Nuclear Subsidies
Europe has ruled out creating specific State Aid guidelines for nuclear power, in a move that increases uncertainty for UK plans to subsidise a new fleet. An early draft of new guidelines by the European Commission specifically addressed the possibility of allowing public support for nuclear power. However, that has been withdrawn after protest from other European countries, notably Germany. This means the UK government will need to unilaterally justify its plans to support new nuclear power stations. EDF Energy’s proposed Hinkley Point C plant will become a test case for future support. A spokesman for EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told Reuters the decision did not make it illegal to use public money to help finance nuclear power. “This simply means that state aid notifications by member states will continue to be assessed directly under (EU) treaty rules and the standard in this field will be determined by the Commission’s case practice,” he said.
Utility Week 9th Oct 2013 read more »
European Commission State Aid Q&A.
European Commission (Video) 9th Oct 2013 read more »
The European Commission’s decision to drop a reference to subsidies for nuclear power from its guidelines on state aid for energy production would not block Britain’s nuclear expansion plans, the British government said on Wednesday. “The Commission’s draft guidelines have not been published yet. It is already possible to seek approval for aid for new nuclear, whether this is explicitly provided for in the new guidelines or not,” said a spokeswoman for Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Current guidelines do not explicitly exclude nuclear power from receiving state aid, but such a request has never been made, meaning a British case would test the limits. Europe’s competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said on Wednesday his department had had some conversations with the UK authorities on the subject. “We have been told that in the next couple of months they will be producing a programme for investment (in nuclear),” he told reporters in Brussels.
Reuters 9th Oct 2013 read more »
The European Commission yesterday indicated it would not come forward with proposals to change EU rules on state aid rules, with a view to facilitating state aid for nuclear power as had been mooted. The Greens welcomed the outcome of the Commission’s orientation debate.
Greens/EFA 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Nuclear Investment
China will secure a nuclear foothold in Britain in return for rescuing a deal between the Government and EDF Energy over the £14 billion Hinkley Point nuclear project that is days away from being launched. The world’s second-largest economy is eyeing up alternative sites in Britain to build its own reactors in a move likely to alarm regulators and unions. The key points have been agreed and, barring any unforeseen problem, ministers will make an announcement by the end of the month, possibly as soon as next week. China General Nuclear Power Group will take a stake of up to 49 per cent in the project to ease the burden on EDF. The Beijing-controlled group is also in discussions with EDF about acquiring other sites to build its reactors, either on its own or with the French. CGNPG, formerly known as Guangdong Nuclear, is understood to be interested in EDF’s site at Bradwell. The idea of the Chinese building their own reactor design in Britain is likely to worry regulators and the public, particularly in the light of the alarming safety record of China’s new high-speed rail network. Unions are also likely to try to block the move, as it is probable that most of the reactor components would have to be imported from China.
Times 10th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy Bill
Coal-fired power stations would be consigned to the fringes of the energy market under a plan being drawn up by the coalition to head off a potential defeat over its energy bill in the House of Lords. Ministers fear a rebellion this month by Liberal Democrat peers demanding a 2030 decarbonisation target for the electricity sector – something the government has rejected. In an attempt to quell the uprising, senior coalition figures are proposing a compromise involving tougher restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions from old coal-fired power stations. Most of Britain’s coal power stations had been expected to close by 2023 because of a European directive imposing limits on the release of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. But some companies are expected to keep their plants open by upgrading them to filter out these gases. Paying for upgrades could make financial sense because coal is cheap. At present, these old power stations will not need an “emissions performance standard” (EPS) – which restricts carbon dioxide emissions – as this only applies to newly built ones. However, the coalition is proposing to extend the EPS to old power stations in a move that would make it impossible for them to keep operating at full throttle. As a result, coal-fired power stations which operate 24 hours a day would be confined to generating back-up energy only when supplies run low.
FT 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy Supplies
Britain faces its biggest energy crisis for more than 30 years, with a serious risk of blackouts in the run up to the next election, the industry’s former regulator has said. Alistair Buchanan, who stepped down in June after 10 years as chief executive of Ofgem, said the closure of ageing power plants, uncertainties over wind power, dwindling gas stocks and the failure to build new generating capacity had left Britain extremely vulnerable to power cuts. “I spent 10 years at Ofgem and was a power analyst for 20 years before that and I haven’t seen anything like this in my lifetime,” said Mr Buchanan, who has just taken up a new role as chairman of KPMG’s power and utilities practice. National Grid warned this week that the safety margin for UK power supply this winter in an “average cold spell” had dwindled to 5pc – down from around 17pc two years ago. But Mr Buchanan said that, while National Grid may succeed in keeping the lights on this winter, the “tight supply” situation was only likely to worsen. He pointed out that RWE npower had now decided to shut down its 800MW power plant on the Thames after the Government refused to back plans to convert it to biomass, while an even bigger station – GDF Suez’s 1800MW facility on Teeside – was being taken out of service. These additional closures, on top of shutdowns of ageing coal-fired plants, have reduced UK generating capacity by more than 7GW in the past 12 months, Mr Buchanan calculated. Britain requires about 60GW of power on a cold winter’s day.
