is one of Europe‘s most experienced wind energy developers. With interests in Germany, France, Spain, Ireland, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Belgium and Argentina, the company has been successfully developing, constructing and maintaining commercial wind farms of 400 MW-rated capacity for almost 15 years. Currently 150 employees work for ABO Wind in these countries.

BNP Paribas Clean Energy Partners invests in construction and operational clean energy infrastructure assets in on-shore wind, solar photovoltaic biomass and small scale hydro power generation in Europe.

The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, TD, will today (September 1st) open the completed 32km M50 Upgrade Scheme that has transformed the M50 from a two-lane heavily congested road with toll barriers and signaled interchanges into a modern free-flowing motorway that has reduced journey times by up to 50%. The upgraded M50 has resulted in shorter, more reliable and safer journeys that improve commuters’ quality of life, increase efficiency for businesses and help Dublin to be more competitive in order to attract more foreign inward investment.

The one billion euro project was carried out over four and a half years, in the midst of 100,000 moving vehicles per day and was completed four months ahead of schedule. The final section of the upgraded M50 Motorway, the new and improved Junction 6 (N3 Blanchardstown Interchange), will open to traffic at 5.30pm this evening.

“This upgrade scheme will future proof the M50 by helping to reduce traffic congestion and providing very significant time savings for hard pressed motorists,” says Noel Dempsey. “This investment and the billions more that we are spending on the provision of world class transport infrastructure is helping to boost our national competitiveness. This Government will continue to invest in transport because we are committed to having the proper infrastructure in place to make the most of our economic recovery.”

The removal of the West-Link Toll Plaza and its replacement with a fully electronic barrier-free tolling system was a crucial element of the strategy for easing congestion on Ireland’s busiest roadway allowing drivers to travel unencumbered at the legal speed limit along the M50. As we reach the second anniversary of the commencement of barrier-free tolling, traffic volumes on the toll section are approaching an average of 100,000 vehicles per day, equating to 2.9 million transactions being processed per month.

The revenue raised through e-flow tolling is being used to fund the M50 motorway upgrade costs along with the future operation and maintenance costs of the road.

The M50 Upgrade Scheme was funded by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan and Transport 21 and was delivered through the National Roads Authority’s PPP mechanism.