After a lot of prevarication the Department of Energy and Climate Change web site now proudly proclaims that:

Consultation on the Renewables Obligation Banding Review is now closed.

In a press release yesterday the Secretary of State, Ed Davey, said that:

More on ROCs Review Results Published at Long Last

Last week's list of planning applications received by South Hams District Council contains the entry:

Request for screening opinion for Solar PV development (new site)

This seems to be an application by TGC Renewables for a large scale solar PV site near Harberton that they consulted local residents about at the same time as their Marley Thatch Farm site.

More on Proposed 30 Acre Solar Park at Hazard Farm, Harberton

Those aren't my words. they are a slight paraphrase of the words of the MPs on the Energy and Climate Change Committee.  Following on from last week's criticism of the UK government's failure to deliver the renewables obligation numbers, today the UK Parliament web site reports that:

More on The Treasury Has Made UK Energy Policy Unworkable

It seem that lots of people are unaware of all the past, present and future projects researching and even actually producing geothermal energy in the United Kingdom. This even seems to include journalists at quality newspapers such as The Independent!

More on A Map of Geothermal Energy Projects in the United Kingdom

The mound of virtual paperwork associated with the proposed 23.3 hectare solar PV park at Cofford Farm near Starcross has been gradually accumulating for a couple of weeks now.  In their original request for a screening opinion from Teignbridge council Hive Energy suggested that:

More on A Difference of Opinions on the Starcross Solar Park

Earlier this month Irish based GT Energy announced that they had:

Signed a Memorandum of Understanding with E.ON UK, one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies, to develop five new deep-geothermal heat and distribution systems. Under the terms of the partnership, the two companies will collaborate on five projects to tap into the heat that occurs naturally only a few kilometres underground, providing a reliable source of clean energy for homes and businesses.

However they didn't reveal the location of those five plants. Now they have taken the next step, and they announced today that they have:

More on GT Energy Announce a "Pioneering Geothermal Energy Project" in Manchester

Amongst a plethora of TL(and longer)As it is our sad duty to report today that the Renewable Energy Association are very disappointed by the (in)actions of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.  The REA recently published the Summer 2012 edition of their "REA News" magazine. Here it is:

As you can see, in her introduction Gaynor Hartnell, REA Chief Executive, expressed the view that:

More on DECC Dashes REA's Hopes on the ROCs

Sarah McLachlan thinks so. Sarah is a Canadian singer/songwriter, possibly most familiar in the popular imagination as the singer of the Oscar nominated Randy Newman song "When She Loved Me" from the soundtrack to the movie "Toy Story 2". Slightly less well known is Sarah's support for a variety of causes, one of which is geothermal energy. Here's a "music video" of her song "World on Fire" from the 2003 album "Afterglow" :

More on The World's on Fire. Can Geothermal Energy Help?

The minutes of the meeting of the Teignbridge District Council planning committee have now been published, including the debate about a proposed 40 acre solar farm at Gold's Cross Hill near Tedburn St. Mary that I contributed to last Monday.

More on Teignbridge DC Minutes Reveal Reasons for Refusing Tedburn Solar Farm

According to the front page news in this morning's Western Morning News, and under the headline "Eden in new 'hot rocks' scheme":

Energy independence, hi-tech jobs and a long-term income from exporting power to other parts of the country could be a reality for Cornwall by the end of the decade.

It's not a reality just yet, however, since although the Eden Project obtained planning permission for a geothermal energy facility from Cornwall County Council back in 2010:

More on Will Eden's Geothermal Plans Make Cornwall Energy Independent?