First Update of December 2019 – An overview of last week’s Energy news

Below is this week’s summary. It should be a one minute read relevant to UK energy with links to documents for those who wish to read more.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Monday – 2nd December

• Planning applications for battery storage plants have increased during 2019. Plans for 2018 were for 6900 MW. In 2019 plans for 10500 MW of power storage have been submitted. BEIS rules on planning have adjusted to favour projects of greater than 50 MW capacity.

• With temperatures dropping below zero at night, about 8000 homes in Falkirk (Central Scotland) had no heating for several days due to a gas supply failure.

Wednesday – 4th December

• Almost half of UK Council areas have at least one site generating electricity from biomass combustion according to this article.

Thursday – 5th December

• A Belarusian manufacturer has become the first to develop a combine harvester which runs on compressed natural gas.

Friday – 6th December

• A biomass industry trade association describes the advantages of sustainable biomass particularly for de-carbonisation of heating in rural areas.

Saturday – 7th December

• A California-based company, backed by UK and Scottish Government funds, among others, is to test a hydrogen-fuelled fixed wing aircraft in Orkney Islands (northern Scotland). The aim is to have a 10-20 seater, with a range of 500 miles within 2 years.