Utilities
The prospect of unpopular electricity generators being taken to task by no fewer than three regulators has been widely welcomed. But as Terry Macalister reports, there are hard truths to tackle beyond ever-increasing utility bills. It will take more than a competition probe to restore faith in British energy policy. There are six questions the energy industry needs to answer as it tackles the wider issue of how Britain can modernise and decarbonise its power industry without pushing up prices and driving vast numbers of people into fuel poverty. Hinkley Point C, proposed by EDF in Somerset, would generate 3,200MW, single-handedly supplying almost 7% of the country’s electricity. That compares with 630MW of intermittent energy from the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, the London Array off the coast of Kent. But EDF has been granted huge subsidies to build the low-carbon plant, which may yet be deemed in breach of competition policy by the European Commission. The building of new reactors in France and Finland is running way over time and budget, and the issue of radioactive waste remains unresolved.
Observer 30th March 2014 read more »
Energy Supply
The big six energy firms face an inquiry into their profits. But political meddling is choking investment, raising the spectre of power cuts and higher bills. According to analysis by The Sunday Times, new power plants worth more than £10bn, from Scottish wind farms to gas facilities in Kent, have been put on ice in the past year alone. Coal and gas-powered stations capable of lighting 12m homes have shut in the past three years. Only one new gas-fired station, ESB’s plant at Carrington, near Manchester, is being built to replace them. And it broke ground a year and half ago. Ofgem flagged up the danger last year. It warned of a “supply crunch” in 2015, when Britain’s excess generation capacity is set to fall from 14% to as little as 4%. The investment hiatus, combined with the sooner than expected retirement of older stations, could make the crunch even more acute.
Sunday Times 30th March 2014 read more »
With gas and electricity generators on a collision course with the government, is Britain facing blackouts. IT SHOULD have been a cause for the energy industry to celebrate. New figures released last week showed that wind power had risen by more than a third to a record high. But anyone thinking of throwing a party had their hopes dashed when SSE, one of Britain’s big six suppliers, scrapped plans to invest £20 billion in four major offshore projects. These included about half of the current planned capacity along the east coast of Scotland. Furthermore, the company also questioned “the viability of the wider offshore wind sector”.
Scotland on Sunday 30th March 2014 read more »
Energy Policy
Britain must lead the international battle against global warming, says energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey, who added that not to do so would be “deeply irresponsible”. His comments, made on the eve of a landmark UN report on the impacts of global warming, are in pointed contrast to chancellor George Osborne’s statement in September that he did not want the UK to be “the only people out there in front of the rest of the world”. “Climate change is hugely threatening to our way of life, in the UK, Europe and the world,” said Liberal Democrat minister Davey, in an interview with the Observer. “Not to lead is deeply irresponsible. If you don’t lead, you will not bring others with you.”
Observer 30th March 2014 read more »
Coulport
The Ministry of Defence has apologised for terrifying people living near the UK’s nuclear bomb store at Coulport after setting off a series of explosions last week.
Sunday Herald 30th March 2014 read more »
Plutonium
The nuclear fuel carrier Pacific Egret slipped into the harbour at Charleston, South Carolina, on March 19 and unloaded a top-secret cargo at the port’s Naval Weapons Station. Fitted with naval guns, cannons and extensive hidden means of repelling a terrorist assault, the three-year-old British vessel was purpose-built to transport plutonium, highly enriched uranium (HEU) and mixed-oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel on the high seas. Its previous publicly reported position had been exiting the Mediterranean at the Strait of Gibraltar almost two weeks earlier on March 7, carrying a delicate nuclear cargo loaded at the La Spezia naval base in northern Italy. As the vessel entered the North Atlantic that day, its tracking image vanished from an online marine traffic monitoring system. The ship the size of a football field became all but invisible to unauthorized eyes. Questions are now being raised about whether the sensitive cargo included recycled plutonium that originated here in Canada.
Ottawa Citizen 29th March 2014 read more »
Japan – Plutonium
Japan is planning to start a $21 billion nuclear reprocessing plant, stoking concern in China that the facility’s output could be diverted for use in an atomic bomb.
Bloomberg 24th March 2014 read more »
US – Radwaste
Carlsbad Mayor: Traditionally, “dump” has been used to describe an above-ground landfill, which WIPP is not. A city landfill and an underground nuclear waste repository are not the same thing, and it is misleading to use words that imply that they are. In fact, we no longer typically even use “dump” to describe “landfill” because that is also not accurate. Additionally, it is our hope that all media outlets would report objectively and avoid spin of any sort – positive or negative. “Dump” is a loaded word, with very negative connotations. Everyone knows what it means when someone says, “What a dump.” Whether a reporter intends it or not, use of the term indicates a negative opinion about the project.
Cumbria Trust 30th March 2014 read more »
Microgeneration
This week’s Micro Power News.
Microgen Scotland 28th March 2014 read more »
Fossil Fuels
SCIENTISTS have discovered vast deposits of coal lying under the North Sea, potentially holding enough energy to power Britain for centuries. They have studied data, from seismic tests and boreholes, collected all over the North Sea for oil and gas exploration, but instead used it to build a picture of coal deposits. The work revealed that the sea bed holds up to 20 layers of coal extending from Britain’s northeast coast far out under the sea — and that much of it could be reached with the technologies already in use to extract oil and gas. The report comes as government scientists at the British Geological Survey (BGS) put the finishing touches to a report, due out around Easter, suggesting Britain has major onshore oil resources under the Weald, covering Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Hampshire, which could be extracted by fracking.
Sunday Times 30th March 2014 read more »
Climate
Climate change poses a “major risk” to forests all over the world, threatening widespread tree deaths that could wipe out wildlife, exacerbate global warming and hurt the economy, a major new UN report will warn today.
Independent 30th March 2014 read more »
