A share of £19 million of Government funding is available for entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and products in energy efficiency, storage and low carbon generation.

It is part of the second phase of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund, which aims to help small and medium sized businesses, including start-up companies bring their products to market.

The scheme has already provided £16 million since 2012 and the previous phase of the fund included projects such as energy and heat storage, tidal turbine testing and an ‘Eco power shower’.

The news follows a recent report that suggested investments in low carbon technologies could help the UK save as much as £100 billion.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “We’re on the side of innovative businesses and individuals with drive, passion, ideas and entrepreneurial spirit. This funding will get ideas off the ground and into the market, create new green jobs and help the UK get ahead in the innovation global race.

“An ambitious and driven small business sector can steer the economic recovery in the right direction. So I want to see Britain’s brightest and best SMEs sending in their applications.”

DECC expects to open calls for projects every four to six months until the full funding has been allocated. The deadline for the first call within this second phase is 12th July.

The Big Six energy suppliers will have to reveal the prices they buy and sell wholesale electricity under new plans from Ofgem released today.

Fears of energy price manipulation were prompted earlier this year when a whistleblower flagged up strange behaviour in wholesale buying market. It gave extra heat to plans for reforming the energy retail sector.

Now the energy regulator has published the final proposals it says will give independent energy suppliers a “more level playing field” to compete against their larger rivals.

Under the new licence conditions, the bigger suppliers will have to post the prices at which they buy and sell wholesale electricity on power trading platforms up to two years in advance.

They will be obliged to trade at these prices, says Ofgem, which believes this will give independent suppliers and generators “far more” opportunities to buy and sell the power they need to compete effectively.

Ofgem will have powers to fine suppliers who don’t toe the line.

Andrew Wright, Senior Partner for Markets at Ofgem said: “Our aim is to improve consumer confidence and choice by putting strong pressure on prices through increased competition in the energy market. Ofgem’s proposals will break the stranglehold of the big six in the retail market”.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said he wanted energy companies to work with Ofgem in bringing the changes in “as swiftly as possible”.

He warned: “Government stands ready to use the Energy Bill to take necessary measures to improve energy market liquidity should Ofgem’s proposals be delayed or frustrated”.

In an attempt to squeeze out as much economic benefit as possible from the region’s oil and gas, today the Government set up a review of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).

It’s the first time for more than 20 years the Government has commissioned such a review. Led by Scottish businessman Sir Ian Wood – reportedly Scotland’s second richest man who recently hung up the reins at North Sea exploration firm Wood Group – it will look at how to keep momentum in the sector.

So far around 41 billion barrels of oil and gas have been produced from the UKCS.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “Our offshore infrastructure is getting older and we are seeing a decline in the rate of exploration and in the amount of oil and gas that is being recovered. All these issues need to be addressed if we are to stimulate innovation in this sector”.

Sir Ian Wood said he will have an eye out for what will “make a real difference to improving our economic recovery including optimising use of and extending life of infrastructure, production efficiency and maximising the use of key technologies.”

He went on: “The values involved in UK oil and gas are so large that even modest increases in key production metrics over time will deliver significant economic benefits.”

The initial conclusions from the review will be published in the autumn.

More communities should build or invest in local energy projects according to Energy Secretary Ed Davey.

He has launched a Call for Evidence into community energy schemes ahead of a new Community Energy Strategy which is hoped will inspire as many new projects as possible.

The Lib Dem MP told ELN in an interview yesterday: “Community energy projects are fantastic because people can get the benefits of the investment, they get clean energy and they get a return on their investment.”

Mr Davey made the remarks on a visit to a community energy scheme in Brixton which allows locals to buy shares in solar panels.

He said both parties in the Coalition were “extremely keen” on community energy, adding: “We’re trying to see it in an overall context, not just generating energy whether it’s with the solar panels here or wind farms but we’re looking at how communities can save energy.”

Alongside the Call for Evidence, DECC and Consumer Futures published research which found local champions appear to play a “vital role” in jump starting community energy projects.

ELN reporter Vicky Ellis talks to Energy Secretary Ed Davey MP about community owned energy projects and gauges his reaction to the 2013 Government decarbonisation target vote.

Energy regulator Ofgem has been given new powers to protect wholesale gas and electricity markets from abuse.

