Why are industrial facilities not installing battery storage as it ‘can lower electricity costs for everyone’? How can PPA’s help these businesses?

Published
October 6th, 2022

Industrial-scale battery storage systems can help lower electricity costs greatly for the facilities they are installed at, but could also help manage the cost of power for the general public.

The Electrical Energy Storage Europe conference in Munich, Germany, discussed commercial and industrial (C&I) battery energy storage systems (BESS) could be a vital source of flexibility for grids across Europe.

On the 10^th May the top was raised if C&I storage, described as systems between 30kW to 1,000+kW and installed at different types of commercial and industrial facilities, could be a large benefit to Europe’s energy storage market.

Battery systems can lower the amount of electricity the companies need to take from the grid. If peak shaving, which is reducing grid usage at peak times, is used correctly can also reduce electricity costs dramatically.

In Germany, for example, as demand for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and renewable energy rises, an increasing portion of the costs of managing the network to accommodate them is levied onto C&I electricity users in the form of demand charges.

Bayernwerk Natur, a company in Bayern Munich installed a 2MW/1MWh lithium-ion BESS at a dairy farm coupled with two 800kW combined heat and power (CHP) generators. The management at the dairy farm is able to save as much as €600,000 per year on its electricity costs, from the use of the grid before installing the new equipment.

The panel discussion’s moderator, Dr Holger Hesse from the University of Applied Sciences Kempten at Technical University Munich mentioned that there has however only been a “little growth” in the C&I market despite “a lot of potential”.

Alongside this ability to reduce onsite electricity costs, batteries at industrial plants could be a great resource for the entire network, but current market design rules don’t value or incentivise this potential, various speakers on the panel today said.

‘We don’t have tariffs that value flexibility

For example, this year on 19^th March when there was an abundance of renewable energy, far more than the load on the grid to consume. However on, 20 March, plants kept running and the system went into negative pricing.

C&I storage could bring flexibility to that situation, Lars Stephan, policy and markets director for energy storage system integrator Fluence said, “but in Germany, we don’t have tariffs that value flexibility”. In California’s CAISO grid service area, time-of-use electricity pricing has been introduced, which directly links the price of power with the demand for it from the general public.

Another example Stephan gave included settlement prices in day-ahead auctions at 7 am and 9 am went above €2,700 per MWh, and 28GWh was transacted. This came about because interconnectors with other countries were down, and so was much of the country’s nuclear fleet.

Stephan claimed that if just 500MW of two-hour duration (1,000MWh) battery storage was installed on the French grid and could be used, the clearing price would have been reduced greatly for the French system, and ultimately for French consumers.

Energy storage systems have vast applications, however, only a narrow band of those applications is incentivised for C&I customers that want to invest in them, these applications generally being peak shaving and the enabling of self-consumption of onsite generated renewable energy.

Energy storage hardware and software development company Fenecon’s CEO,  Franz-Joseph Fellmeier, said that as well as recognising and capitalising on the multi-use potential of energy storage, it’s important to derisk investment in the technology and develop an open source ecosystem for hardware and software.

How the energy crisis and PPA’s create incentivisation?

A PPA is a fully funded solar PV model with no, or low, upfront costs which offers reduced energy costs and the opportunity for long-term savings. It allows a developer to design, finance and install a solar PV system on a client’s property. In return, the developer sells the generated energy back to the customer, at a lower and better rate. This is funded by investors who see huge potential in the future of Green Energy. C&I businesses have used this to their advantage as with energy prices ever rising this is a solid plan to reduce energy bills now and eventually be free of grid usage and depending on the energy usage be fully renewable.

References: 

1. Industrial battery storage could lower Europe’s electricity costs (energy-storage.news)
2. https://www.lightsolar.co.uk/funding/ 

Deep Green Solar Has Arrived

Recently there has been a larger focus on the importance of biodiversity on solar farms, due to the intersecting forces of sustainable finance and the UK Environment Act. These positive influences will hopefully change the viewpoint of solar farms for the industry and the public, as they evolve into biodiversity hotspots that lead the charge on the recovery of nature. Everoze Partner Ellie van der Heijden discusses how boosting biodiversity can be an opportunity for solar developers and investors to increase their positive impact.

