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BRITAIN'S electricity network companies have taken a significant step to power the way forward to Net Zero by making it easier for generating customers and flexibility service providers to connect to their networks, Energy Networks Association says. According to ENA, the companies will benefit from greater transparency and access to information that will help them to connect to the networks...

THRIVE Renewables, has announced plans to invest up to £6.5 million in the UK’s first geothermal power plant being developed by Geothermal Engineering Ltd. The plant, which is on the United Downs Industrial Estate in Cornwall, aims to supply circa 3 MWe of baseload electricity to the National Grid and up to 12MW of renewable heat for local use. Dr Ryan...

The University of Sheffield has been awarded £1.2 million to lead a network of researchers working to build a sustainable, resilient global food system. Sheffield experts will lead the second phase of the Science and Technology Facilities Council Food Network+, which will bring together industry experts, academics, farmers, consumers and policy makers to devise an innovative way to address food...

£1.2 BILLION government funding has been announced to develop a state-of-the-art supercomputer, Business and Energy Secretary and COP26 President Alok Sharma stated today. Data from this new supercomputer – expected to be the world’s most advanced dedicated to weather and climate – will be used to help more accurately predict storms, select the most suitable locations for flood defences and...

A NEW programme to support farming’s contribution to meeting Scotland’s climate change ambitions is to receive £40 million of initial funding. The Agricultural Transformation Programme will support the agricultural industry to undertake a range of potential actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support sustainable farming and land use. It will also seek to improve the environmental sustainability of the sector...

FUNDING of nearly £500,000 has been secured to connect 248 park homes in Lancashire to the gas grid and offer residents modern, efficient heating systems at no cost to the residents. 166 park homes at Burlingham Park, near Garstang, and 82 more at Carrwood Park at Walton-le-Dale are the latest to benefit from a national scheme to tackle fuel poverty. Mostly...

A TEAM of physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol hope to recycle radioactive material directly from a former nuclear power plant in Gloucestershire to generate ultra-long-lasting power sources. Work has begun at Berkeley Power Station in to remove radioactive waste products from the site as part of its decommissioning programme. By extracting Carbon-14 isotopes from the irradiated graphite, the...

A NEW University of Liverpool spin-out company, CageCapture, has secured £300k funding from Innovate UK to take forward technology to remove toxic pollutants from the air. CageCapture has been formed to commercialise a new cage-based material invented by Dr Ming Liu and Professor Andrew Cooper at the University’s Materials Innovation Factory. They designed and synthesised new cage molecule solids that act...

CONSTRUCTION has started on Cornwall’s first smart grid-connected wind turbine which will power the equivalent of around 1,100 homes and help cut carbon emissions. The 2.3 megawatt (MW) turbine will be sited on Cornwall Council land at Ventonteague, near Carland Cross, on the A30, and is the first to be built in Cornwall since 2016. It will generate enough renewable electricity...

FOLLOWING appeals from water companies, the Competition and Markets Authority will be examining Ofwat’s proposed 2020-25 price control. Every five years Ofwat must decide how much money people should pay for their water and the level of service they should receive. As part of this, Ofwat considers a range of issues to ensure that water companies 'serve their customers effectively by...