New partners RES & Chiltern DC join
TV Energy welcomes well-known renewable energy company RES Ltd & new local authority supporter, Chiltern District Council in Bucks.

TVE's Renewable Energy Conference 2005
Local partners updated at community renewables conference, held on 28th September in South Oxon. Presentations available now.
More info…

Thames Valley & Surrey ready for renewables conference
TV Energy are holding our Autumn community renewable energy conference on 28th September 2005 to survey recent successes in the area and the path ahead.
More info...

Green light for Westmill Wind Co-op
Cluster wins planning consent! Vale of White Horse DC issued planning permission for five wind turbines, giving the green light for the first on-shore wind farm in the South East.
More info...

Solar Energy Making a Splash in Buckinghamshire
Carrington Junior School, in Flackwell Heath, has recently had a solar thermal system installed to provide heating for the school pool.
More info...

Twin wins for TVE in August: Defra bioenergy & EU SUGRE project 
TV Energy & Bioenergy get funding confirmed for 'Tree Station' Joint Venture initiative (DEFRA), Regional Market Study (RDS) & green fleet transport initiative (European Commission).
More info...

Keith Richards awarded O.B.E.

TV Bioenergy UK Ashden Awards Winner

TV Bioenergy was awarded the 1st prize for renewable heat generation at a London ceremony on 29th June. More info...
 

Regional renewable energy monitoring website enhanced

SEE-Stats.org expanded: latest regional and sub-regional statistics, more sample projects, plus 2 new sub-regions: Hampshire and Kent. More info...

Chicken and woodchips on sustainability menu in N. Hants

12,000 free-range Columbian Blacktail hens introduced into Waitrose's own SRC plantation, Leckford Estate in Hampshire, to mutual benefit... More info...
 

Wokingham/ Reading residents: YES to new wind turbine

Major household survey shows most people living close to the site welcome the development of Berkshire's first large wind turbine. More info...
 

Eco-offices tour taken to Herts; eco-homes trip ties in Notts

TVE takes guests on two more trips to low-energy housing and office developments in neighbouring regions. More info...

 

TV Energy visited Biomass Engineering, Warrington on 24th May, 2005 to view ongoing work with small-scale gasifiers. More info...
 

Wycombe: Cressex assessment favours woodchip CHP

Feasibility study for Wycombe DC examining potential for large energy centre principally fuelled from local woodchip completed. More info...
 

Looking at potential for renewable energy in West Berks

Study identifies potential biomass heating schemes in for W. Berks municipal buildings: hope for flagship schemes in the area. More info...
 

Surrey looks set to develop wood fuel supply

TV Bioenergy study for Surrey CC assesses potential woodfuel resource and markets - and highlights the way forward. More info...

 

Cressex renewable energy development study for Wycombe

TV Energy commences feasibility study into potential for renewables in redevelopment of M40 corridor at High Wycombe. More info...

Community Energy Win for Bracknell Renaissance

Bracknell awarded £1.85 capital grant by Energy Saving Trust for wood-fuelled CHP Community Energy scheme. More info...

Views Sought on Berks' 1st Wind Turbine and Renewables

Nearby residents in Wokingham and Reading surveyed on attitudes to planned turbine. Results on their way in March 2005. More info...

Real Hope for Baydon Meadow Wind

Regional Inspectorate turns down appeal but rejects anti-turbine arguments and provides potential route to obtaining final approval. More info...

14/02/05 Opponents' latest planning derailment rebuffed! More info...

Surrey Authorities Planning for Renewables

Surrey County 'Planning for Renewables' Seminar held at Guildford, 10/02/2005, saw a great turnout from local authorities. More info...
 
 

Planners back wind for more Bucks schools

Bucks County Council overwhelmingly supports two wind turbines for Long Crendon and Carrington Junior schools. More info...
 
 

IEA Bioenergy do Charleston in USA!

TV Energy participates in international short rotation coppice conference under IEA Task 30 - see report here. More info...

Regional Renewables Conference

November 2004: The Energy Minister addressed the South East Renewable Energy Conference. More info...

Presentations now available to download
 
 

Westmill Wind Triumph

Local farmer Adam Twine's battle to improve wind cluster plan ends in victory after Vale of White Horse planning decision. More info...
 

Victories for Bucks County Council and Slough Borough Council

Three successes have been recorded for renewables projects supported by TV Energy in the latest round of Clear Skies funding. More info...
 