The solar industry has historically focused on low-carbon energy production and playing a key role in preventing the climate crisis. But we are also facing a biodiversity crisis. Britain, for example has lost more of its biodiversity than almost anywhere else in western Europe and is among the most nature-depleted countries in the world. That is shocking.

The climate and biodiversity crises are strongly linked, and their solutions are interrelated. The recent emergence of two intersecting forces – sustainable finance (the carrot) and tougher biodiversity legislation (the stick) – mean this could be a turning point for nature, and in particular, the way the industry and the public view solar farms.

Carrot and stick

 

Investment in “sustainable funds” has intensified over the past two years, as these types of funds have been shown to perform well financially. Solar farms that have a positive biodiversity impact above and beyond the basic mitigations required by the environmental impact assessment score well on these funds’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores. Investors and lenders are asking more and more questions about the sustainability and environmental performance of solar assets, and this trend will continue. Improving biodiversity on solar farms will give developers extra kudos with potential investors. Developers that go the extra mile in terms of biodiversity will be rewarded with easier access to finance, in addition to easier access to permits from the local authorities.

In addition to the influential rise of sustainable finance, new legislation in the UK and EU is supercharging the focus on biodiversity. Governments seem to be finally waking up to the urgent need to do more to address the catastrophic biodiversity loss we are experiencing. This has been catalysed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the growing realisation that biodiversity isn’t just nice to have. It’s essential to our health, economy and human existence on this planet.

The UK and EU already have legislation in place that protects habitats and species, but this has proven not enough to stop the rapid decline in biodiversity. As a result, the UK Environment Act will bring into law the requirement for all new developments to deliver an increase of at least 10% in biodiversity from 2023. Similarly, one of the key actions of the EU Biodiversity strategy is to prioritise renewable energy solutions that can be favourable to biodiversity, such as solar farms.

Biodiversity hotspots

 

This is a huge opportunity for the solar industry to demonstrate innovative approaches that truly integrate habitat creation and nature with energy generation. Solar farms by their very nature, if you’ll excuse the pun, present the ideal circumstances to allow biodiversity to recover and produce clean energy that helps to regenerate nature.

When an area is turned over to solar energy generation, the land is no longer intensively managed, either by plowing or the application of chemicals. This in itself has a positive impact on soil health, which is vital for rebuilding healthy ecosystems and removing carbon from the atmosphere. But additional active steps which improve habitat and promote biodiversity encourage nature to come flooding back in, with positive knock-on effects for surrounding areas. The good news is that further intentional actions to increase biodiversity don’t have to be elaborate or expensive – it just requires some thought from the early stages of development.

It is best to work with an experienced ecologist to establish the baseline conditions and then identify classes of species. For example: Insects, bees, butterflies, birds and reptiles could be encouraged to thrive through specific habitat enhancements. The recently published British

Standard for designing and implementing biodiversity net gain sets out a solid process and tools for developers and solar farm designers to follow when undertaking this exercise.

Clever biodiversity improvements don’t always have to involve additional areas of land. It can be as simple as using the awkward corners of a site to locate a pond or habitat pile. Raising fencing up a few centimetres so that small mammals can pass underneath has no extra cost. In fact, some biodiversity measures, such as cutting hedgerows and mowing less frequently, may even save money during the operational phase.

Revenue stacks

I can foresee a future where solar farms have evolved from just energy generation facilities into biodiversity hotspots that are leading the recovery of nature in our landscape. The biodiversity gains they produce will not only benefit nature and the climate, but may become sought after by development projects in other industries that are unable to deliver the required biodiversity net gain. Solar farms may be able to “trade” any additional biodiversity credits they have and reap further benefits.

In summary, the solar industry is uniquely positioned to help mitigate both the climate and biodiversity crises. We are at the dawn of a new “greener” era whereby regenerating nature will be of equal importance to generating energy. Solar farms five to 10 years from now will look and feel very different to the solar farms of today, and hopefully that will be because they support the levels of biodiversity: birds, bees, butterflies, insects and mammals, not seen or heard since our grandparents were young. This is the hope we all need in the face of crisis and makes it an exciting time to be part of the solar industry.

