RBS was by far the biggest lender to renewable energy projects in the UK last year, lending more than double the amount of its nearest competitor, according to independent research. The bank says it expects the sector to grow further in the next few years.

Figures from Infrastructure Journal show RBS loaned more than $366 million to UK renewable projects last year. The journal also calculates that across the sector, lending increased by nearly 200% on the previous year. In 2010 deals worth $464 million were completed, which increased to $1.37 billion in 2011 (figures from Infrastructure Journal).

Jamieson Thrower, senior director in RBS’s structured finance division says: “RBS is playing its part in financing the transition to a greener economy. We have built up an impressive level of expertise in this area, which shows in the growing number of transactions we completed last year. With EU members committed to sourcing 20% of their energy from renewables by 2020, the sector is likely to remain busy over the next few years.”

One driver behind the increase in activity in the sector is the surge in biomass developments after the UK reviewed its Renewables Obligation banding in October 2011. This was encouraging for onshore wind and proposed greater subsidies for enhanced biomass generators while leaving incentives for other forms of biomass power mostly unchanged, easing uncertainty across the industry for continued future development. Biomass plants generate power from organic materials such as woodchips, municipal waste and straw.

Researchers at NUI Galway’s Ryan Institute are involved in a major €14 million European initiative to develop the potential of algae as a source of sustainable energy. As a partner in the project, NUI Galway is responsible for the initial step of producing some of the biomass required for conversion to biofuel. This will be accomplished by cultivating macroalgae (seaweed) biomass at sea in a one-hectare pilot facility.

Currently, algal bioenergy technologies are immature, but rapid advances are being made in the field. NUI Galway’s part of the ‘EnAlgae’ project is valued at almost €1.2 million, over the next four years. The project will focus on the cultivation of some of Ireland’s native kelp species (large brown seaweeds, commonly seen cast up on the beach after a storm). Growth of the seaweed crop occurs in two phases, the first phase of which is being carried out at the Ryan Institute’s Carna Research Station in County Galway.

Dr Maeve Edwards, a research scientist at the Ryan Institute’s Carna facility, explains: “In our facilities here, microscopic stages of the algae are cultured and sprayed onto ropes. Once the seaweed has been ‘seeded’ onto hundreds of metres of rope, they are deployed at sea in the one-hectare experimental plot in Ventry Harbour, County Kerry.”

Seaweed will also be cultivated in Northern Ireland (by Queen’s University Belfast) and Brittany, France (by Centre d’Etude et de Valorisation des Algues, CEVA). NUI Galway will coordinate the cultivation efforts between all three institutions.

The four-year transnational Energetic Algae – or EnAlgae – project, led by Swansea University in Wales, is a strategic initiative funded by the INTERREG IVB North West Europe Programme via the European Regional Development Fund, together with a range of co-sponsors.

EnAlgae involves 19 Partners and 13 Observers across eight EU member states, and aims to reduce CO2 emissions and dependency on unsustainable energy sources, through the accelerated development and deployment of algal-based biomass and bioenergy technologies.

A new report suggests that up to one fifth of global energy could be provided by biomass (plants) without damaging food production. The report reviews more than 90 global studies. It has been produced by the Technology and Policy Assessment function of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), which addresses key controversies in the energy field, and aims to provide authoritative and accessible reports that set very high standards for rigour and transparency.

A debate has been raging about the role biomass could play in the future energy system: some say it could play a major role in fuelling the planet, others argue it risks an environmental disaster. To get to the heart of the controversy, UKERC scientists at Imperial College London have undertaken the first systematic review of the evidence base.

The report finds that the main reason scientists disagree is that they make different assumptions about population, diet, and land use. A particularly important bone of contention is the speed with which productivity improvements in food and energy crop production can be rolled out.

“If we make the best use of agricultural residues, energy crops and waste materials then getting one fifth of current global energy supply from biomass is a reasonable ambition,” says Dr Raphael Slade, the report’s lead author and a Research Fellow at Imperial College London. The report finds that getting more than this is technically possible but requires assumptions about food production and changes in diets that look increasingly challenging, especially as people in Asia and Latin America begin to adopt a high meat western diet as incomes rise.

“The more bio-energy you want the harder it becomes to reconcile demand for food, energy and environmental protection” says Dr Slade. Replacing all fossil fuels with biomass would be equivalent to all of global agriculture and commercial forestry combined, and would only be possible if we can grow more food on less land.