Brill School Installs Wind Turbine

Brill primary school is well placed for wind energy, high on the top of Brill Hill. More info...
 

Local Authority Renewables League Table created

TV Energy has issued a discussion paper containing individual local authority targets for renewable energy. More info...

Bracknell RENAISSANCE Success
The bid for major European funding to support renewables within Bracknell's regeneration plan was successful. More info...
 
 
 

First Renaissance Project Steering Group Meeting

The First Renaissance Project Steering Group Meeting took place in Zaragoza in Spain in mid September. More info...
 

TV Energy welcomes new partners

TV Energy is pleased to welcome the enhanced role for npower renewables and the joining of a new local authority partner, Medway Council. More info...

Westmill Farm Wind Co-Op Launched

The sails of England's first community-owned wind farm project have been given a decisive lift with the launch on Saturday 13th June of the Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative. More info...

Climate change: Coming soon to a venue near you!

The UK release in May 2004 of the climate change disaster movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' has raised the public profile of climate change issues in typical Hollywood blockbuster style. More info...

 
Baydon Meadow Turbine Appealing

Local supporters of the proposed wind turbine at Baydon Meadow on the M4 have been writing to the Planning Inspectorate in June to state the case for the plan. More info...

 

 
Planning Success for Berkshire Wind Energy

On the 28th July, Wokingham District Council Development Control Committee voted in favour of an application for the first large wind turbine in Berkshire. More info...

 

 
Ideas Flow at South East Hydro Power Conference

More than 100 people packed out the venue at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, Surrey on 19th May 2004 to hear about the latest progress made and plans for new low-head hydro schemes. More info...

BRACKNELL LATEST: Energy networks take shape

Phase 2 of the feasibility study will be complete by the end of May, and many of the more detailed aspects of the primary energy provision and infrastructure are being firmed up.  More info...

Westmill Wind Farm Latest

On 19th April, at 5 hour long special meeting of the Vale of the White Horse District Council's planning committee, a decision was made to refer the planning application for five 1.3MW Bonus wind turbines at Westmill Farm, Watchfield to the Secretary of State to decide upon. More info...
 

Short Rotation Coppice Harvest Day

Following on from the 'Cut-Back Day' held in March, TV Bioenergy Coppice's second event, the SRC harvest, was held on Thursday 29th April at Friars Court farm in Oxfordshire. More info...
 

South East Hydro Power Injection! 
SE Low-Head Hydro Resource Review Completed

After many months in preparation, the report 'Low Head Hydro Power in the South East of England - A Review of the Resource & Associated Technical, Environmental & Socio-economic Issues' has been completed.

Report available to download

Sonning Mill low head hydro scheme confirmed

£5m Funding Boost for Solar Energy

Housing, educational and commercial buildings are among those set to benefit from £5 million new Government funding for solar energy projects. More info...

Biomass and Solar Site Visits - Styria, Austria

TV Energy recently organised and led a trip to the province of Styria in south-east Austria to visit large and small scale biomass facilities and large scale solar thermal and PV installations. More info...

Chance for Community Owned Wind Power in Oxfordshire

An exciting project to enable local people to invest in what could be the South East's first community owned wind farm hangs in the balance. More info...

Let the Wind Blow Free at Green Park, Reading

Ecotricity have submitted a planning application to build a new wind turbine in Reading to provide green electricity for over 1,063 local homes, which is around 2% of all households in Wokingham District. More info...

Regional Monitoring of Renewable Energy Statistics

More than 35 people, covering all but one of the English regions, attended a seminar aimed at exploring the potential for monitoring the performance of renewable energy projects at a regional level. More info...

Low Head Hydro Boost for Region

Innogy Hydro has received planning permission from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to install a 200 kW low head hydropower scheme on the River Thames at Romney Weir, Windsor. More info...

Brill for Wind Energy!

Brill Church of England Combined School in Buckinghamshire has been granted planning permission by Aylesbury Vale District Council for a 6kW wind turbine.   More info...

Funding for Biomass Boiler at Shortenills Centre

Bucks County Council has recently had confirmation of a grant for over £13,000 from the EST Community Energy Programme to install a biomass boiler at the education centre in Chalfont St. Giles. More info...