Information sourced from – https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/06/11/the-weekend-read-the-

dawn-of-deep-green-solar/

For the First Time, perovskite-silicon solar cells break the 30% efficiency barrier

They just set two certified world records.

 

A collaborative effort led by EPFL’s Photovoltaics and Thin Film Electronics Laboratory in partnership with the famous innovation center, CSEM, has smashed through the efficiency record for tandem silicon-perovskite solar cells.

This is significant as the researchers have surpassed the milestone of 30 percent for the first time using low-cost materials and established two certified world records,

pushing the technology beyond the limits of silicon.

“We have passed a psychological barrier,” explains Christophe Ballif, Head of the EPFL Photovoltaics Laboratory and CSEM’s Sustainable Energy Center, in a press release. “We have validated experimentally the high-efficiency potential of perovskite-on-silicon tandems. The 30 percent efficiency mark had already been achieved with other types of materials, namely III-V semiconductors. However, these materials and the processes used to make them are too expensive to sustain the energy transition – these devices are a thousand times more expensive than silicon solar cells.”

“Our results are the first to show that the 30 percent barrier can be overcome using low- cost materials and processes, which should open new perspectives for the future of PV,” he continued.

 

Breaking the limits and going beyond

 

Solar cells are bound to the limits of whatever material they were made from. Today, silicon is the most widely used material for solar cells; however, despite its success, it does have its drawbacks as it has a theoretical efficiency limit of roughly 29 percent. This technology’s current efficiencies stand at a little less than 27 percent, giving a very small margin for potential efficiency advancements.

To overcome this barrier, scientists have added more complementary solar cells to silicon, resulting in “tandem” solar cells. The press release explains that the sun’s higher-energy visible light is absorbed in the top cell, while the lower-energy infrared light is absorbed in the silicon cell at the tandem’s rear. Halide perovskites reportedly have been discovered as an appropriate silicon partner as they can convert visible light to electrical power more efficiently than silicon alone. Moreover, they don’t increase fabrication costs significantly. In the latest development, the researchers at EPFL and CSEM have succeeded in developing and improving the efficiency of tandem silicon-perovskite solar cells with high efficiencies using two different designs.

 

 

Tandem silicon-perovskite solar cells

 

The first consists of perovskite layers deposited from a liquid solution onto a flat silicon surface, which achieved a 30.93 percent efficiency for a 1 cm2 test cell (0.2 in2).

The second one used a hybrid vapor and liquid solution approach to deposit perovskite onto a textured silicon surface, achieving a 31.25 percent efficiency for a 1 cm2 solar cell. According to the experts, more research is needed to determine how well the novel designs can be scaled up to greater surface areas. This could allow for scaling up to larger surface areas and ensure that these new cells can maintain a stable power output on our rooftops and elsewhere over a standard lifetime.

“Tandem perovskite-on-silicon technologies have been said to have the potential to exceed the 30% efficiency benchmark, but this is the first time this long-predicted potential has been demonstrated, which should hopefully pave the way for even cheaper sustainable electricity in the future,” Christian Wolff of EPFL said.

Information sourced from – https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/in-a-world-first-

perovskite-silicon-solar-cells-break-the-30-efficiency-barrier

 

Britishvolt to invest more than £200m in Midlands test facility

UK battery startup to lease site in Hams Hall in order to test manufacturing methods for planned ‘gigafactory’

The UK battery startup Britishvolt plans on investing more than £200m in a new facility in the West Midlands to test manufacturing methods, that will be used at the upcoming factory it has planned to be built in Northumberland.

The company plans on leasing a site in Hams Hall, Warwickshire, from the warehouse developer Prologis, with equipment installation expected by the end of autumn 2023.

The move will give Britishvolt access to the significant number of engineers working in the West Midlands, which has long been at the centre of the British automotive industry. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is planning a battery assembly centre at Hams Hall, while the German carmaker BMW produces petrol engines there as well.

Britishvolt has pursued a flurry of partnerships and investments as it pursues its ambition to build electric car batteries from scratch. In January it secured £100m in government funding, alongside backing from the investment firm Abrdn and the fund manager Tritax that is eventually expected to reach £1.7bn. Britishvolt has also recently secured investment from the Monaco-based shipping company Scorpio Group, in an indication that it will look beyond the automotive industry for customers. However, it has signed memorandums of understanding with the UK carmakers Aston Martin and Lagonda.