Technical advances could be the least contentious route to increased bio-energy production, but policy will need to encourage innovation and investment. A renewed focus on increasing food and energy crop yields could deliver a win-win opportunity as long as it is done without damaging soil fertility or depleting water resources. The report highlights the potential for policy to promote learning by encouraging development of sustainable biomass now, rather than waiting for the definitive answer on the ultimate potential.

“The main mistake is to think of this as all or nothing. There’s plenty of scope for experimentation to make sure we get it right,” adds Dr Slade.

Energy is an essential input into global agriculture, and the interactions between these two areas need to be better understood. The report stresses the need for scientists working on food and agriculture to work more closely with bio-energy specialists to address challenges such as water availability and environmental protection. If biomass is required to play a major role in the future energy system the linkages between bio-energy and food production will become too important for either to be considered in isolation.

Energy generated from biomass has a key role to play in helping Scotland to achieve its 100% renewable target by 2020, according to members of the Lifetime Recycling Village.

The Lifetime Recycling Village is currently developing proposals for a closed loop renewable energy and recycling facility in the West of Scotland that will take in up to 1.5 million tonnes of mixed waste a year and recycle and remanufacture all of it without the need for landfill. The three stage process includes recycling, gasification and plasma vitrification.

The Lifetime Recycling Village team has welcomed recent comments made by Mark Hanafin, director of Centrica Energy, in the House of Commons, which emphasised the benefits of energy from biomass in terms of its reliability. Mr Hanafin stressed that biomass was an important renewable energy source as it is not effected by intermittency issues. Through supporting more renewable projects which involve biomass, Lifetime Recycling Village believes that Scotland will place itself in a strong position to meet the ambitious 2020 target.

Neil Gallacher, managing director of LRV, comments: “The advantage of schemes like ours is that we can guarantee a supply of reliable, green electricity. Energy generation from biomass is not affected by unpredictable weather patterns, which can often have an adverse affect on the capacity for other types of renewable energy generation.”

Extracting biomass from the waste stream can bring further benefits, he says: “At our proposed renewable energy and recycling facility, we would take waste that would otherwise be buried in landfill and recycle as much as possible, before extracting the biomass element in order to generate green electricity.”

Increasingly, professionals from across the industry are recognising the benefits of generating energy from biomass. A recent report, produced for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) by consultancy firm Arup, highlighted that electricity generation through biomass from waste has potential to dramatically increase over coming years.

Neil Gallacher believes that this source of energy generation could double by 2020, and almost treble by 2030.

Last year represented a significant milestone on the road to Bord na Mona’s 2015 target to co-fire its Edenderry power plant to a 30% level with biomass. In 2010, 110,000 tonnes of biomass material passed through the plant, representing a 12% co-firing rate. This leaves Bord na Mona on track to hit a 15% level this year, which will be the fourth year of co-firing leaving them confident that the 30% target will be achieved by 2015.

This is critically important to Bord na Mona as the publication of the National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP) confirms the key role that co-firing in the peat stations will play in the achievement of Ireland’s mandatory renewable target by 2020.

Bord na Mona is now the biggest consumer of biomass in the State. More importantly, the 12% co-firing rate resulted in an equivalent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the plant, equating to almost 100,000t of CO2, and resulted in the production of 85,000 MWh of dispatchable green electricity. This is sufficient to power approximately 15,000 homes and is equivalent to the annual output from a typical 35MW wind farm.

In 2010, the European Investment Bank (EIB) increased financing for climate action projects to Eur19 billion, representing an impressive 30% of its lending in the European Union. Significantly up from Eur16 billion the year before, this is a new landmark in supporting sustainable growth and building a low-carbon future in Europe.

In 2010, total EIB lending reached Eur72 billion – Eur63 billion in the EU and Eur9 billion outside the EU – supporting over 460 large-scale projects. This marks a gradual return to pre-crisis levels as the bank adapts its activity to the economic environment.

The focus of EIB support for climate action projects remains energy (renewable energy and energy efficiency) and sustainable transport.

The Bank made a successful effort to increase the share of renewable energy and energy efficiency in its portfolio. More than Eur6 billion of financing supported renewable energy and over Eur2 billion energy efficiency projects in 2010. National renewable action plans have proved to be an important enabler of investment in these areas and all three emerging technologies, wind, solar and biomass, were supported. In the transport sector, the EIB is playing a leading role in supporting the development of electric vehicles.