Clear Skies Grants for Shortenills Centre and Brill School

Two Buckinghamshire schools have recently taken advantage of grants from the DTI's Clear Skies scheme to encourage the assessment and realisation of renewable energy projects. More info...

Bracknell residents want renewables

Residents have championed the regeneration project as a great opportunity for renewable energy to prove itself as the future energy source for the UK. Our report is now available to download. More info...

European Commission Praises TV Energy

TVE has been recognised as being among the best performing agencies in Europe, following an interim progress report submitted by TVE. Read the European Commission letter in full. More info...

South East Renewable Energy Conference a Success

The annual regional conference on renewables took place on 11th and 12th December at the Madejski Stadium, Reading. Conference reports and presentations now available to download. More info...

Branching Out into Coppice, Thames Valley style

The UK's third coppice producer group was launched at the SE regional conference earlier this month. More info...

Second Thames Valley wind blowout

On the 23rd October, at a special Planning Committee meeting of the Vale of the White Horse District Council held in Uffington, Oxfordshire, Council Members voted narrowly against the development of five 1.3MW wind turbines on an old airfield site near Watchfield. More info...

West Berks Blow Wind Power Away

On 1st October West Berkshire Council heavily rejected a proposal to build a wind turbine at a site near Baydon and adjacent to the M4. The move must be seen as a victory for local objectors and a blow to supporters wishing to see the Thames Valley and the South East become a little greener and provide a proportion of its own energy needs from non-polluting sources.  More info...

2-Ten FM interview
In September local radio station 2-Ten FM included in a local news bulletin an interview with Michael Beech of TV Energy, discussing the Bracknell RE-generation project and how renewable energy will provide Bracknell with its primary energy needs. More info...

 

Achieving Energy Savings Through the Planning Process

Thames Valley Energy and Future Energy Solutions have been working on an Energy Savings Trust 'Innovation Programme' project to assist the planning departments of South Oxfordshire District Council and the Vale of White Horse to achieve energy savings, through the planning process, for the Great Western Park development, Didcot. More info...

Presentations now available to download.
 

Community Surveys

TV Energy has recently completed two community surveys to understand public opinion about renewable energy.  More info...

SAVE Agency Meetings in ROUSSE

The third meeting of ARGEM, MEA and TV Energy was held on the 16th October 2003 in Rousse, Bulgaria. Ivan Kalchev of MEA hosted the meeting which was attended by Francisco Ayala and Francisco Minguez of ARGEM, Spain and Patrick Cogswell, Cllr Royce Longton and Charlotte Bruton of TV Energy, UK. More info...

Biocogen Meeting in Budapest

The BIOCOGEN project group met in Budapest on the 14th October 2003 to review progress with an assessment of European biomass cogeneration projects on behalf of the European Commission. More info...

Presentations now available to download.

KOREAN DELEGATION VISIT 

 An interested group of officials and managers led by Korea's Energy Management Corporation paid TV Energy and Greenham Common Trust a visit in October. More info...

Bracknell Council Seminar in Brussels Sets the Scene for Major European Initiative to help 'RE-Generate' Bracknell Town Centre

A meeting of minds and a shaking of hands took place last week between Bracknell Forest Borough Council and the European Commission over plans to make Bracknell Town a European Flagship Green Energy Community. In a special seminar organised by TV Energy at South East England House in Brussels, proposals to 're-generate Bracknell' taking advantage of local bioenergy (wood fuel and green waste), solar and wind power were discussed in detail. Both sides agreed that Bracknell had a unique and a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' to show to the UK and the European Union how this could be best achieved. More info...

IEA Task 29 Streatley Workshop

IEA task leaders from seven countries met at Streatley, Berkshire for a two day bioenergy workshop. This was followed by an evening's entertainment with a Thames river cruise to Wallingford and dinner at the Swan Hotel, Streatley where mayor of Newbury, Peter Greenhalgh gave a local welcome to the international guests. For detailed information about the event More info...

TV Bioenergy Short Rotation Coppice Planting Day 21st May 2003

TV Bioenergy have recently been awarded a grant by DEFRA of £3000 to plant 3hectares of short rotation coppice (SRC) on a farm in West Oxfordshire. The 3 hectares on John Willmer's farm are Friars Court, near Faringdon in West Oxfordshire. John already has about 10 hectares of SRC from the original trials conducted in the early 1990's by DTI and ETSU.