Britishvolt chose to build its “gigafactory” – industry jargon generally used to refer to battery plants with annual capacity of more than 10 gigawatt hours – in Cambois near Blyth in Northumberland. That site was selected in part because of access to renewable energy from offshore windfarms.

Paul Franklin, Britishvolt’s property director, said he wanted the company to “lead the UK’s journey into re-industrialisation with the first full-scale battery gigaplant”,

and added that the Hams Hall facility would “help the UK build on its home-grown battery intellectual property and level up the country ready for the energy transition”.

The only other planned battery plant of a similar scale is an investment by China’s Envision at a site in Sunderland that was formerly owned by Nissan to produce batteries for its electric models. Another effort to build a “gigafactory” at Coventry airport has yet to find a major investor.

The project hopes to attract investment from a major automotive company, with West Midlands-based JLR seen as the best fit. However, JLR did not deny a report by Bloomberg last week that it is considering sourcing batteries overseas, from Sweden’s Northvolt or China’s SVOLT Energy Technology, for a range of electric cars that it may assemble in Slovakia.

Information sourced from – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/31/

britishvolt-to-invest-more-than-pounds-200m-midlands-testing-site-uk-battery- startup-hams-hall-gigafactory

Batteries at Europe’s industrial facilities ‘can lower electricity costs for everyone’

Industrial-scale battery storage systems can effectively lower electricity costs when installed, additionally they can also help manage the cost of power for consumers when used correctly.

Speakers at the Electrical Energy Storage Europe (ees Europe) conference in Munich, Germany, have stated that commercial and industrial (C&I) battery energy storage systems (BESS) could be a vital source of flexibility for grids across the continent.

A panel discussion held on the 10th May asked if C&I storage, defined loosely as systems between 30kW to 1,000+kW and installed at different types of commercial and industrial facilities, could be “the next big thing” in Europe’s energy storage market.

Battery systems can significantly lower the amount of electricity a facility needs to draw from the grid. If used strategically, reducing grid consumption at times when demand is at its peak – an application called peak shaving – can also reduce electricity costs dramatically.

For example, In Germany, as demand for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and renewable energy rises, an increasing portion of costs of managing the network to accommodate them is levied onto C&I electricity users in the form of demand charges.

One company headquartered in Southern Germany, Bayernwerk Natur, installed a 2MW/ 1MWh lithium-ion BESS at a dairy farm coupled with two 800kW combined heat and power (CHP) generators. Bayernwerk Natur general manager Matthias Jacob said the dairy farm is able to save as much as €600,000 (US$63,240) per year on its electricity costs, such was the intensive nature of its use of power from the grid before installing the new equipment.

The panel discussion’s moderator, Dr Holger Hesse from the University of Applied Sciences Kempten at Technical University Munich (TUM), noted that there has however only been a “little growth” in the C&I market despite “a lot of potential”.

As reported by Energy-Storage.news in March, a team of experts found that during 2021, just 27MW/57MWh of C&I storage was installed in Germany compared to more than a gigawatt-hour of residential energy storage.

Alongside this ability to reduce onsite electricity costs, batteries at industrial plants could be a powerful resource for the entire network, but current market design rules don’t value or incentivise this potential, various speakers on the panel today said:

‘We don’t have tariffs that value flexibility’

 

Lars Stephan, policy and markets director for energy storage system integrator Fluence highlighted a day in March this year when there was an abundance of renewable energy, far more than load on the grid to consume. Yet on that day, 20 March, thermal generation plants kept running and the system plunged into negative pricing.

C&I storage could bring flexibility to that situation, he said, “but in Germany we don’t have tariffs that value flexibility”. So for example in California’s CAISO grid service area, time of use electricity pricing has been introduced, which directly correlates the price of power with the demand for it from end users.

Another example Lars Stephan gave was 4 April this year, in France. Settlement prices in day ahead auctions at 7am and 9am went above €2,700 per MWh, and 28GWh was transacted. This came about because interconnectors with other countries were down, and so was much of the country’s nuclear fleet.

