latest news:
(from mha administrator)
Tour of hydro schemes
South Somerset Hydropower Group and Mendip Power
Group invite you to attend A Tour of Eight Hydropower Installations
on Saturday 23rd October, 2010 and Sunday 24th October,2010
More details here.
Previous
news
21 August 2010 CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM . . . .I have today received confirmation from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that "
We are currently looking into the legal and
policy situation concerning alternatives to the MCS". I hope to be able to provide more detail soon.
4 August 2010 MORE ON CONSULTATIONS
On 30th July the Coalition Government published its response
to the web-based consultation which closed 10th June. This is a link to the response page concerning energy and climate change. There were many representations concerning the Feed-in
Tariff (FiT) and the MCS accreditation scheme but disappointingly there is no
mention of this.
However, a continuing consultation by the Coalition has now
begun known as “Your Freedom” and a specific thread has started on the FiT/MCS issue. Please add your comments to this thread. As you will see from mine (theleme 3rd August), the discussions
that have taken place with the MCS working group are in some disarray. I shall shortly be posting proposals for
alternative approaches on the yourfreedom
site and on the Micro Hydro Association
site.
25/26 June 2010 MCS accreditation: MCS/Gemserv publish "final" Hydro Transitional Arrangements for Installers and Products (now corrected)
The cut-off dates for applying for both installer and product accreditation have been extended - see MCS website.11
June 2010 COALITION GOVERNMENT ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE CONSULTATION
I have posted a response to the consultation on behalf of the mha as have several
members independently. The full text of my response is here
The
consultation closed on 10th June.
9 June 2010 ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
CONSULTATION
The consultation period has
been extended to 2nd July 2010. Many reponses to date are supportive of
the proposed arrangements for micro hydro schemes or suggest more
stringent measures including banning micro hydro development
altogether. Is this sensible? If you think not, then here is where to
respond: Hydropower Permitting Review.
5 May 2010 Response
from Lord Hunt/David Kidney to mha letter of concern
I
wrote to Lord Hunt and others to request
consideration of the problems that the micro-hydro community perceive
with the MCS accreditation scheme and eligibility for the Feed-in
Tariff. This is the response.
26 April 2010 Help
for SMEs wanting to go green
Environment Minister, Jane Davidson has announced plans for practical
and financial support that will help small and medium enterprises in
Wales to reap the benefits of renewable energy.See
Welsh
Assembly website
23
April 2010 MCS accreditation of hydro schemes
The working
group on hydro scheme standards, after some 6 months discussion, has
decided to ask some of its members (some of whom are also members of the
mha) to produce a total redraft. The aim is to devise something more
appropriate to small schemes (under 50kW capacity). Once there is a
viable draft standard for accreditation we will publish it on this
website.
23
April 2010 Response
to
SEPA consultation on run of river hydro guidance
Here are the consultation paper and the final response I have submitted on behalf of
the
mha.29 March 2010 Letter to Lord Hunt and others concerning Feed-in Tariff and MCS accreditation scheme due to be introduced from 1 April.
20 March 2010 Response to
SEPA consultation on run of river hydro guidance
Here are the consultation paper and the draft response I would like to submit on behalf of the
mha. Please contact me with your views
mha
administrator.
19 March 2010 ENVIRONMENT AGENCY CONSULTATION
The Engish/Welsh EA has also now published a consultation on hydro schemes. If you are reckoning to respond to this, please let me know mha
administrator.
12 March 2010 LEGISLATION FOR THE FEED-IN TARIFF
The "statutory instrument" (S.I.) and accompanying notes which will bring in the feed-in tariff have just been published. They contain the clear statement that hydro installations under 50kW capacity must be accredited under the MCS scheme (both for products and for installers). This will be a problem for potential generators as there are no accredited hydro products or installers yet and very few with the resources or skills to implement schemes.
We lobbied for the MCS accreditation requirement to be removed at least for a period, but this has proved ineffective or too late so far. There is now an office of renewable energy deployment (ORED) in DECC which will oversee the introduction and operation of the scheme and they state that they will be asking Ofgem to exercise discretion in the determination of eligibility for hydro schemes.
One further item of interest in the S.I. is that hydro schemes where an export meter has not been installed will by default for this year receive an export tariff payment for 75% of their generated power. That proportion will be reviewed annually.
12 March 2010 SEPA LICENCE APPLICATION PROCESS: CONSULTATION
SEPA (the Scottish version of the Environment Agency) have been attempting to simplify procedures for micro hydro schemes. They have issued a consultation paper to which I shall be responding and I will put my response on the website shortly. Please also send your responses to SEPA - see http://www.sepa.org.uk/about_us/consultations.aspx.
NO FEE INCREASE (OR REDUCTION)
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has announced that there will be no increase in abstraction and impoundment fees for 2010-2011 (usually £588 for 1st scheme and £412 for additional schemes). This is some comfort but disappointing as some months ago SEPA waived fees altogether for a period.