TV Bioenergy contracted Coppice Resources Ltd to carry out the planting of the SRC using their 'step-planter' and the day was well attended by a variety of potential local growers as well as from organisations such as DEFRA, GOSE, local authorities and Thames Water.

The 'Step-Planter' used is a Swedish made machine and requires three operators, one to drive the tractor and two to feed in the coppice rods. The rods are pushed into the soil up to about 8 inches and cut off at ground level.

The planting material used was a mixture of five varieties; Parfitt, Tora, Olof and Ashton Stott used in equal quantities of each and planted randomly to minimise disease and pest attack.

The rods were planted at intervals of 18 inches, four rows at a time. The diagram below shows the planting design used.

TV Bioenergy will be proposing a 'Producer Group' or grower co-operative to DEFRA in June to help organise local growers across the Thames Valley. Hence we are keen to hear from farmers and landowners that have an interest in growing short rotation coppice. For more information on the Producer Group click here or contact Charlotte Bruton.

The presentation made on the day by Keith Richards, TV Energy and Sue Finlay, DEFRA can also be viewed by clicking the links below.

	TV Energy presentation (1.4MB)
	DEFRA presentation (291Kb)

The 'BEAST' Recycler Demonstration Day 

On the 23rd April 2003, TV Energy in association with UK Reclaim Reading held a demonstration day for the 'Beast' recycling machine.

The 'Beast' Recycler can process a huge range of waste woods from demolition timber and pallets to whole trees up to 30 inches diameter. The recycler grinds the material which is then screened to the required size. The screens can be changed depending on size of chip required. The machine also removes any metal from the material leaving a clean wood product.

The demonstration day included a morning demonstration of the 'Beast' recycler processing pallets into a suitable product to send to Slough Heat and Power. After the first load was sent to Slough a representative of Kendall Machinery gave a guided tour of the 'Beast' and delegates had an opportunity to see the machine close up. Presentations were then given by Nick Crowder of UK Reclaim Reading, David Kendall of Kendall Machinery and Keith Richards of TV Energy. Over lunch a second load of wood was processed and sent to the power station. The afternoon session commenced with another load processed and sent to Slough and a further tour of the 'Beast'.

Delegates included representatives of DEFRA, Forestry Commission, the Pang and Kennet Countryside Project, Chiltern Woodlands Project, FWAG, West Berks Council, Reading Borough Council and the Greenham Common Trust.

The benefits of such a machine to both the waste and the forestry industries were highlighted throughout the day and a keen interest was shown by all delegates.

Short Rotation Coppice Energy Crops for the Thames Valley.
Wednesday 21st May saw the planting of 3 hectares of short rotation coppice on a West Oxfordshire farm. Short rotation coppice is usually willow or poplar trees, in this case willow, planted for use as a fuel for energy generation.  Find out more

Communities Get a Boost for Renewable Energy
16 organisations across the counties of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and north Hampshire have been awarded funding to help them develop community based renewable energy projects. Find out more

Proposed Bracknell Development to Become a European Flagship

 The BIOCOGEN project group met in Athens at the end of February to review progress with an assessment of European biomass cogeneration projects on behalf of the European Commission. The countries involved include: Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Greece, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey and the UK (represented by TV Energy). The meeting was hosted by coordinators CRES of Greece.

Each country reviewed progress and there was considerable discussion about the analysis of the wood fuel market (Work Package 3), the survey of biomass plants (Work Package 4) and the potential for Flagship exemplar projects. TV Energy, on behalf of the UK, proposed the Slough Heat and Power project as an example of UK current activity. TV Energy also proposed the Bracknell project as an example of a potential flagship for the UK.

TV Energy will next be involved in gathering in and analysing the flagship projects proposed by European partners. We will also be interviewing current plant operators to gauge their views on current and future prospects.

The next meeting of BIOCOGEN (a seminar day open to all) is expected to be in the UK and will precede the TVE2003/ Regional renewables event in November. For more information, contact Rosemary Sullivan.

Woodfuel Looking Chipper

TV Energy are to grow 10 acres of short rotation coppice at Friars Court in West Oxfordshire and to work with farmer owner John Wilmer to bring a further 10 acres or more of coppice back into rotation for fuel use. In a separate move, Slough Heat and Power business development manager Mark Candlish has joined the Board of TV Energy. These two developments show how TV Energy is addressing the 'supply' and 'market' aspects of wood fuel supply in the region. More on these developments at the next update.