Stephan claimed that if just 500MW of two-hour duration (1,000MWh) battery storage was installed on the French grid and could be called upon, the clearing price would have been reduced substantially for the French system, and ultimately for French consumers.

Energy storage systems are noted for their versatility and range of applications they can provide. However, with things being as they currently are, only a narrow band of those applications is incentivised for C&I customers that want to invest in them, these applications generally being peak shaving and the enabling of self-consumption of onsite generated renewable energy.

Energy storage hardware and software development company Fenecon’s CEO, Franz- Joseph Fellmeier, said that as well as recognising and capitalising on the multi-use potential of energy storage, it’s important to derisk investment in the technology and develop an open source ecosystem for hardware and software.

In other words, compatibility across different energy storage systems and adjacent technologies such as EV chargers and heat pumps that BESS can be used to manage and control would help lower costs and increase accessibility. Fellmeier drew the example of the smartphone, where multiple app developers can benefit from a shared operating system platform, be it Android or Apple. Among the ways of derisking investment that can work are rental models for BESS, which lower the capital cost for customers.

Information sourced from – https://www.energy-storage.news/batteries-at-europes-

industrial-facilities-can-lower-electricity-costs-for-everyone/

Solar panels will become mandatory on all new EU buildings

Solar panels could be on all Europe’s public buildings by 2029

The European Union wants to accelerate a large-scale rollout of solar energy while also rebuilding Europe’s solar manufacturing industry. The plan is part of the bloc’s strategy to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, especially natural gas, by 2030. The EU currently gets about 40% of its gas from Russia at a cost of over $110 million a day, which is just unmanageable in the current state of the climate.

According to the European Commission’s plan, named RepowerEU, half of the EU’s energy would come from renewable sources by 2030, more than double the current amount. This would cost hundreds of billions of euros, but a lot of that money would come from savings on imported fuel. But in order to achieve this, swift action is required.

As part of the plan, the EU introduced several measures, ranging from the doubling of the rate of deployment of heat pumps to establishing ‘go-to’ areas for renewables. Among these measures, the European Commission has also |introduced the “solar rooftop initiative” which would make it mandatory to install solar panels on new public and commercial buildings, as well as new residential buildings by 2029.

“There is a double urgency to transform Europe’s energy system: ending the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, which are used as an economic and political weapon and cost European

taxpayers nearly €100 billion per year, and tackling the climate crisis,” the European Commission said in a statement earlier this week.

An important shift towards solar energy

 

As part of the REPowerEU plan, the EU aims to bring online over 320 GW of solar photovoltaic energy by 2025 (more than doubling compared to 2020) and almost 600 GW by 2030. Solar delivered about 5% of the total EU electricity generation in 2020. To reach the 2030 target, the EU would have to install, on average, 45 GW per year.

To meet this target, the EU is betting big on its “solar rooftop initiative.” According to some estimates, rooftop PV could provide almost 25% of the EU’s electricity consumption — more than today’s share of natural gas. The EU argued these installations can be deployed swiftly while also shielding consumers from high energy prices. In fact, this shift could make energy cheaper compared to today’s levels.

The plan requires the EU and national governments to limit the length of permitting for rooftop solar installations, including large ones, to a maximum of three months – something that would need to happen this year. Solar rooftops will be compulsory for new public and commercial buildings by 2027 and for residential buildings by 2029.

For this, the EU will establish support frameworks for rooftop systems, including in combination with energy storage and heat pumps, based on predictable payback times that are shorter than 10 years. The plan is expected to add 19 TWh of electricity after the first year of its implementation – and then a total of 58 TWh of electricity by 2025.

In terms of saving energy, the European Commission also wants to raise its current target for reducing energy consumption by 2030 via energy efficiency, from 9% to 13%. It’s also encouraging

governments to implement policies to increase energy savings, such as reduced taxes on energy-efficient heating systems and building insulation.

“Solar electricity and heat are key for phasing out EU’s dependence on Russian natural gas. Large-scale deployment of PVs will reduce our reliance on natural gas used to produce power,” the European Commission said in a statement. “Rooftops have been the place for most of the solar energy deployment so far, but huge untapped potential remains.”

