The “first” electricity grid research facility in Europe was officially opened in Scotland yesterday.

The £12.5 million Power Networks Demonstration Centre (PNDC) in Cumbernauld was built in response to the growing demand for secure, reliable and environmentally friendly power and uses a mini electricity grid system to test new technology.

It will be home to researchers, engineers and industry specialists who will conduct research and develop new technologies in the sector, from advanced grid control schemes to intelligent sensor systems.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: “This is a truly world-class research centre and the first of its kind in Europe, clearly reinforcing that Scotland is leading the way when it comes to the new ideas, new solutions and new practices that will help us meet the electricity and energy needs of the future.

“Smart grid technologies are increasingly important as we move to a low-carbon economy, helping to reduce energy waste and making it easier for homes and businesses to generate their own renewable energy. Our ambitious plans for this sector demonstrate that it has the potential to create up to 12,000 jobs by 2020.”

The facility is part of the Scottish Smart Grid Strategy launched by the Government last year, which aims to improve the efficiency of electricity distribution. It is a venture between the University of Strathclyde, Scottish Power, SSE, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Funding Council.

Montenegro has secured a loan from a London-based bank to build a new power transmission line that will link the nation to Italy.

The €60 million (£50.7m) loan will be used to finance an undersea interconnection and a new substation, which will help strengthen the existing high voltage network near the Adriatic Coast (pictured).

The interconnection is expected to support the development of a local and regional electricity market in the country and connect neighbouring power systems which will increase the capacity for cross-border electricity trade in the region.

Riccardo Puliti, Managing Director Energy and Natural Resources at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said: “This investment represents a major step forward and has the potential to fundamentally transform the power sector of Montenegro and the wider Balkans region. It will support the development of the regional electricity market in South Eastern Europe by creating the required infrastructure for an exchange between the region and Italy.”

EBRD has invested more than €330 million (£278.8m) in Montenegro to date.

Russian energy giant Gazprom’s net profit fell 10% in 2012 compared to the previous year due to rising costs and lower sales whilst its rival BP saw underlying profits of $4.2 billion (£2.7bn) in the first quarter of 2013.

Gazprom’s profits last year totalled RUB1.183 trillion (£24.6bn) compared to RUB1.30 trillion (£27bn) in 2011. The company said net sales of gas also decreased by 6% to RUB2.7 million (£56,170) as sales to Europe and other foreign countries rose just 2%.

“This change was primarily due to increase in average realized prices in RUB terms (including customs duties) by 6%, which was partially compensated by decrease in volumes of gas sold by 4%, or 5.6 bcm (billion cubic metres)”, Gazprom said in a statement.

The energy firm’s net sales of electric and heat energy also fell by 0.3%, which it said was related to “decrease in sales volumes of electric and heat energy”. Gazprom’s operating expenses rose by 18% to RUB3.481 trillion (£7.2bn) while its net debt grew by 5% to RUB1.081 trillion (£22.4bn) due to the “decrease in cash and cash equivalents”.

BP, however, saw strong results in profits in the first four months of 2013 compared to $3.9 billion (£2.5bn) in the previous quarter.

The firm completed the sale of its interest in TNK-BP to Rosneft last month, for a total of $27.5 billion (£17.7bn) in cash and Rosneft shares and due to the Russia transaction, net debt at the end of the first quarter fell to $17.7 billion (£11.4bn).

Production of oil and gas excluding TNK-BP and Rosneft was 2.33 million barrels of oil equivalent a day – around 2% higher than the fourth quarter – but 5% lower than the same period in 2012. Following the Rosneft transaction, total oil and gas production for the Group is more than three million barrels of oil equivalent a day.

Bob Dudley, BP Group Chief Executive said: “These strong first quarter results demonstrate the progress BP is making in delivering the performance milestones that support our 10-point plan and underpin our commitment to material operating cash flow growth by 2014… These results represent a strong start to 2013 across all of our businesses.”

A new programme aimed at supporting small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the EU to develop new bio-based technologies has been launched.

