Time to plug into the renewables gap

Mar 4 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

A RENEWABLE energy connection business has won a contract that could help Tees Valley become part of the UK’s first “renewables ready region”.

Econnect, based in Hexham, has been awarded the contract by regional development agency One NorthEast, to complete a feasibility study based around connecting small to medium-sized renewable energy technologies to the electricity national grid network.

It could free the way for community generation schemes to connect to the grid without the need for expensive cable upgrades or digging up roads. And it could accelerate businesses adopting combined heat and power technologies, such as that used by tomato growers John Baarda at Billingham, which often prove too expensive to connect to the grid.

More importantly, it paves the way for North-east England to become a net exporter of renewable energy.

The feasibility study, to be carried out by Econnect, already has the support of network operator CE Electric, which is keen to investigate possibilities for increasing the amount of green community energy distributed by its existing networks.

Mark Pearson, One NorthEast business strategy manager, said: “Energy and environment is one of the three pillars for generating economic growth.

"This research project will investigate how we can economically connect small to medium-sized energy generation to the electricity grid without the need for major upgrades. This includes hydro, wind turbines, solar power, landfill gas, and other low-carbon technologies.

“We look forward to the completion of the work by Econnect as part of our wider strategy moving towards the region being at the forefront of development of a low-carbon economy.”

Guy Nicholson, chief executive at Econnect said he saw massive potential for the renewables ready region: “If you’re building a large wind farm, it's economical to incorporate the cost of digging new cables and building substations etc, but if you’re a landowner looking to generate your own energy and export excess energy, then the grid connection can prove to be a massive barrier.

“If we could get to the stage where generators could simply plug into existing networks without the need for cable upgrades, we could very easily become a focal point of renewable energy in the country.”