Source – https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/eu-bets-on-solar-power-to-cut-its-reliance-on-russias-natural-gas-19052022/ 

The Biggest Solar Farms in the UK

The solar energy industry has evolved massively over the past few years, allowing solar energy to be produced at a much lower rate than other sources of renewable energy, with a huge number of solar farms being created globally. Supporting the UK’s green energy transition, the collective pipeline of the 469 solar farms dotted across the UK has now reached 11.6GW per year.

Solar farms are large scale applications of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. They have been providing green, renewable and locally sourced energy to large numbers of people and businesses for many years since their initial creation 25 to 30 years ago. Creating and obtaining energy via solar farming is quickly becoming the preferred option for governments, businesses and interested independent investors.

According to 2020 figures, just under 500 solar farms are now in operation in the UK. In just a five-year period, the solar capacity in the UK increased from 5,488.6 MW in 2014 to an astonishing 13,258 MW in June 2019.

We have compiled an info-list on the 5 largest solar farms, also known as solar parks, currently operating in the UK. Read on to find out more!

 

1. SHOTWICK SOLAR PARK

 

In at first place is Shotwick Solar Park located in Flintshire, Wales.

– Commissioned in March 2016, Shotwick Solar Park was collaboratively developed by We-Link Energy and Compton group. 

– Producing 72.2 MW per year and spread over 250 acres, this solar farm is the largest in the UK.

– This solar farm generates and feeds private infrastructure with power. Including the UK’s largest paper mill, UPM Shotton Paper Mill. Shotwick Solar farm supplies 70% of the paper mills’s energy requirements, saving the business 22,5000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

– Helping companies like UPM Shotton Paper Mill offset around one- third of their annual electricity demand. Shotwick Solar Park is the largest private wire solar park in Europe.

 

2. LYNEHAM SOLAR FARM 

 

In at second place is MOD Lyneham Solar Farm in Bradenstoke, Wiltshire:

– Situated on a former runway, Lyneham Solar Farm is the first developed with the British Ministry of Defence (MOD).


– Commissioned in March 2015, Lyneham Solar Farm has a capacity of 69.8MW and covers 213.3 acres of land.

– With a network of over 17 kilometres of interconnecting trenches that draw power from over 160,000 solar PV panels, this solar farm can provide clean power to ten thousand homes as well as a military training college on site.

– AS RAF Lyneham does not house operational aircraft on a day-to- day basis nor is it safeguarded by the MOD, any glint and glare issues associated with solar panels is not relevant in this instance making Lyneham a suitable home for a Green energy project such as this.

 

3. OWL’S HATCH SOLAR PARK 

 

In at third place is Owl’s Hatch Solar Park located at Herne Bay, Kent:

 

– Commissioned in March 2015, this solar farm has a capacity

of 51.9MW.

– Occupying 212 acres of land south of Herne Bay, this solar farm is situated across eight fields.

– With rows of panels standing 2.4 metres tall and titled at a 22- degree angle, this solar farm is considered “dual use” as it uses the land to both generate solar energy and be available for agricultural purposes including sheep grazing.

– 14,000 homes are thought to be supplied with power thanks to Owl’s Hatch Solar Farm.

 

4. WROUGHTON AIRFIELD SOLAR PARK

  In at fourth place is Wroughton Airfield Solar Park:   – One of the largest ground mounted solar farms in the UK, this project is a joint development effort from Public Power Solutions (PPS) and the Science Museum Group who were seeking a solution that would generate an income enabling them to refurbish the aircraft hangers on the former WWII airfield. – Initially funded by private investors, Wroughton’s local authorities have also invested into this 165-acre solar farm. – Completed in March 2016 and also connected to the national grid, this solar farm has a capacity of 50MW – enough to power 12,000 homes on solar energy!  

5. WEST RAYNHAM SOLAR FARM 

  In at fifth place is West Raynham Solar Farm:   – Commissioned in March 2015, this solar farm of nearly 200,000 solar panels is spread over 225 acres of land.  – With a capacity of 49.8MW, this solar farm situated on a disuse airfield near Fakenham and is capable of serving up to 11,000 houses with solar power. – Large-scale solar energy investors Bluefield Solar purchased the land for this solar farm at a colossal £56.5m.  

