Category: News

UK Government publishes Onshore Wind Taskforce strategy

In a policy paper announced earlier today His Majesty’s Government has published the final report of its Onshore Wind Taskforce. According to Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero:

It sets out more than 40 steps government and industry will take to help deliver up to 29GW of onshore wind by 2030. That includes driving ambitious reforms to planning, grid connections, and routes to market, while building the supply chains and skilled workforce we need.

As part of this, we will consult on how permitted development rights can support the rollout of small-scale onshore wind and repowering. Great British Energy, our publicly owned energy company, will invest in and develop renewables projects. And we will work with the Ministry of Defence to take a mission-driven approach to addressing issues relating to wind turbines and defence infrastructure, which have slowed down deployment in the past.

According to the Executive Summary of the report:

Under this Government we removed the defacto ban on onshore wind in England, and are delivering radical action to unlock 27-29GW of onshore wind by 2030 across GB. That’s around 10-12GW more than would have been deployed under historic growth rates, with England contributing around 2GW by 2030.

Onshore wind is among the cheapest sources of new electricity generation to build and operate at scale. Scaling up home-grown renewables, like we’re doing for onshore wind, reduces the UK’s exposure to volatile global fossil fuel prices, which protects consumer energy bills against future price shocks.

In the depths of the report Action Item 14 mentions energy storage:

The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) will support a more actively planned approach to energy infrastructure across England, Scotland and Wales, land and sea between 2030 to 2050. It will do this by assessing and identifying the optimal locations, quantities and types of energy infrastructure required for generation and storage, including onshore wind, to meet our future energy demand with the clean, affordable and secure supply that we need.

Lisa the LEAF cannot contain her excitement at the news!

She cannot wait to drive up to Westminster to explain to Ed et al. the potential benefits of rolling out mobile distributed energy storage in conjunction with the promised renewable energy generation. In other words, lots and lots of bidirectional electric vehicles connected to an even greater number of bidirectional EV charging stations!

Many of which could be installed in car parks, under a canopy of solar PV panels. Here’s one the Netherlands invented earlier:

Construction of the Appledore Clean Maritime Innovation Centre Begins

In a press release yesterday Torridge District Council announced that:

It has appointed BAM Construction to act as the main contractor for the delivery of the Appledore Clean Maritime Innovation Centre.  The Centre has been partly funded through the Levelling Up Fund, Community Regeneration Partnership and funding from the UK Government as part of the Devon and Torbay Devolution Deal, managed by Devon County Council.

Torridge District Council has been working with BAM to progress and finalise the designs for the Centre, which will include workshops, offices and collaboration space together with parking facilities and improved access to the slipway.  The Centre is expected to be completed in 2026.

Initial works will involve making improvements to the wall adjoining New Quay Street before works to construct the building commence in the Autumn.  Early enabling works to deliver a new quay to provide improved access for users of the building to the estuary, commenced onsite in April.  A kind spring has allowed the project to progress at pace. 

BAM Construction is looking to use local contractors and businesses wherever possible.  In October, a ‘Meet the Buyer’ event was held in Appledore in October 2024. Since then, several local suppliers have joined the project’s supply chain and will contribute during the main construction phase. The team continues to engage with local businesses to ensure opportunities remain accessible throughout the build.

Councillor Ken James, Leader of Torridge District Council, commented:

This is a very exciting step in the journey of this project, not just for Appledore, but for the wider district. We hope that the delivery of this centre will put Appledore and Torridge at the forefront of innovation and investment in clean maritime energy. By getting as many local trades people involved in the build as possible, we hope that this will be just the start of future job creation and investment in the area.

Our local Member of Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Sir Geoffrey Cox KC, MP for Torridge and Tavistock, added:

I am delighted to see the rapid progress being made in realising the ambition of the Levelling Up Partnership (now rebadged the Community Regeneration Partnership) awarded to Torridge by the last Government, which is to invest in communities like ours that have missed out on public investment over many years. The £15.6 million invested by the last Government into this Maritime Innovation Centre, and the allocation of millions more into projects such as the Holsworthy Agri-Business Hub, Bideford’s Pannier Market, Business Park and Hospital, and the Globe and Hatchmoor Industrial Estate in Torrington, will create new opportunities for our young people and boost our economy. I congratulate Torridge District Council, and all those involved, for their good work so far in realising these aims.

All housing types are suitable for heat pumps!

In a press release earlier today the United Kingdom’s “Energy System Catapult” announced that:

The Electrification of Heat (EoH) demonstration project, funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), is seeking to better understand the technical and practical feasibility of a large-scale rollout of heat pumps into existing British homes.

From Victorian mid-terraces to pre-WWII semis and a 1960s block of flats – the project has proven that heat pumps can be successfully installed in homes from every style and era…

The recruitment and installation phase of the EoH project ran from July 2020 through to October 2021, and despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, 742 heat pumps were installed into a broad spectrum of housing types and socio-economic groups, that reflects a representative sample of households across Great Britain.

The range of different heat pump installed, included:

  • Low-temperature and high-temperature air-source heat pumps
  • Ground-source heat pumps
  • Hybrid heat pumps incorporated with a gas boiler
  • some additional technologies, such as heat batteries were incorporated.

“Heat batteries” sounds a lot like “distributed energy storage” to us! However the EoH installation breakdown doesn’t seem to reveal how many heat storage devices have been deployed so far:

The press release continues:

Energy and Clean Growth Minister, Lord Callanan, said:

“Heat pumps powered by clean, renewable energy will be key to warming UK homes in a net zero future.

“This trial demonstrates that low-carbon heating systems are an effective alternative for homes of all types and ages. As technology continues to improve and costs plummet over the next decade, they will become the obvious, affordable choice for consumers.”

Hear, hear! And what is more:

Richard Halsey, Capabilities Director at Energy Systems Catapult, said: 

“The decarbonisation of heat is vitally important to meeting Net Zero targets and electrification will play a crucial role.

“The Electrification of Heat project is helping us understand the customer journey, installation and performance of heat pumps across Britain and the role that different heat pump technologies will play in different types of homes and places.

“There is opportunity for innovation to ensure heat pumps can deliver great heating experiences and operate efficiently as part of a smarter energy system.

“Now the installation phase is complete we will be monitoring how the systems perform and the experience of households to inform the next steps on getting homes heat pump ready.”

I await the next report from the Electrification of Heat project with barely bated breath!

Hello world!

Welcome to the new web site of Distributed Energy Storage Ltd!

In case you’re wondering, the “Distributed Energy Storage” in our company name is frequently abbreviated to the 3 letter acronym “DES”. The term includes storing electricity in batteries as well as “Vehicle to Grid” and “Vessel to Grid” technology and the associated acronyms V2G, V2H, V2B and V2L. The term also includes heat storage.

Which means that our mission in life is to be a developer, wholesaler and installer of “static” battery storage and bi-directional electric vehicle/vessel charging stations and ancillary equipment. In the short term that also includes uni-directional “smart” EV charging stations.