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Green electricity is electricity that is generated from renewable sources, such as wind, water, sunlight or biomass (i.e. organic matter).
In the UK, support for renewable energy generation is provided through the Renewables Obligation (RO) requiring suppliers to source almost 10% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010, rising to 15.4% by 2015. This is currently under review, the consultation closed in September, but no report has been published yet. |
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All electricity suppliers are now required to publish information on the mix of fuels used to provide electricity, so that the consumer can make a choice. npower prints this information on the reverse of the customer's bill.
There are several websites that compare UK energy suppliers and one of these is uSwitch.com
The following companies supply green energy: |
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ecotricity
Ecotricity has been building wind turbines and selling renewable energy since 1996, and this year the company is investing £25 million in wind energy. |
| Recommended by WWF and the Soil Association, ecotricity provides electricity to the Co-operative Bank, the Guardian, the Body Shop and Ben & Jerry's. Their Merchant Wind Power scheme has seen them construct turbines at Sainsbury's Distribution Plant in East Kilbride, Ford's Dagenham Plant, the Prudential at Reading, and the Michelin Tyre Factory in Dundee. They are also building the new turbine at Manchester City's football stadium. |
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They planted 20,000 broadleaf trees for their first 20,000 customers.
In 2004, the company's founder Dale Vince was awarded an OBE for services to the environment.
There are 2 tariffs - New Energy and New Energy Plus.
New Energy provides a proportion of green energy from Ecotricity's own wind turbines. This year they expect to provide 26% of electricity from wind power with the remaining 74% coming from conventional sources. The company says that the proportion provided from wind power will increase as they build more turbines. They match the standard price of the regional supplier.
New Energy Plus again provides a proportion of electricity from Ecotricity's own turbines, and this is topped up with other types of green energy such as hydro, solar and older wind turbines. This is 100% green tariff but because some of the resources are scarce there is a premium of about 5% to pay.
It is easy to switch supplier online. |
Good Energy
Good Energy was established in late 1999 and is part of the Monkton Group. They now have over 20,000 customers.
They supply 100% renewable energy sourced from wind, solar or small-scale hydro electric, but they do not build or own any renewable energy sites.
For each unit of energy used by a customer they promise to buy an equivalent unit of electricity from a renewable source and supply this to the national grid.
The company is recommended in the Good Shopping Guide.
It is possible to switch supplier online. |
Green Energy UK
Their aim is to have a business that is ethical, responsible and constructive, as well as commercially sound, well managed and secure.
They plan to re-invest up to 50% of their profits back into new renewable energy generation projects in the UK.
The first 100,000 customers will be given the option to receive free fully paid-up shares in the company, and their intention is for up to 50% of the shares to be owned by customers.
They are interested in buying electricity from anyone who is generating their own.
Their electricity is generated from a mix of solar power, small scale hydro, biomass, combined heat and power, and wind power.
They offer 2 tariffs: green energy +10 and green energy 100.
Green energy +10 delivers 10 percentage points more green electricity than the statutory requirement (for 2006 this was 15%).
Green energy 100 is sourced from 100% renewable energy, and is slightly more expensive.
They only accept payment by direct debit. |
npower
npower supply 100% renewable energy to customers who sign up to npower Juice.
Developed through a partnership between npower and Greenpeace in 2001, the supply comes mainly from the offshore wind farm at North Hoyle (off the North Wales coast).
For every customer, npower contributes £10 per year to the Juice Fund, which is used in the development of wave and tidal technology. However, there have been problems in getting enough funding and finding suitable sites for testing. Since the fund was launched in 2003, it has sponsored 2 projects, one of which has been to collect wave power data off the north Cornwall coast to assess the potential for a wave farm. This has involved measuring waves, tidal current and monitoring the marine wildlife in the area. It is hoped that the project will be commissioned in mid 2007. |
Scottish Power
In April 2006 ScottishPower Renewables received a Queen's Award in the Sustainable Development category for their responsible approach to wind farm development. They have received consent to build a 140 turbine wind farm south of Glasgow, which will be Europe's largest wind farm. They are also developing two offshore wind projects in England at Blackpool and Barrow-in-Furness. |
| They are supporting the development of the Pelamis wave generator, which is currently undergoing commercial trials, and expect marine energy from wave and tidal generators to be the next commercially available technologies, subject to the right package of funding support. |
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They co-fire biomass fuels at their coal fired power stations and recently started development work on a purpose-built biomass plant. They also investing in hydroelectric schemes.
During 2005/06 they signed a contract with Bellway Homes, resulting in thousands of new homes at 200 sites supplied with renewable energy over the next few years.
Their Green Energy Trust provides grant funding to small-scale renewable energy projects at community level, and has provided or committed funding of £682,702 to 68 projects.
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Their tariff is Green Energy H2O, where they match the amount of electricity you use with a supply of hydro-power into the grid. |
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Read more about .... Pelamis Wave Power |
Southern Electric
Southern Electric is part of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group.
They've built the UK's first deep water wind turbine in the Moray Firth and are building the UK's first hydro-electric power station in 50 years.
The company is to invest £10m in a new fund, the Sigma Sustainable Energy Fund II, to target sustainable, renewable and energy efficient technologies.
RSPB Energy is their green energy tariff, and the electricity, which is 100% renewable, is generated mostly from wind power and hydro-power.
The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) receives £10 for each new gas customer, £10 for each new electricity customer, and £5 per fuel for each additional year. |
Powergen
Powergen is part of the E.ON Group.
In the last 5 years £225 million has been invested in renewable energy generation, and they are also committed to investing a billion pounds in renewable energy over the next 5 years.
They are currently building the UK's largest dedicated biomass power station near Lockerbie in Scotland, and are developing a wave energy project with Ocean Prospect, as well as having around 1,300MW of onshore and offshore wind farms in various stages of development.
Their SOURCE Fund has been introduced as part of their community investment work and offers financial opportunities to community groups and not for profit organisations that wish to pursue and implement sustainable energy measures.
Their Go Green electricity tariff is 100% renewable from hydro and wind power, and they also have a Go Green gas tariff where customers' carbon dioxide emissions are offset. |
They are currently building the UK's largest dedicated biomass power station at Steven's Croft, near Lockerbie, in Scotland, and have started work on an onshore wind farm in Cambridgeshire.
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They are developing a wave energy project with Ocean Prospect, as well as having around 1,300MW of onshore and offshore wind farms in various stages of development.
GreenPlan is their renewable energy tariff and for every customer on the plan, Powergen makes a contribution to the GreenPlan Fund.
The fund is open to community groups, schools and not-for-profit organisations to apply for grants of up to £25,000 for renewable generation projects.
To date over £200,000 has been allocated from the fund to renewable energy generation projects throughout Britain. Examples of the types of project supported include the purchase and installation of a solar-powered and wood-fired water and heating system for a wildlife conservation park in Kent and the building of a water turbine at a school in Nottinghamshire. |
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