Huhne urges energy supply changes

12 June 2011 Last updated at 04:45 GMT Scottish Power's rise in prices could be followed by other major suppliers Consumers should vote with their feet and switch to a different supplier if their power company raises its charges, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has said.

In an interview with the Observer, Mr Huhne said people did not have to take price increases "lying down".

He urged people to hit firms "where it hurts" by finding a cheaper supplier.

Scottish Power has this week announced big rises in gas and electricity prices and there are fears the other five major suppliers will follow suit.

Mr Huhne said: "Consumers don't have to take price increases lying down. If an energy company hits you with a price increase, you can hit them back where it hurts - by shopping around and voting with your feet."

Mr Huhne is expected to announce new measures this week to make it easier for smaller companies to compete in the energy market.

He said: "Right now, only one in five people switch suppliers. I want to see more switching, more competition and more companies in the market.

"The big six only have a few minnows snapping at them, who are kept artificially small. By scrapping red tape for small players they can become serious challengers and help keep bills down."

'Deep concern'

On Tuesday Scottish Power revealed price increases of 19% for gas and 10% for electricity from 1 August, affecting 2.4 million households in the UK.

The company blamed the rises on a sharp rise in the wholesale cost of gas.

Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney has called for talks with the supplier over the move.

He said: "I am deeply concerned at the scale of Scottish Power's price increases and I am seeking an urgent meeting to hear why they think increases of this scale are justified.

"Any fuel price rises have an impact - yet these increases will leave many households, in particular vulnerable consumers, in real, real difficulty."

A spokesman for Scottish Power said the company always co-operated with parliamentary requests and it looked forward to the meeting with Mr Swinney.

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Importing solar energy to Britain

16 May 2011 Last updated at 22:50 GMT Does the South West enjoy enough sunshine to generate concentrated and economic solar power? In future Britain should consider importing solar energy from as far away as North Africa, according to a new report from the Committee on Climate Change.

The CCC - an independent body which advises the Government on energy policy - is currently resting its voice after singing the praises of another acronym.

CSP - or Concentrated Solar Power - apparently relies on "an array of mirrors to focus the sun's rays onto a small area (e.g. the top of a tower) to produce high temperatures that are then used to drive a steam turbine," according to the CCC's latest Renewable Energy Review.

"If sited in southern Europe or northern Africa, it could potentially make a significant contribution to the supply of renewable electricity for the UK," according to the report.

'Solar gold rush'

Meanwhile - and as the review acknowledges - the government looks poised to slash the main subsidy on which Britain's nascent solar industry was pinning its hopes.

Solar panels in California capitalise on the state's intense sunshine

This is the Feed in Tariff (or FiT - yet another acronym) on the back of which Cornwall Council had been projecting a ?1bn "solar gold rush".

Subject to the outcome of a recent consultation, the government is proposing a massive 70% reduction in the original rates for larger solar projects - that is, those generating more than 50kW.

Bad news for the Cornish gold rush, then.

And many in the renewable sector claim setting the threshold so low would also eliminate some of the relatively small community ventures the Government presumably wants to encourage - as well as the big commercial operators it's clearly got it in for.

Glimmer of hope

Consultation or no consultation, the Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has made it quite clear that there will be much leaner pickings for the industry in future.

He does, though, seem to be leaving the door ajar in terms of conceivably revisiting the 50kW threshold.

Why should we even consider buying solar energy from Africa when we can generate it in the UK?”

End Quote Ken Moss, CEO, mO3 Power

But many in the industry see this as the only faint, flickering glimmer of hope amid an unremitting welter of bad news.

Set against this backdrop the Renewable Energy Review appears to be adding insult to injury.

"Why should we even consider buying solar energy from Africa when we can generate it in the UK?" asks Ken Moss, CEO of solar generator mO3 Power.

According to Mr Moss: "Buying solar power from the cheapest producer worldwide would be no better than our current reliance on oil."

Missed opportunity?

Ray Noble, of the Renewable Energy Association, claims the CCC is "missing a great opportunity to support Britain's solar generation".

"We need to find a new energy strategy that will mix all the renewable energies if we are to meet our EU carbon commitments," he says.

Britain could look abroad for its solar power requirements

"Germany has the most developed solar industry in the world and Britain's climatic conditions are identical - we cannot leave solar out of the equation.

"The beauty of Photovoltaic (PV) generation is it works on light, and annual light levels vary by less than 5%. Therefore the annual generation is more predictable than wind or hydro.

"Also, light levels are currently increasing year on year and so it would be reasonable that the unit cost of PV generation will decrease in the future," he said.

That may be so, but however conducive the South West might be to photovoltaic generation, we clearly can't compete with the Mediterranean when it comes to making the concentrated stuff.

Intense sunshine

Setting forth "an array of mirrors on a tower" sounds like an admirably romantic and poetic enterprise.

But the clear message from the CCC is that it would profit a man nothing to do so in the Cornish countryside.

"Concentrated Solar Power is not suitable for generation within the UK," we are told, "as it requires intense sunshine and little cloud cover to be economic."

"Intense sunshine" is emphatically not a climatic scenario we're accustomed to in Cornwall.

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