Monthly Archives: December 2014

Energy & Climate Questions to the Mayor

December 2014:  This month the Mayor has been asked questions in relation to:

alternative energy for maritime facilities;  the Mayor’s Energy Advisor’s letter to the Treasury to support tax incentives to help community energy projects; the Belvedere Energy from Waste plant and the Viridor Energy Recovery plant in Beddington, Sutton; the Mayor’s Energy Advisor’s visit to Shanghai and Beijing; the Mayor’s support for minimum energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector; Crossrail stations using decentralised energy; whether the Mayor supports the call for energy efficiency to be made a UK infrastructure priority; research commissioned by the GLA Environment Team this year costing more than £10,000; Islington Council’s recent success at the Energy Institute Awards; TfL officers responsible for examining the potential for solar energy; and again for the Metropolitan Police Service; TfL’s total electricity spend – and the the proportion of electricity it plans to source for low carbon generators in London; whether TfL has undertaken an assessment of solar PV potential across its estate; meetings the Mayor has had with the London Sustainable Development Commission; the amount of solar PV installed across the Met Police’s estate; and also TfL’s estate; a programme for deploying solar across the Met Police’s estate; the Mayor’s support for Cold Homes Week 2015; Excess Winter Mortality (EWM) statistics for London; the number of children in London living in fuel poverty; the number of Londoners living in fuel poverty; if the Mayor had worked with Public Health England on fuel poverty issues; how the Mayor will be helping London households in fuel poverty this winter; Mayoral support for anaerobic digestion facilities in London; the Mayor’s support to older Londoners in fuel poverty; decentralised energy support unit (DEPDU) work on the North London Heat and Power project; the number of RE:NEW households visited with children; RE:NEW programme progress reports; companies on the RE:NEW programme procurement framework and discussions with Brent Council on fracking.

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

Posted in Decentralised Energy, Energy Efficiency, News, Renewable Energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mayor looking for London DE output

December 2014: The GLA’s Investment and Performance Board (IPB) requested a further update on work by the organisation to take on ‘license lite’ status – also known as a ‘junior electricity supply license’. This was presented at the December meeting of the IPB – the paper available to download here.

Previous posts on the GLA’s work on ‘license lite’ can be read here. This new paper provides some further updates, specifically:

  • Following a tender process for a fully licensed supplier to support the GLA’s ‘license lite’ application (the tender for which was issued earlier this year), the IPB paper informs that a “successful tenderer” has been appointed. However – “No announcement has yet been made of the tender award” – though details  of the successful party are set out in an Appendix to the document for the IPB, but has been held back from the public as a ‘reserved’ document.
  • The next stage will be to source low carbon electricity output from London based generators. The document sets out that “Although there is a substantial interest amongst decentralised energy generators, procuring sufficient volume initially is not a foregone conclusion”. The GLA (via TfL) issued a tender for electrical generating capacity on 18 December – details of which can be seen here (Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) – 2014/S 246-433512) .
  • This tender highlights that “The GLA’s objective is that by this means it will facilitate decentralised energy generators in London in obtaining a better price for the electricity they export, rather than relying upon power purchase agreements entered into in the usual way.”
  • The IPB states that “The timing is for the remaining arrangements for licence lite operation to be put in place for a request for a Mayoral Decision to proceed to be made in February 2015, with a view to operation beginning in May 2015, subject to the decision being positive.”

Ofgem held a workshop on License Lite in November 2014, around a consultation they are presently undertaking on these junior license conditions. The webpage for workshop includes a presentation from the GLA, and also the GLA’s response to Ofgem’s consultation document. Both available here.

Posted in Decentralised Energy, News, Renewable Energy | Leave a comment

London Green Infrastructure Task Force

December 2014: A new Mayoral Decision (MD) document concerned with funding arrangements for the research and production of the London Infrastructure Plan 2050 (see previous post on the consultation document for the Plan here) provides an update on proposals in the consultation to establish a London Green Infrastructure Task Force.

The consultation document stated that the “the Mayor is establishing a Green Infrastructure Task Force to advise on the future design and management of London’s green infrastructure … the Task Force will be established in Autumn 2014 and will meet regularly in 2015 to consider the key issues and challenges facing London’s green infrastructure in the medium and longterm.  By the end of 2015 it will report on its findings, including recommendations for the governance and funding arrangements required for planning, co-ordinating and investing in green infrastructure programmes and strategic projects.”

No further information appears to be have been made available to date by the Mayor on the make up of the task force or whether it has held any meetings as yet. However, the new MD sets out that the “Green Infrastructure Task Force has been convened to advise on how to establish an integrated network of green infrastructure that reflects the full range of benefits offered by green infrastructure. A budget of £20,000 is required to provide the Task Force with the research support they will require to collate and evaluate evidence on green infrastructure in London” Continue reading…

Posted in News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Further funds to RE:FIT to ensure targets are met

December 2014: GLA Directors have approved further funds for the Mayor’s public sector building retrofit programme RE:FIT. Directors’ Decision 1291 (DD1291) sets out that additional GLA funding is being directed to the programme to help ensure that its investment targets – as set by the EU funding programme ELENA, which provides the bulk of the funding to RE:FIT – can be met.

The DD states that RE:FIT’s Programme Development Unit (PDU) – which is managed by Turner & Townsend “is funded until 31 March 2015 by a combination of ELENA and GLA funding (a total of £2.781 million – 85% from ELENA, 15% from the GLA). To date £2.537 million have been spent since September 2011. Under current arrangements, the PDU will be working at full capacity until the end of December 2014 and will be in closedown mode for the final three months.” Continue reading…

Posted in Energy Efficiency, News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Go ultra low city scheme

12 December 2014: Department for Transport (DfT) guidance for bidders to a £35 million scheme to help cities increase the local uptake of ultra low emission vehicles. Full details here.

Posted in News | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London

14 December 2014: Sunday Times article covering how ‘Wood-fired stoves fuel city pollution‘. The author points to evidence supporting the article’s findings in an academic paper (fully available) published earlier this year in the journal ‘Atmospheric Environment‘ ‘Contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London‘:

“Air pollution from domestic wood burning has long been recognised as an important contributor to poor ambient air quality in Scandinavian and alpine regions of Europe where wood burning is routinely used for residential space heating. However, recent evidence is suggesting that biomass burning might be more widespread…The current study sought to determine the existing contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London so that the impacts of increased biomass burning can be quantified in the future.

 

Posted in Library | Tagged , , | Leave a comment