The watchdog will now be able to access information, inspect premises and impose unlimited fines for those who break the law as part of the EU Regulation of Wholesale Energy Markets and Transparency (REMIT) and will come into force from 29 June 2013.

The news comes after BP and Shell’s office were raided last month over allegations of price fixing over the last decade and SSE given a record £10.5 million fine for mis-selling.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “It is vital that we have all weapons at our disposal in the fight against unlawful activity in the energy market. It is my role to protect consumers, particularly the most vulnerable, who can suffer the most when markets are abused.”

Andrew Wright, Ofgem’s Senior Partner for Markets added: “It is important that consumers have confidence that energy markets are transparent and free from manipulation… These powers complement the work we are doing to improve liquidity and transparency in energy markets and our broader reforms to improve consumer trust and confidence.”

In advance of the powers coming into effect, Ofgem is explaining how it proposes to use them to investigate potential breaches, its procedures for finding out whether there has been a breach and its approach to setting penalties. The regulator is also asking energy market stakeholders for their views on how they use price benchmarks produced by price reporting agencies and wants to know whether they think current arrangements for providing the information are fit for purpose.

Earlier this year Ofgem also took over management of a code of practice used by energy price comparison websites for households.

Local communities will be given more powers to stop the development of onshore wind farms but will also be offered greater incentives to host them.

The Government has announced new planning guidance in England to ensure local opposition can override national energy targets and also a five-fold increase in the value of community benefits.

The increase will be from £1,000 per MW of installed capacity per year to £5,000 per MW per year for the lifetime of the wind farm. That means the subsidies will be worth around £100,000 a year from a medium-sized wind farm or up to £400 per year off household energy bills, with the money used for local community projects, reduced bills or handed to residents in cash.

Under the new rules, onshore wind farm developers would have to consult local communities before seeking planning permission and if objected, the process would come to a halt.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “It is important that onshore wind is developed in a way that is truly sustainable – economically, environmentally and socially and today’s announcement will ensure that communities see the windfall from hosting developments near to them, not just the wind farm. We remain committed to the deployment of appropriately sited onshore wind, as a key part of a diverse, low-carbon and secure energy mix and committed to an evidence-based approach to supporting low carbon power.”

The news comes just after the Government announced plans to reject any future EU renewables goal, which has come under criticism from environmental groups.

Onshore wind provided 3% of the UK’s electricity supply in 2011, generating more than 10GWh of renewable energy – enough to power almost 2.5 million homes. There is currently around 6.3GW (4,074 turbines) of onshore wind in operation, 6.7GW (2,857 turbines) awaiting or under construction and 5.7GW (2,995 turbines) in planning, according to DECC statistics.

Green energy supplier Ecotricity said the Government’s “attacks” on onshore wind comes as planning approvals are at an “all time low”.

Founder Dale Vince said: “This is just another Government move against onshore wind dressed up as localism… Planning approval rates plummeted to a historic low of 35% over the last year, half of what they’ve traditionally been

“Will we see the same logic being applied to the new generation of gas plants and nuclear power stations? How about the third runway at Heathrow, waste incinerators, new roads or is it only wind power. This is a slippery slope. Let’s not forget that we will all benefit from lower energy bills in the long term by investing in wind power and weaning ourselves off imported fossil fuels.”

RenewableUK said the although the new guidance would help “shape the way” the industry engages with local communities more closely, it could, however, also drive away wind developers due to the costs.

Chief Executive Maria McCaffery said: “Developing wind farms requires a significant amount of investment to be made upfront. Adding to this cost, by following the Government’s advice that we should pay substantially more into community funds for future projects, will unfortunately make some planned wind energy developments uneconomic in England, so they will not go ahead and that is very disappointing.”

The prospect of Scotland and England parting ways raises important questions, not least when it comes to energy. ELN Editor Sumit Bose makes the trip to thriving energy hub Aberdeen to ask them – and is that a hint of a difference in opinion between Energy Secretary Ed Davey and Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing? Watch and judge for yourself.

Long-awaited draft strike prices for renewable energy are on track to be revealed in July, according to Energy Secretary Ed Davey.

The set level of payment will be ‘go-early’ options to tempt suppliers and developers to invest in energy sources such as wind, wave and tidal.