Telegraph 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
Ed Miliband has said David Cameron has “no answer” to Labour’s pledge to freeze energy prices if it wins power, as the two clashed in the Commons. The Labour leader said bills had risen by £300 since 2010 and yet the prime minister was still backing “the energy companies not the consumer”. But Mr Cameron called the proposed freeze a “gimmick not a policy”. He suggested Mr Miliband wanted to live in a “Marxist universe” where the state could control market prices.
BBC 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Nine in 10 people will not benefit from David Cameron’s promise to put people on the lowest energy tariffs, Ed Miliband has claimed, as he accused the prime minister of having no idea how to bring down fuel prices. Miliband mocked the prime minister for not knowing how to respond to Labour’s promise to freeze energy bills, suggesting Cameron was unable to decide whether it was a good idea or a communist plot.
Guardian 9th Oct 2013 read more »
British energy supplier SSE said on Thursday it would raise prices by an average 8.2 percent next month, triggering what is likely to be a political backlash against energy groups over the rising cost of living.The company, the first of the “big six” suppliers to raise prices ahead of the winter, said it needed to increase prices because of the increasing cost of buying wholesale energy, paying to deliver it to customers’ homes and government-imposed levies.
Reuters 10th Oct 2013 read more »
The Conservatives have a trump card, and one that it seems George Osborne is toying with the idea of playing in his autumn financial statement. For he has it within his power not just to freeze energy bills but to cut them permanently, not just for 20 months. He can do this by relaxing some of the green levies which this year are adding an average of £112 to household gas and electricity bills, and which by 2020 are projected to add nearly double that to bills. It was breathtaking hypocrisy of Miliband to try to make political capital of high energy bills. As energy secretary in Gordon Brown’s government, he was personally responsible for introducing many of the levies that are hidden in our bills. This year, for example, we are all contributing £21 to the Renewables Obligation – the extra cost which energy companies must pay to buy a proportion of their electricity from expensive renewable sources such as wind farms. We are paying another £21 towards feed-in tariffs: the subsidies paid to domestic customers who have fitted solar panels to their properties. Another £27 from the average annual energy bill goes towards the Energy Company Obligation, under which energy companies are forced to pay for insulation and other green improvements to householders who are on income support. There is also the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which adds £13 a year to bills. But these costs are only the start. They are projected to rise sharply as renewable energy tries to make up for the closure of coal and nuclear plants. At present, renewables account for just 11 per cent of electricity generation in Britain. If Miliband were to achieve what he pledged in his speech – to decarbonise all electricity generated in the UK by 2030 – we could be paying an extra £200 a year on bills.
Express 8th Oct 2013 read more »
Miliband’s challenge: can you freeze energy bills and cut carbon at the same time? The Labour leader may need to move some of the cost of energy efficiency schemes from consumer bills to taxation.
New Statesman 8th Oct 2013 read more »
GDA
Interim progress report primarily provides information on the work that has been undertaken in the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) programme during 2013. We have not provided routine quarterly reports during this period as we have not undertaken significant regulatory assessment work. Our work has concentrated on completing the reporting of our assessment of EDF and AREVA’s UK EPR reactor and on preparations for assessment of Hitachi-General Electric Nuclear Energy’s (HGNE) UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR).
ONR 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Wylfa
Magnox has submitted a periodic safety review (PSR) to the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) seeking extension of lifetime of the Wylfa 1 nuclear reactor located in Anglesey, North Wales, UK. Originally scheduled to shut down at the end of September 2014, the reactor is now likely to continue operations for an additional 15 months.
Energy Business Review 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Lynas
Environmentalist Mark Lynas said he “grew up hating nuclear power” but later realised that “continuing to oppose nuclear was a mistake”. His set out the reasons for his U-turn in his film from Hinkley Point in Somerset, where EDF Energy is planning to build one of the latest generation of nuclear power stations. He said: “Many people are terrified of nuclear power but the truth is that it’s extraordinarily safe”, but claimed that “we are going to have to learn to love nuclear power”.