Why should you switch to solar? 

  Solar energy is a fantastic option to not only reduce your electricity bills, but to also cut your carbon footprint. A typical home solar PV system could save around one tonne of carbon per year, depending on where you live in the UK. Get in touch today, to see how we can help you switch to solar!

How much does it cost to charge an electric car? How does this compare to petrol?

There are an estimated 400,000 electric cars on the road in the UK and more than 750,000 plug-in hybrids.

Electric cars are becoming increasingly popular as the price of oil remains high and people are looking for better environmental options.

The UK government will provide £ 500 million over the next five years to support the launch of a fast-charging network for electric cars, ensuring that drivers no longer drive 50 miles from the fast charging station.

An estimated 400,000 electric cars and more than 750,000 plug-in hybrids run on British roads.

In April 2022, 12,899 new electric cars were sold – an increase of 40.9 percent compared to April 2021. This gives them a market share of 10.8 percent.

As they grow in popularity, here’s what you need to know about billing costs and how they compare to gasoline.

How much does it cost to charge an electric car?

The price of charging your electric car depends on how and where you charge it. A fully charged household electric car costs around £ 15.10, based on a typical electric car with a 60kWh battery and a range of almost 200 miles, at an average cost of 28p / kWh.

Outside the house are the Pod Point quick chargers 23 p / kWh in Lidl and 24 p / kWh in Tesco, which is about £ 6-7 for a 30-minute charge (about 100 miles away).

The price is probably the same at gas stations.

Most modern networks can use a free mobile download application to find payment points.

How does it compare to petrol?

At present, a litre of unleaded petrol costs around £1.73. Super unleaded costs around £1.85, and diesel is £1.83.

These prices are all expected to continue rising.

That means for a small car like a Ford Fiesta, 100 miles of travel costs around £14 – double the price of travelling the same distance in an electric vehicle.

For a larger car like a Land Rover the cost is significantly higher – in excess of £30 for 100 miles of travel.

To find out more about EV charging installations contact us. 

Will it be mandatory for ALL building to have solar panels by 2029?

The European Union wants to facilitate the big start-up of solar energy and at the same time build a solar production industry in Europe. The plan is part of a strategy to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels, especially natural gas, by 2030. The EU currently receives about 40% of its gas from Russia at a cost of more than $ 110 million a day.

By 2030, half of the EU’s energy will come from sustainable sources, which, according to the European Commission’s plan called RepowerEU, is more than double the current amount. It costs hundreds of billions of euros, but most of this money comes from savings on imported fuel. However, rapid action is needed to achieve this goal.

Under this plan, the EU has put in place a number of measures, from doubling the rate of heat pump deployment to creating areas where renewable energy sources can be used. As part of these measures, the European Commission has also introduced the Solar Roof Initiative which will make it mandatory in 2029 to install solar panels in new public and commercial buildings as well as in new residential buildings.

How will Europe transition to solar energy?

Under the REPowerEU plan, the EU aims to operate 320 GW of photovoltaic solar energy by 2025 (more than doubling compared to 2020) and almost 600 GW by 2030. By 2030, the EU will reach an average of 45 GW per year to be installed.

To achieve this, the EU relies heavily on the Solar Roof Initiative. According to some estimates, rooftop photovoltaics can supply almost 25% of the EU’s electricity consumption – more than the share of natural gas today. These devices can be deployed quickly while protecting consumers from high energy prices, the EU said. In fact, this shift could make energy cheaper than at the current level.

The plan requires the EU and national governments to limit the length of roofing permits for solar installations, including large ones, to a maximum of three months – which should happen this year. Skylights are required for new public and commercial buildings in 2027 and for residential buildings in 2029.

To this end, the EU will build support structures for roof systems, including a combination of energy storage and heat pumps, based on foreseeable payment periods of less than 10 years. The plan is expected to add 19 TWh of electricity after the first year of its implementation – and then a total of 58 TWh of electricity in 2025.

In the area of energy savings, the European Commission also wants to increase its current target of reducing energy consumption by 2030 by energy efficiency, from 9% to 13%. It also called on governments to implement policies to increase energy savings, such as reducing taxes on energy-efficient heating and insulation systems for buildings.

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