DECC forecasts less Renewables and more Gas for UK

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), has reduced it's forecast for the amount of renewables to be added to the UK energy mix over the next couple of decades, whilst raising it's forecast for energy coming from natural gas in the same period (See here for more).

Looks like the writing's on the wall guys: Don't look to the UK government for leadership in the fight against climate change anymore.

Morocco to Open Solar Thermal Plant Next Month

Around 3 years ago, I reported about the possibility of a european super-grid which would import energy from as far afield as Africa and Iceland.

That grid has come a step closer with the opening, next month (December 2015) of a solar thermal plant in Morocco which aims to provide electric to a million of it's citizens. This is just the first step in an ambitious plan to exploit the country's natural resources: Winds off the Atlantic and solar energy in Morocco's part of the Sahara.

The plant will eventually provide electric for 20 hours of the day (thanks to energy storage) and Morocco as a whole will have enough excess electric to start supplying Europe.

More here.

UK Government Axes £1bn Grant for Carbon Capture

One of the key elements to a lower carbon future will be the development of a working, affordable, and efficient form of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The UK government was offering a £1bn grant for the winning bidders in a competition to develop such a system here in Britain. Several companies, including Shell and SSE, have been working on bids for years. Now the government have pulled the rug out from under them.

Wow. How short sighted can you get?

More here.

Climate Change: Does UK Government Get It?

At the end of this month, all nations will be meeting in Paris to sort out a climate change agreement.

The signs are good: The U.S. and China seem fully committed; Australia and Canada now have themselves prime ministers who aren't climate deniers; and many nations are putting in some bold promises.

However, the UK government seems to be going backwards. They may say they're fully committed to fighting climate change but they seem hell-bent on rolling back just about any scheme that helps cut carbon. Here are some examples of what they've done or plan to do:

• Blocking onshore wind energy.
• Blocking solar in the countryside
• Cutting industrial solar subsidy
• Cutting biogas subsidy
• Cutting biomass subsidy
• Cutting domestic solar subsidy
• Ending Green Deal (Low interest loans to home owners who want to be more energy efficient)
• Ending the Green Deal's far more successful predecessor (Included subsidies for roof insulation)
• Scrap requirement that all new homes be zero carbon.
• Cut zero carbon offices
• Put carbon tax on renewables!
• Tax breaks for the oil and gas industry 
• Increase the subsidy for diesel generators
• Freeze fuel duty escalator (to make driving progressively more expensive, encouraging drivers to move away from gas guzzlers).
• Increasing tax on small cars
• Cut support for community energy schemes
• Sell off the Green Investment Bank

Does all this strike you as the program of a government "fully committed to fighting climate change"? The most charitable interpretation is that they have a somewhat short-sighted, cost cutting agenda which trumps all other considerations.

Let's hope that the coming climate deal encourages our useless government to get it's priorities straight: We need to start investing in the future.