Countries outside the EU received Eur2 billion in climate action financing in 2010. In the coming three years, the bank will substantially strengthen its support for sustainable energy projects in these countries.

Looking ahead, the EIB will help to implement the Europe 2020 strategy, the EU’s climate action targets and its external policy objectives.

Multinational utility companies are seeking to invest over Eur2 billion to harness the energy of County Clare’s wind, wave, tidal and biomass resources. This is according to the Clare County Development Board (CDB), which has launched its Integrated Strategy on Energy & Climate Change. The plan sets the path for Clare to become a low carbon county by 2017, as stated in the new Clare County Development Plan.

The strategy also outlines plans to create carbon free commercial trading centres within County Clare and generate hundreds of skilled jobs to serve the renewable energy market.

“This strategy sets out the importance that County Clare places on its environment and heritage of renewable energy production. This comes at a time when the country is searching for solutions to many social and economic issues. Ireland’s economy is suffering badly in the global recession and County Clare has been affected,” comments Joe Arkins, Cathaoirleach of the CDB. “Despite having abundant renewable energy resources the county and country are also heavily dependent upon imported fossil fuels to support our society and economy.”

Pat Stephens of the Limerick Clare Energy Agency, chairman of the Steering Committee that delivered the Strategy, adds: “County Clare has world class renewable energy resources in the areas of wind, wave, tidal, and biomass energy. These resources will be harnessed to create clean energy and great wealth for the county and the country.”

The objectives of the strategy are in five main themes:-

Energy Security, Conservation & Efficiency

- Energy conservation and benchmarking could reduce energy costs by €50 million.

- Hundreds of jobs will be protected by improving our energy efficiency and energy security.

Renewable & indigenous energy

* Large multi-national utility companies are seeking to invest over Eur2 billion to harness the energy of County Clare’s wind, wave, tidal and biomass resources.

* Hundreds of skilled jobs will be created to serve the renewable energy market.

Low Carbon Economy – Reduce CO2 Emissions

* Clare can create carbon free commercial trading centres.

* Low Carbon Counties attract inward investment.

* Reduced CO2 saves on Carbon tax.

Research & Development capacity in Alternative Energy

* Clare is working with third level institutes from all over the world to establish R&D capacity on alternative energy in the county.

Transport energy efficiency, conservation & renewable energy

* The county is perfectly placed to support the roll out of electric vehicles.

* Public transport services will have enhanced ticketing and route planning systems.

The European Commission has launched the 2011 call for project proposals under the Intelligent Energy – Europe (IEE) funding programme. €57 million are available to co-fund projects that facilitate the widespread use of renewable energy and help realise Europe’s energy saving potential.

The projects funded under the Intelligent Energy – Europe programme are designed to help the EU stay on track with regard to its energy and climate change targets for 2020. About 50 projects are expected to receive funding. The call runs until 12th May 2011.

The 2011 call adds a number of new priorities within the key funding areas of the programme. Among them are actions aimed at simplifying procedures for grid developments to deliver more renewable energy. The call also foresees a multi-annual scheme for training and qualification of the building workforce, focusing particularly on national strategies to develop the necessary ‘green’ skills of those employed in the sector. Other actions aim to promote more energy savings in industry and to facilitate the uptake of the so- called ‘nearly zero energy buildings’. An additional priority covers the support to local and regional authorities, in particular for mobilising actors and local investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Other areas are maintained from previous calls. In the field of transport, this year’s call focuses on sustainable urban mobility plans, freight distribution, leisure travel, and clean vehicles. In other sectors, it also supports actions in the field of bio-businesses (eg biomass, bio-energy) and the creation of sustainable energy communities.

The call is open to any public or private organisation established in the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Croatia. In most cases projects can run for up to three years and should involve at least three partners from three different countries. Hardware-type investments and research and development projects are not supported under the programme.

The EU 27 will exceed its target of meeting 20% of its gross final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020, according to the European Wind Energy Association, following analysis of the National Renewable Energy Action Plans, submitted by the EU Member States to the European Commission.

“Taken together the Action Plans show that the EU-27 will meet 20.7 % of its 2020 energy consumption from renewables”, says Justin Wilkes, policy director of the EWEA. The National Action Plans show that one third (34%) of EU electricity demand will be supplied from renewables by 2020.