The €6.2 million (£5.35m) ‘Bio Base NWE’ (North West Europe) project will run for three years and provide financial support, training and education to help tackle shortage of skilled professions in NWE’s industries. The project aims to develop a “bio-based economy” in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany and Netherlands.

Bio Base Europe, a partner in Bio Base NWE, explains that a bio-based economy looks to promote a society that is far less dependent on fossil resources for our energy and material needs. It would see a bio-based industry using renewable resources such as biomass, starch and agricultural waste to produce biomaterials and bioenergy.

Dr. Lieve Hoflack, Manager of the Bio Base NWE project said: “SMEs have a vital role to play in Europe’s journey towards the bio-based economy, which could be worth more than €2 trillion (£1.7tn) to the European economy by 2020. Bio-based products are a growing area of interest for SMEs working in chemical industry, agro- industry, plastics, fuels, food, textile and pharma industry. However, many SME’s find it difficult to bridge the gap between newly developed research and the commercial market.”

As part of the project, selected SMEs will receive coupons worth up to €10,000 (£8,528) each for free of charge access to the facilities of an independent demonstration facility in Belgium.

The project was launched by the European Commission and also funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Europe’s dominance in the global solar market is “set to end” as PV installations are expected to “dramatically decline” in 2013.

That’s according to analysts at IHS, who have predicted Asia to become the largest region for PV installations “for the first time in 10 years”.

They claim that despite the growth in countries such as the UK, Turkey and Netherlands, installations in Europe are forecast to fall from 18GW to 13GW in 2013 to as low as 37%, which is suggested could be linked to action taking against allegations that Chinese firms were “dumping” solar panels into the EU market last year.

According to the analysts, Asia installed more than 4GW of solar power in the fourth quarter of 2012 – an amount close to half the global total – which is predicted to grow to 15GW this year.

Ash Sharma, Senior Director of solar research at IHS said: “While hopes in the past could have been pinned on Germany or Italy – which accounted for nearly two-thirds of European installations in 2012 – growth here looks impossible… Looming anti-dumping measures against Chinese manufacturers are taking their toll on Europe, resulting in price increases and additional registration paperwork that will further temper solar demand this year.”

However, global PV installations are forecast to exceed 35GW this year, equivalent to a 12% growth.

Mr Sharma added: “We often see quite pessimistic forecasts at the start of each year for PV installations due to a seasonal slowdown and talks of major incentive cuts as Europe reassesses its PV policy typically after yet another year of record growth. However, our analysis of more than 60 countries around the world shows that demand outside of Europe will more than compensate for the fall in the Continent.”

Growth rates of 250%, 50% and 65% are forecast for the Middle-East and Africa, America and Asia.

Japan has connected a brand new solar power plant to the grid following its plan to increase investment in alternative energy sources after the Fukushima accident two years ago.

With a total capacity of 1.7MW, the plant consists of 7,056 solar panels and is expected to generate more than 1,840 MWh of clean electricity – enough to power around 510 Japanese households and cut 1,200 tonnes of carbon emissions.

A partner of REC, one of the largest European suppliers of solar panels and headquartered in Norway, Advantec claims it built the plant within three months.

Masahide Yamana, President of Advantec said: “We are feeding 100% of the electricity generated into the grid for which we need excellent product quality and performance backed by strong warranties.”

Arne Walther, Norway’s Ambassador to Japan added: “While energy saving and increased imports of fossil fuels, especially liquefied natural gas, has been the immediate response to reduced reliance on nuclear energy in Japan after the Fukushima accident, accelerated development of renewables, not least solar, is emerging as a desired longer term priority.”

A London-based bank is investing €40 million (£26m) in a Bulgarian metal-processing company to help improve its energy efficiency and for long-term financing.

Around €10 million (£6.5m) of the cash from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will be used for energy efficiency improvements to help the firm reach international standards. Sofia Med processes copper, titanium zinc and brass in Bulgaria but most of its products are exported to western and eastern Europe.

The EBRD has invested more than €2.5 billion (£1.6bn) in over 200 projects in different sectors of Bulgaria’s economy.

