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This page contains a selection of links to sites for government agencies and departments and to others with useful information not already shown in the lists of members.  Recently added or changed items are in BLUE TEXT.

PLEASE EMAIL ME IF YOU FIND ANY LINKS TO BE BROKEN OR OUT OF DATE

MHA web links


Legislation


UK Regulatory Bodies

  •             BEIS (was DECC Dept responsible for energy and climate change mitigation)
  •             Ofgem Office of Gas and Electricity Markets who operate the Feed in Tariff

Material with regards to generation of renewable electricity            
Regulators:

England
Northern Ireland
  Scotland  
Scottish Government: See this page for definitive information concerning the non-availability of an SRDP grant if the FiT is sought. The CARES funding scheme has recently been revised - see CARES website for details; Scottish Government policy concerning regulation of hydropower (issued 2010) is here


SEPA Run of River Guidance for Developers updated 20 Dec 2012: see here


Wales

  • Natural Resources Wales manages, protects and utilises Wales’ natural resources
 

Other useful information

  • HMRC The UK’s tax authority

They have deemed that VAT is not payable on the Feed-in Tariff for domestic generation. The reasoning for this is because energy companies are not directly purchasing the energy of Microgenerators, but providing them with an incentive for generating it.  If, however, you reach a commercial arrangement with an electricity supplier for the sale of electricity outside the feed-in tariff, VAT should be added including the prevailing VAT rate for energy (5% at the time of writing).


Grid Connections

  • For information on G83/1 and G59/2 connection procedures see:

Please note that these are only guides to ER G83 and ER G59, not the documents themselves.  For the latest versions, which are available only for a fee, click here. Here you will find a second link for the engineering document catalogue where you can search for, purchase and download a wide range of ENA engineering documents that include G59 and G83 under "Engineering Recommendations" (ER).

A Guide for Connecting Generation that falls under ER G83/1-1 Stage 1 to the Distribution Network (Version 3.1 - April 2011)

A Guide for Connecting Generation that falls under ER G83/1-1 Stage 2 to the Distribution Network (Version 3.1 - April 2011)

G83/1 is valid until March 2014 but from then G83/2 should be used (see below)

NEW G83/2 standard for Grid connection <16A per phase - the version here was supplied by Ofgem last year.

Guide for ER G83/2 Single Premises Connections (Version 3.4 - January 2013)

Guide for ER G83/2 Multiple Premises Connections (Version 3.4 - January 2013)

Guide for ER G59/2 Connections (Version 3.4 - January 2013)

List of approved meters from National Measurement Office


Technical information

River flow data: now available again on the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology website.  Where data is not yet verified, CEH will provide what is available and will answer email queries free of charge. Note that the facilities on this website work with Internet Explorer and Google Chrome (March 2012) but not all do with Mozilla Firefox.  Further useful links below for main UK rivers (even though some are accessed via the EA):

Flow duration curves - use this to select the watercourse/gauging station anywhere in the UK;

Real time river levels (EA) - you have to navigate through maps or regions to get to a specific gauging station

Real time River levels (SEPA) - use the above links to select your watercourse and then view EA or SEPA recent river level (not available on-line for Northern Ireland);

Formulae for converting river level to flow - having selected the river and found the current level, then use this link to access the EA-maintained "Hi Flows" data site, select the watercourse again, and follow the link to "Ratings" where the conversion formula  from river level to flow is shown.  CAUTION: some gauging stations show equations only for high flows - check the Max Stage column for applicability - if not available contact the agency (SEPA is atscience.advice@sepa.org.uk).

Joe Hartvigsen's site (Turgo turbine components and design)

Ask the Renewable Energy Guru (from the USA)

General information

Community Energy Online Community energy covers aspects of collective action to reduce, purchase, manage and generate energy.

Energy Saving Trust is a social enterprise with a charitable Foundation. They offer impartial advice to communities and households on how to reduce carbon emissions, use water more sustainably and save money on energy bills

YouGen General renewable energy website

Low Impact Living Initiative Promotes multiple approaches to sustainable ways of living

British Hydropower Association The trade association mainly for developers, suppliers and installers of larger hydropower

Microhydropower network International site for hydro scheme information and links

The European Small Hydropower Association (ESHA) Mainly deals with larger hydropower

Please email me (link) if any links are broken or out of date