Peer-To-Peer Energy
This report from the UK Solar Power Portal makes some good points.
I can envisage a time, when the solar panels on my roof, feed into a system, that gets me the best price and this is delivered at a best price to those that need it.
As a control engineer, I know it’ll probably be totally automatic and the price will be a balance that is the best for micro-generators and consumers. Just as with peer-to-peer lending, the only losers will be the big companies. Except for banks, you will read energy companies.
Progress Is A Lot Of Small Steps
In Liverpool University’s Insight magazine, there is an article entitled A Surprising New Use For Tofu Ingredient. The details are here on the University’s web site, This is the first paragraph.
The chemical used to make tofu and bath salts could also replace a highly toxic and expensive substance used to make solar cells, a University study published in the journal Nature has revealed.
It appears that a researcher has found that you can replace expensive and highly toxic cadium chloride in solar cells with cheap and safe magnesium chloride.
Small developments like this make me think that the day when I fit solar panels to my flat roof a bit closer.
Zopa Goes With The Flow
This article on CrowdfundInsider talks of a tie-up between a boiler maker; Flow and a peer-to-peer lender; Zopa. This describes the link.
The Flow boiler will be launching in January 2015 and will be available to customers through a new finance package. This will provide a payback time of five years for the complete cost of the boiler. Customers may purchase the Flow boiler using a separate unsecured personal loan via Zopa, with repayments being off-set by reductions in your home energy bill from the value of the electricity generated.
I think we’ll see a lot of deals like this, where two new companies in different fields link up to make two and two add up to six.
This is disruptive innovation at its best.
Common Sense On Energy From The Economist
This article in The Economist reviews the energy market and says that increasing competition is shaking up the energy market. It is very much a must read for everyone.
The article finishes with this point.
Indeed, Mr Miliband’s threat of draconian intervention already looks dated. If anything, argues Mr Reid, the Labour Party leader might have forced prices to remain higher for longer than they might otherwise have been. Companies have been reluctant to reduce prices too much, he says, for fear that they might not be able to raise them again after the election.
It probably illustrates that dealing with the big energy companies is not simple or something for an amateur.
Do You Have A Community Energy Partnership?
We all pay too much for our energy, because whatever the politicians do, the Big Six just use their muscle and highly-paid lawyers to get around every attempt that is made to force prices down.
They also can rely on our natural inertia to stop us changing.
So I was particularly pleased to see OVO has setup a community energy partnership in Sussex with Community Energy South.
Everyone should check out their local community energy partnership.
We’re only small consumers but we must give the Big Six as tough a time as possible.
Do you think large consumers of electricity like Network Rail, Transport for London, just roll over and pay what the Big Six think they will charge?
Ovo Signs A Breakthrough Deal
It has been announced in This is Money, that Ovo has joined with Plymouth Council, so the council can be a low energy supplier.
Ovo Energy is set to unveil a ground-breaking deal that could pave the way for local councils across the country to become energy suppliers.
A tie-up with Plymouth council will be endorsed today by Energy Secretary Ed Davey when it is announced at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot of these deals, as councils get more proactive in helping hard-pressed consumers. Come to think of it, the average council, like my one of Hackney, must be quite large purchasers of energy. So they could be getting a good deal too!
Does this deal also mean that councils are thinking more intelligently about energy issues?
After all my next-door council; Islington, has built the innovative Bunhill Energy Centre to provide district heating and electricity.
So some may well be!
But are we? So many people I talk to haven’t moved away from their large energy supplier.
They’re going to change at some time, so it is best to get the pain over now, as probably like my old supplier, they’ll muck up the change.
But once you have changed, you’ll have a piece of paper with all the relevant details of your supplies and meters, so a second change will be a lot easier.
A Walk Along The Thames From Erith Station To Crossness
This afternoon I enjoyed the sun and walked along the Thames Path from near Erith Station to the Victorian Pumping Station at Crossness.
When looking at these pictures, you can see some of the places that I also saw on the cruise down the Thames.
I haven’t fully annotated the pictures yet, as finding out what some of the buildings are isn’t easy.
There’s some good technology at work in Crossness and they should tell people about it.
Fracking For Freedom
In this post, I said that Iceland can help us overcome energy shortages, caused by the problem of Putin.
Today in an article in the Sunday Times, Jim Ratcliffe, the boss of chemicals giant Ineos is saying that he would pay landowners and communities £2.5billion. Here’s what the Sunday Times says.
ONE of Britain’s richest men hopes to trigger a shale gas boom by giving away billions of pounds to landowners and communities affected by fracking.
Jim Ratcliffe, the 61-year-old Lancastrian who founded chemicals giant Ineos, has promised to hand over 6% of the revenue from oil and gas wells — 4% to landowners and 2% to local communities — in an effort to jolt the moribund industry into life. The offer would equate to £375m for a typical exploration area of 36 square miles, and goes far beyond the 1% giveaway to which the industry has committed. Ratcliffe estimated the offer could be worth £2.5bn in total.
I would never be affected by fracking here in Central London.
But if we could get all our energy supplies without resorting to those basket cases of Russia and the Middle East, we wouldn’t be in bed with some of the nastiest regimes in the world.
Al Gore Invests In OVO Energy
This article in the Telegraph talks about OVO Energy and how Al Gore’s interests have taken a stake in the company in particular. Here’s the first bit.
OVO Energy has raised £8m in growth capital from former US vice president Al Gore as it prepares to ramp up its battle against the incumbent energy giants.
It’s all a very interesting article.
I’ve been with them for since December 2013 and I can’t say that I’m in the least bit unhappy. There have only been minor web site problems and if I want to change suppliers again, I now have a single sheet of A4 paper with all my details on it.
The only problem with the change was nPower, who took nearly nine months to pay me, what was still in my account. I would never use them again!
The Anonymous Widower 