When we caught up with him at All Energy in Aberdeen last week, Mr Davey told ELN: “We’re on schedule as we always said we would be, we’re going to publish the draft strike prices for Contracts for Difference for renewables, these are the new long-term contracts to give people stability in their returns… in July. As we always said we would.

“They will be strike prices that people can use if they want to go early with our investment contracts, these are the ‘go-early’ Contracts for Difference which will start, be available from July for negotiation.”

But he said the draft strike prices will be finalised after consultation “for the long-term, enduring regime by the end of this year”.

Earlier this year energy supplier SSE warned the strike price for renewables could be set “too low” in all the fuss over the similar strike price for nuclear power. The draft strike price may give the Government wriggle room if suppliers say it isn’t high enough.

With a touch of anticipation, he added: “People need to prepare to get ready, this is happening, it’s going and I think the excitement I’m seeing, not just at this conference but from actually around the world, global investors are now looking at the UK because we’ve through this through really carefully. We have consulted, we have got industry leaders’ opinion and that actually stands in stark contrast to other markets around the world.”

Conceding the delays have irritated some, the Lib Dem MP went on: “It’s taken a little while and I know that people have been frustrated by that but we are ready to go. The green light is flashing.”

The UK Government wants the EU to commit itself to reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 but said it would oppose any renewables target.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey called for the tough new emissions goal in an effort to tackle climate change by decarbonising the EU economy. He wants Brussels to halve emissions on 1990 levels by 2030 within an international deal or do it alone with a 40% goal if an agreement cannot be struck.

Mr Davey said: “The UK is a global leader in tackling climate change and we need to maintain the momentum towards a binding global climate agreement 2015. That is why we will argue for an EU wide binding emissions reductions target of 50% by 2030 in the context of an ambitious global climate deal and even a unilateral EU 40% target without a global deal. This 2030 target is ambitious but it is achievable and necessary if we are to limit climate change to manageable proportions.”

He added “significant levels” of renewable energy and other low carbon technologies would be needed to meet the emissions target but has, however, rejected future EU renewables goal.

The Energy Secretary continued: “The UK is committed to increasing renewables in our own domestic energy mix. The tripling of support available to low carbon electricity through the £7.6 billion Levy Control Framework provides an immediate boost. And the radical reforms to the Electricity Market set out in the Energy Bill will incentivise renewables to 2020 beyond, building the low-carbon economy we need to compete in the green global race.

“But we want to maintain flexibility for Member States in how they meet this ambitious emissions target. There are a variety of options to decarbonise any country’s economy. In the UK, our approach is technology neutral and our reforms will rely on the market and competition to determine the low carbon electricity mix. We will therefore oppose a Renewable Energy target at an EU level as inflexible and unnecessary.”

The Green Alliance, which campaigns for measures to tackle climate change, welcomed the Government’s announcement.

Chief Executive Matthew Spencer said: “This is very good news for anyone who thinks tackling climate security is too important to be a partisan issue. Both Ed Davey and William Hague should be recognised for their efforts in getting this agreed across Government. They can both now play a critical role in securing a bold European climate action plan for 2030, which will make a global climate deal more likely and help accelerate the growth of the UK’s sizeable green business sector.

“The last European (2020) climate package was central to creating breakthroughs in vehicle efficiency and renewable energy cost reduction and it wouldn’t have happened without UK political leadership.”

Environmental groups and trade bodies, however, disagreed with the Government’s plans to reject any target for renewables.

A spokesperson from Renewable UK said: “If the Government does not send the right signals, then major international companies deciding where to build their big wind turbine factories will go elsewhere. We can’t afford to let this opportunity slip through our fingers. It’s absolutely vital to set targets on emissions and renewables for 2030 as soon as possible. The wind industry urgently needs long-term clarity to attract the billions of pounds of investment to build the massive next round of offshore projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs.”

Ruth Davis, Political Adviser at Greenpeace UK added: “The UK has some of the best renewable energy resources in Europe and a renewables industry with huge potential for growth. An EU target would create a new market for that industry, and in doing so attract vital investment into our economy. In opposing a renewables target, not for the first time, the irrational prejudices of the Tory right seem to have trumped the interests of working people in Britain.”