The world’s subsidies for fossil fuels have hit $1.9trillion (£1.2tn), according to a study by the International Monetary Fund.

That’s the equivalent of 2.5% of global GDP or 8% of government revenues, found the study, which included estimates of energy subsidies currently available for 176 countries.

Energy subsidies are concentrated mostly in the Middle East and North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia, according to the figures.

The organisation is urging policymakers around the world to reform subsidies for products from coal to gasoline.

Some countries give so much money to fossil fuels it threatens their economic stability, claimed the IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton.

In a speech in Washington D.C. last week, Mr Lipton said: “The paper shows that for some countries the fiscal weight of energy subsidies is growing so large that budget deficits are becoming unmanageable and threaten the stability of the economy.”

He added that IMF research shows 20 countries maintain pre-tax energy subsidies that exceed 5% of GDP.

Countries across Europe are failing the EU environmental standards for water, which could result in taxpayers paying more than €1 billion (£0.84bn) a year in fines.

New research suggests a total of 6,331 areas in the Union are not meeting the water requirements, including Brussels, the home of the European Commission. The worst offenders are Romania, with a total of 2,476 instances, followed by Spain (1148), Bulgaria (901), Hungary (631) and Slovakia (356).

In 2011, a daily fine of €1,248 (£1,054) was imposed on Luxembourg for its failure to comply with water legislation and a previous European Court of Justice ruling imposed a daily penalty of €62,000 (£52,400) on Belgium under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. The new report suggests that if such a fine was applied to each EU area, it would total more than €3 million (£2.3m) a day.

The Directive, announced in the 1990s to improve water standards across the EU, applies to the collection, treatment and discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater. It also requires that by 2015 all bathing water should be of a “sufficient” standard.

Victor Bostinaru, a Romanian MEP, who presented the findings at a meeting in the EU yesterday said: “This report demonstrates the scale of the problem that exists across the 27 EU member states. The quality of water in many countries has to improve and the money needs to be found to make it happen – starting with the city of Brussels, in which the European Union’s institutions are based.

“As we prepare to commit billions of euros of investment to infrastructure projects, through the EU Cohesion Fund, we must demand improvements from these failing cities, regions and countries. Every country needs to apportion funds to meet minimum standards of water quality that we should all expect across Europe. Investing in better water treatment systems will safeguard public health, protect delicate ecosystems, save energy, reduce chemical use, support industry and even provide jobs.”

Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK are the EU countries currently complying with the water standards.

I’m sure you’re wondering what on earth I mean by that. Well, that’s precisely what I mean – take “your” footprint off, erm, other people’s land!

By “your” I mean Europe and by “footprint” I mean the amount of land that is used domestically plus land consumed to produce imported products minus the land used for producing products that are exported.

Phew! Get it? No ok even simpler it means that Europe is consuming more resources than its entire area infact a staggering 40% of the continent is dependent on land from outside its borders! These facts from a new report released last week by Friends of the Earth also shows that the UK uses more than one and a half times its surface area to keep us fed, driving cars, watching ipods and swanning around in a onesie!

Now that’s a figure that shocked me especially when I read further and the report showed the “hidden impacts” of how Europe’s resource over-consumption is contributing to global land conflicts and affects the environment.

Is this land grabbing any way justified? You could argue that Europe is the second-smallest continent in terms of surface area so it does need to use more resources to support its vast population. But when you realise the social impact of land-grabbing is depriving some of the world’s poorest communities of their fair share, the size of Europe doesn’t seem like a good-enough reason after all.

The report claims products we consume in Britain directly contribute to water shortages, destruction of forests and people in poorer nations losing their land. To make it worse we waste a lot of what we consume.  According to figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, around a third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally – which amounts to around 1.3 billion tonnes per year.

So what can we conclude? Europe and we in the UK are consuming more than our fair share and to make it worse we are wasting a lot of what we take. Now if you were in one of the poor nations supplying goods to us how would you feel? I think we all need to realise asking the developing nations to cut consumption, pollution and birth rates sounds good but before we castigate them, it’s time we looked at ourselves.

Our greed could be the biggest problem of them all….