The Anonymous Widower

Walking Between Moorgate and Liverpool Street – 30th May 2025

The BBC were saying this morning, that Finsbury Circus Gardens would be reopened today.

So after having my usual full-English gluten-free breakfast in Leon on Moorgate, I walked through Finsbury Circus to Liverpool Street.

Note.

  1. The gardens aren’t quite finished and some of the gates aren’t open yet.
  2. There are some magnificent specimen trees.
  3. Finsbury Circus Gardens can be approached from Moorgate between the buildings, after Crossing Moorgate on the light-controlled crossing, I wrote about in Moorgate Has Now Got A New Light-Controlled Crossing.
  4. I think I should have walked around the other side of the circus.

Hopefully, it’ll all be finished in a few days.

May 30, 2025 Posted by | Food, World | , , , | Leave a comment

UK Solar Capacity Up 5.9% Year-On-Year

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Solar Power Portal.

These first two paragraphs give a flavour of the comprehensive solar generation statistics in the article.

The latest data from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has revealed that both domestic and non-domestic solar installations are continuing to rise in the UK.

As of the end of April 2025, the UK has a total of 18.1GW of solar capacity across 1,780,000 installations; this marks an increase of 5.9% (1GW) since April 2025. In April of this year, 20,405 new solar installations with a combined capacity of 82MW were completed, a figure which DESNZ notes is higher than the average figures seen between 2016 and 2021.

The article is full of interesting statistics and deserves a detailed read.

I was surprised that ground-mounted solar to accounted for approximately 59% of the UK’s total solar capacity.

At the end of the article it is pointed out that that between 2010 and 2015, the average time for a project to get approval sat at around 29 weeks; in the past five years, the average wait time for approval has increased to 45 weeks, with the current longest time for a project to go through the Local Planning Authority approval process standing at 177 weeks.

It does appear that project delays are increasing faster than the UK’s solar capacity.

May 30, 2025 Posted by | Energy | , | Leave a comment

UK To Launch Seventh CfD Auction In August, Offshore Wind Has Its Own AR7 Timeline

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

The UK government has published an indicative timeline for the Contract for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 7 (AR7), stating that it expects to open the auction in August and announce the results between late 2025 and early 2026. The timeline for offshore wind projects is now separate from that for other technologies, which will enable the confirmation of results as soon as possible, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

These first two paragraphs give more details of the Contract for Difference Auction.

The planned AR7 timeline for offshore wind, including both fixed-bottom and floating wind, sets the auction opening date between 7 to 27 August 2025, with results expected to be in from the second half of December 2025 to the second half of February 2026, depending on non-qualifying applicants requesting a Tier 1 review and/or Tier 2 appeal.

Before the launch of the seventh CfD allocation round, the government will publish Clean Industry Bonus results. This is scheduled for June.

I think this is going to be a very different Contract for Difference Auction to those held under the previous Conservative government.

  • Will prices be as high?
  • Will some regular companies in the auctions not bother to bid?
  • Will there be bids for onshore wind in England?

It will be quite, if not very interesting!

 

May 30, 2025 Posted by | Energy | , , , , | Leave a comment

18 GW Of New Offshore Wind Could Be Developed Off Ireland’s Coast

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

Ireland’s Department of Environment, Climate and Communications has released the Offshore Wind Technical Resource Assessment, providing detailed analysis and recommendations that estimate an additional 3.5 GW to 18 GW of fixed-bottom offshore wind could be developed around the country’s coast.

These paragraph adds more detail to the story.

The assessment concludes that there could be an additional 3.5-18 GW of fixed-bottom offshore wind that could be developed around the coast, in addition to the 8 GW of offshore wind already planned in Ireland between Phase One projects and the South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan (DMAP).

Note.

  1. This expansion could give Ireland 26 GW of offshore wind.
  2. According to this page, 41.4 % of the electricity in the  Republic of Ireland was produced by wind in December 2024, with a similar amount from non-renewables.
  3. The assessment also seems to want to wait for floating wind power, which could be prudent.

Ireland is going green.

 

May 30, 2025 Posted by | Energy | , , | 1 Comment