19 July 2010

New Nukes

Britain must reform electricity markets if it is to secure the private investment needed to meet its carbon emissions targets, according to a study by KPMG. The report, which will be published on Monday, said the British government’s approach to investment in low-carbon generation was inconsistent and clearer planning was needed to show how emissions targets will be met. The KPMG report, commissioned by German utility RWE, said investment on the scale needed for new nuclear generation is unlikely to be achieved under the current framework and greater investment would be encouraged by a more consistent market design to reward low-carbon energy. A carbon price floor, as planned by the government, may provide some benefits to investors in new nuclear generation but on its own will not be effective in achieving the level of investment required, it said.

KPMG, who consulted seven potential nuclear project sponsors including Centrica, EDF and EON, said potential investors would generally prefer a price mechanism which exposed them to some degree of market risk. The report suggested paying a premium tariff over and above electricity market revenues or setting a requirement for suppliers to source a certain amount of their energy from low carbon producers.

Reuters 18th July 2010 more >>

Scotland

‘Alex Salmond destroys 10,000 Scottish jobs.” Not a headline you’ll have read recently, but one you should have because the First Minister’s utterly irrational prejudice against nuclear power is directing a construction boom to England.

Scotsman 19th July 2010 more >>

Waste Transport

Last weekend Jean Lambert, London’s Green MEP, supported renewed calls from campaigners to end the running of trains transporting nuclear waste through Hackney. Trains carrying radioactive nuclear fuel rods run at least once a week alongside passenger services on the North London Line – right through the 2012 Olympic Park site – en route to the Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria.

Hackney Citizen 16th July 2010 more >>

Energy Security

Britain could face years of blackouts and high electricity bills because of the focus on renewable energy sources, an energy expert has warned. Derek Birkett, a former Grid Control Engineer, has warned that the cost of the energy crisis could rival that of the banking collapse. And he claims renewable energy targets were ‘dangerous illusions’ which could see consumers forced to pay out more for their power.

Daily Mail 19th July 2010 more >>

Companies

International Power, the UK power generation company, and GDF-Suez of France have revived talks about entering a partnership to create a global electricity group, they said on Monday. GDF-Suez is 35pc owned by the French government, which is understood to have indicated that it backs the latest plans. The two companies would make a good geographical fit, analysts believe. GDF currently has few assets in the UK, so the expansion makes sense for the group, but there is growing disquiet that a swathe of UK utilities is being owned by foreign groups.

Telegraph 19th July 2010 more >>

Times 19th July 2010 more >>

Trident

Defence Secretary Liam Fox has urged the Treasury not to play ‘fast and loose’ with Britain’s security by threatening to cut the nuclear arms budget. Dr Fox is locked in a row with the Treasury over suggestions that the Ministry of Defence should absorb the £20billion capital costs of renewing the Trident system. Cost-cutting plans by the government could palm this off onto the Ministry of Defence, eating into its budget of nearly £37billion.

Daily Mail 19th July 2010 more >>

Guardian 19th July 2010 more >>

A crunch spending decision on the £20 billion plan to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system has been postponed for a third time, creating new doubts about government defence funding. UK ministers originally said that a major decision on the investment in new nuclear submarines to carry Trident missiles would be made last September. But then it was delayed to December, and then again to this month. Now, however, the Secretary of State for Defence, Liam Fox MP, has said that the decision will only be made “towards the end of 2010”. The delay comes as government departments are engaged in a fierce wrangle over how to pay for a new generation of nuclear warheads.

Sunday Herald 18th July 2010 more >>

Climate

Tim Yeo: Not only is it right for the environment to tackle the challenge of climate change sooner rather than later but there will also be large financial rewards for UK Plc if we succeed in doing so. Working towards a low carbon economy is not a “luxury”; it is essential to our future prosperity. If we fail to decarbonise our electricity industry, our transport system and our buildings we will fall behind our competitors abroad and pay a much heavier price financially in the future. we must speed up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity. This means more renewables, more nuclear and no new coal fired power stations without carbon capture and storage, even though the combined impact of these changes will inevitably raise consumer prices. It also means much more emphasis on energy efficiency. Significantly all these changes improve Britain’s energy security too.

Telegraph 19th July 2010 more >>

Britain and other western countries are in danger of being left behind by China which is investing “furiously” in low carbon technology, aiming to profit from tough climate change targets in the next 20 years, a leading Tory warns today.

Guardian 19th July 2010 more >>

Letter: A 30 per cent target for reductions by 2020, instead of the present 20 per cent, ought to push up the price of carbon emissions and favour new investment in low-carbon energy. However, the timing aspect should also be considered: the low-carbon technologies that might be expected to play a major part in the longer term, such as new nuclear power and carbon capture and storage, will not be widely available until after 2020. That might mean more use of gas and wind power to meet the tougher short-term target.Government has to deliver a credible framework that supports this massive long-term investment.

FT 19th July 2010 more >>

Renewables

Visitors to the West Bank town of Hebron this summer might find a strange-looking white vehicle motoring through its streets – the first Palestinian solar-powered car. The product of an environmentally friendly project for Palestinian engineering students, the car is bedecked with banks of solar panels and doesn’t manage to reach a speed much above 19mph (30kph) – but it is being lauded as a feat of creative engineering in the face of limited funds and scant resources.

Guardian 19th July 2010 more >>

Smart Meters

BT is drawing up plans to win the rights to provide a key component for the Government’s multi-billion pound plan to introduce smart meters, designed to cut carbon emissions and slash energy bills, across the country. The telecoms giant will announce today that it has teamed up with transmission group Arqiva and technology consultant Detica to create a communications network to run smart meters, which will be introduced to all British households by 2020.

Independent 19th July 2010 more >>