BBC 8th Oct 2013 read more »
World Nuclear
Global nuclear generation capacity increased by 4.2 gigawatts (GW), or 1.1 percent, to 373.1 GW and the number of operational reactors also increased by two units to a total of 437 nuclear reactors worldwide last year, according to the new Vital Signs Online trend released by the Worldwatch Institute. The increases are net figures, taking into account new plants, decommissioned reactors, and units returned to service after having been offline for a certain period. Expansion of nuclear power generating capacity has slowed considerably—just 75 GW were added, compared with 296 GW during the preceding quarter century. Today, nuclear power is the only mainstream energy technology that does not show significant growth. Its share of the world’s primary energy supply actually fell, from 6.4 percent in 2002 to just 4.5 percent ten years later. Although nuclear power is dispersed widely across the globe, it is most heavily used in industrialized countries. Of the 10 nations with the highest nuclear power production, 9 are industrialized, with China being the other one. China has led the world in capacity additions in recent years, and its 3.1 GW of new capacity accounted for 45 percent of global starts in 2012.
Worldwatch Institute 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Japan
Six workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been exposed to radiation in the latest water leak in a week. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said several tonnes of radioactive water had spilled from a treatment facility after one of the workers mistakenly removed a pipe. The workers, who were wearing protective clothing and masks, came into contact with the water and were being checked for any external and internal contamination, a Tepco spokesman said. The accident occurred on Wednesday morning as 11 workers were about to remove salt from hundreds of tonnes of water that had already been cleansed of almost all of its radioactive caesium content at another treatment facility.
Guardian 9th Oct 2013 read more »
The nuclear industry, understandably indulgent with the Japanese administration in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima accident that happened in March 2011, has been growing increasingly impatient with the way recent developments have been communicated. At the heart of the problem has been the use the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) have made of the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) to report on the severity of storage tank leaks that were uncovered last month. Communication disaster “In Japan we have seen a nuclear incident turn into a communication disaster,” grumbled Agneta Rising, director general of the World Nuclear Association (WNA), in a recent press statement.
Nuclear Energy Insider 9th Oct 2013 read more »
US
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will shut down on Thursday because the agency has depleted its carryover funds, the chairman said in a blog. Resident inspectors at the nation’s 100 nuclear reactors in 31 states will remain in place to address immediate safety and security issues, but the agency’s daily reactor status report will not be available, said NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane.
Reuters 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Renewables
Dave Toke: Publicists at DECC and the Treasury deserve credit for convincing people that renewable energy will continue to build up at much the same rate as at present, because close inspection of the plans reveals that behind the smoke and mirrors the incentives for renewable energy planned under Electricity Market Reform (EMR) are being severely cut back. Indeed the Government plans really do deserve the description of fantasy since the public debate about the alleged impact of so-called renewable ‘subsidies’ on energy prices has very little real connection to what Government policies will actually produce.
Dave Toke’s Blog 9th Oct 2013 read more »
A new environment minister who advised David Cameron on energy has suggested subsidies for wind and solar power are “still too high”, amid growing speculation the Tories are planning an assault against green costs on energy bills. George Eustice, who had an energy brief on Cameron’s policy board until this week, argued the current subsidy system needs to be replaced because it is not getting the best deal for consumers. He made the comments to the Western Morning News just before being appointed to a new ministerial role in charge of the natural environment, water and rural affairs.
Guardian 9th Oct 2013 read more »
A plan to build dozens of giant offshore wind farms is close to collapse after energy companies told the Government that they could not go ahead without more financial support. The Offshore Wind Developers Forum, whose members include Britain’s Big Six energy suppliers, has written to the Department of Energy and Climate Change to say that the new subsidies on offer are too low and need to extend beyond 2020. The forum said that the Government’s existing proposals “would not encourage” the domestic supply chain to invest, casting more doubt over plans to create thousands of jobs by building half a dozen wind turbine factories in Britain. SSE, one of the biggest developers, is understood to be considering pulling out of its so-called “Round 3” next generation projects and will outline its position next month when it reports results.
Times 10th Oct 2013 read more »
A new government roadmap for expanding solar power prompts media claims the countryside could see a “power boom” of 2,000 solar farms by the end of the decade. Solar power’s definitely on the up – but the predictions of huge numbers of new solar farms may say more about the need for a good headline than the reality on the ground. Climate change minister Greg Barker launched a new document yesterday reiterating the government’s ambition to increase the UK’s solar power capacity to up to eight times its current levels. The Times predicted this could mean 2,000 new solar farms and the Daily Telegraph reported that local councils could get new powers to take local objections into account.
