Green energy strong as ever despite Covid

Rufus Salter, director of Easingwold-based Norstar, revealed this week that clean energy had defied the pandemic downturn which had hit all other areas of the power sector.

Mr Salter explained that the wide global energy sector was “experiencing its worst year since the Second World War”, yet the renewable power sector was the one area bucking this trend

He said: “It has been reliably reported that the impact of coronavirus on the industry is seven-times worse than that of the global financial crash earlier this century.

“Ninety per cent of global energy growth is coming from renewables.

“Renewable power is defying the difficulties caused by the pandemic, showing robust growth while others fuels struggle.

“The resilience and positive prospects of the sector are clearly reflected by continued strong appetite from investors – and the future looks even brighter with new capacity additions on course to set fresh records this year and next.”

Norstar has recently teamed up with leading global counterpart European Energy to deliver green energy projects in the UK.

Together the two firms are identifying and developing suitable sites to promote the green energy revolution across the country.

European Energy, whose headquarters are in Copenhagen, are one of the world’s largest developers and operators of solar farms with 845 sites across the globe.

Norstar currently has over a dozen solar farms across the UK in varying stages of development and is actively looking to add more to its portfolio. Ideally, these farms will be installed and commissioned on agricultural sites of 50 acres or more and leased for 30-years.

Mr Salter explained: “Green energy is an idea whose time has finally come. "The Government has recently unveiled its Energy White Paper with a bold £4bn plan, aiming to eradicate the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050.

“This is exactly the boost that the UK’s burgeoning green energy industry needs and it will create sustainable jobs, especially needed in Yorkshire and the North-East, as well as substantially reducing carbon dioxide emissions across the country.”

Mr Salter also drew attention to a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report that stated that China and the US will drive new additions of renewables this year to a record level of almost 200 GW.

This rise – representing almost 90 per cent of the total expansion in overall power capacity globally – is led by wind, hydropower and solar PV. Wind and solar additions are set to jump by 30 per cent in both the US and China as developers rush to take advantage of expiring incentives.

However, the report flags that “even stronger growth is to come”.

India and the European Union will be the driving forces behind a record expansion of global renewable capacity additions of nearly ten per cent next year – the fastest growth since 2015 – according to the report.