Third Update of October 2020 – 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)

Tuesday – 13th October

• A company in the UK has submitted 2 applications for solar power generation plants which would not require government subsidies.

Wednesday – 14th October

• A professor from Imperial College London says hydrogen will be used for cars, domestic and industrial heating and power as well as fuel for trucks, trains and ships. It can also be a means of storing surplus electricity.

• This article states that during Q2 2020 renewables accounted for almost 45% of electricity generation, an increase of about 10% on the same period of the previous year. It breaks down the various components into biomass (33%), offshore wind (26%), onshore wind (20%), solar PV (17%) and hydro (4%).

Thursday – 15th October

• National Grid predicted a weekend ahead of low margins of supply to demand for UK electricity due to wind being low at a time when other generators including 2 nuclear plants are offline.

Friday – 16th October

• The UK Government has announced that it will publish a comprehensive strategy for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, ahead of the CoPp26 meeting in 2021.

Sunday – 18th October

• A company has said it plans to explore for shale gas in Northern Ireland using horizontal drilling and without hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).