Wind energy will generate 14% of Europe’s total electricity demand in 2020 (494 TWh from 213 GW installed capacity), more than any other renewable source, up from 4.2% in 2009. Ireland will be the country with the highest wind energy penetration level at 36.4% of its total electricity demand, followed by Denmark at 31%.

15 Member States plan to exceed their national target, led by Bulgaria at +2.8% above its target, Spain (+2.7%), Greece (+2.2%), Hungary (+1.7) and Germany (+1.6%). Ten Member States will meet their national target, and just two Member States, Luxembourg (-2.1%) and Italy (-0.9%), have informed the European Commission that they envisage using the co-operation mechanisms to meet their national targets.

The 34% of EU electricity demand met by renewables in 2020 is made up of 14.1% from wind energy (10% onshore, 4% offshore), 10.5% from hydro, 6.6% from biomass, 2.7% from solar photovoltaic, 0.5% from CSP, 0.3% from geothermal and 0.1% from ocean.

The UK’s first sustainable energy park is to be built in Peterborough after developer Peterborough Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Green Energy Parks, signed an engineering, procurement and construction deal worth more than £450 million with Malaysian manufacturing giant, KNM Group Berhad. The KNM Group, which operates 19 manufacturing facilities and engineering centres in 12 countries, will also take on the O&M contract for the Energy Park.

Once built the 80MWe energy park for Peterborough will take biomass generated from wastes to produce renewable energy and recycle and remanufacture other elements to produce glass, building blocks, metals and compounds.

Green Energy Parks hopes that this will be the first in a nationwide network of plants, fundamentally changing the way that mixed waste is dealt with in the UK, eliminating all need for future landfill, creating renewable energy and producing higher value goods.

The European Commission has authorised France under to provide a Eur11 million grant for the construction of a 43 MW boiler using renewable sources (biomass). The heat will be produced and delivered on the industrial site operated by Roquette Freres in Beinheim. The Commission concluded that the aid is in line with EU state aid rules, because on balance, the positive effects of the measure outweigh the potential distortions of competition.

The boiler will represent a 43 MW heat production capacity and partly replace the current capacity based on natural gas (76 MW in total). It is expected to result in annual CO2 savings of 75.000 tons for Roquette Freres, compared to the use of natural gas. More generally, it will encourage the diffusion of the biomass technology at commercial scale and participate in reducing the CO2 abatement costs over the coming years.

The development of renewable energy is part of the climate and energy package for reaching the EU 2020 environmental objectives. The Commission concluded that the French measure is an appropriate and proportionate measure necessary to achieve an objective of EU interest. In particular, the Commission found that the aid is proportionate in view of the risks for the investment related to the current and future gas and CO2 prices.

At the recent High Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) in Vienna, EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs and EU Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger launched the Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme (RECP) together with the African Union and announced a planned contribution of Eur5 million to start the programme.

This programme of cooperation is due to contribute to the African renewable energy targets for 2020. It aims at bringing relevant renewable energy technologies to the market in Africa.

EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs.

“Today 1.6 billion people worldwide have no access to electricity, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Poor energy systems undermine growth potential in these countries from 1 to 2%. We need a reliable source of electricity to fuel development,” comments EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs. “Africa has a vast untapped renewable energy potential, ranging from hydro, to solar, wind, geothermal and biomass which could be used to ensure millions of people access to electricity.”

The Road Map for the Implementation of the EU-Africa Energy Partnership includes three priority areas and the following targets:

Energy access: Africa and the EU will take joint action to bring access to modern and sustainable energy services to at least an additional 100 million Africans by 2020. This will be a contribution to the African objective of giving access to modern and sustainable energy to an additional 250 million people.

Energy security: Africa and the EU will take joint action to improve energy security by doubling the capacity of cross-border electricity interconnections and by doubling the use of natural gas in Africa, as well as doubling African gas exports to Europe.

Renewable energy and energy efficiency: Africa and the EU will take joint action such as:

* building 10,000 MW of new hydropower facilities;

* building at least 5,000 MW of wind power;

* building 500 MW of solar energy and tripling the capacity of other renewables;

* raising energy efficiency in Africa in all sectors.

The Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme is established for a ten years period. The proposed contribution of Eur5 million will support a three year start up phase of the programme. It will come from the EC fast-start funding for climate action under the Environment Thematic Programme of the Development Cooperation Instrument.