Carbon Brief 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy storage is a hot topic in the cleantech sector, as the technology quickly moves closer and closer to financial viability. Lux Research anticipates that the residential market will lead the way in uptake, riding on the shoulders of rooftop solar PV’s phenomenal growth globally. If the dance between the winding back of government and utility incentives for small-scale solar power and the falling price point of energy storage continues without a stumble in the US, Europe, and countries elsewhere, the country will see energy storage smoothly coming in to pick up where feed-in tariffs and 1-for-1 net metering leave off.
Clean Technica 9th Oct 2013 read more »
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is today calling on Government to reassess its approach to geothermal energy to help fully exploit the potential benefits in the UK. A new policy statement from the Institution urges the Government to embrace an energy source which could one day power and heat large areas of the UK, providing reliable baseload low-carbon energy and making a useful contribution to the UK’s climate change mitigation objectives.
Institution of Mechanical Engineers 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Nearly everyone hates ECO – but how else can we make houses more energy efficient? The government could be about to water down a flagship policy aimed at reducing energy consumption and helping poorer people insulate their homes. It’s hard to find fans of the measure – but what will it mean for the government’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle fuel poverty if it goes down the drain? The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) requires energy providers to seek out low-income households and consumers on benefits, and subsidise home insulation. The policy forms a part of the government’s plan to tackle fuel poverty. But energy companies are lobbying for it to be reformed or delayed – and could be about to get their way. There have been a number of suggestions for how ECO could be improved. A variety of commentators – including the Local Government Association – have proposed that local councils need to be centrally involved in measures to tackle fuel poverty. IPPR also suggests that ECO might work better if it is focused on specific geographical areas, because economies of scale would make the measures cheaper. Guy Newey from right-leaning thinktank Policy Exchange told us the scheme could be relaxed to allow cavity wall insulation or loft insulation instead of more difficult measures. That would probably be an easier way to achieve cost-effective decarbonisation – but it would involve the government admitting that the Green Deal isn’t doing the job. Alternatively, the government could make the scheme easier (and presumably cheaper for energy companies) by relaxing the criteria for who’s eligible. Or – the fuel poverty and carbon saving targets under the scheme could be postponed. Energy companies are pushing for a delay, according to the Sunday Telegraph – and it’s probably the result that would please the powerful energy industry lobby the most. While the ECO scheme is far from perfect, however, putting a hold on a central plank of the government’s green policies probably wouldn’t improve the country’s chances of tackling fuel poverty and bringing down greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon Brief 10th Oct 2013 read more »
Ed Davey has launched a pre-emptive strike against the chancellor’s looming assault on the coalition’s green agenda by demanding that the big six energy suppliers be more transparent over the cost of delivering a key green energy measure. The Lib Dem energy secretary on Tuesday wrote to all the big energy suppliers asking that they release more information to the energy regulator and his department over the costs of complying with the government’s Energy Companies Obligation – a levy on energy companies to insulate the homes of people living in fuel poverty. His demand comes as senior Conservatives, led by George Osborne, take aim at the annual £1.3bn Eco budget as they try to find ways to whittle back energy bills in response to Ed Miliband’s pledge to freeze energy bills if Labour win the next election.
FT 9th Oct 2013 read more »
An ambitious Government scheme to improve the energy efficiency of millions of homes is so “complex” it is likely to be discouraging the public from signing up, the head of the company funding the project has admitted. In an interview with The Independent, Mark Bayley, the chief executive of the Green Deal Finance Company, revealed that he now only expects around 1,000 households to have energy saving measures installed under the plan in its first year. And he conceded that so far his company – which has a start-up fund of £244m to loan to households – has processed applications worth just £1.9m and signed off on only 12.
Independent 10th Oct 2013 read more »
Fuel Poverty
Brenda Boardman: There are 3.5m to 5.3m households in fuel poverty in England, depending on who you ask and what definition they use – that is up to one in four households. A lot of people. And the amount that they are collectively underspending is well over £1bn pa: each of the fuel-poor households would have to spend £450 more on fuel a year than they can afford to if they were to be adequately warm, have enough baths, light the stairs properly and so forth. That is nearly 50% more than they do spend and indicates the depth of their deprivation. Even the government agrees that, since 2004, this amount has been rising not falling. Fuel poverty is getting worse. Does parliament not care? Our elected representatives passed the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000, which created a real sense of hope because it set out a strategy to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016. But that strategy has woefully failed: fuel poverty is growing, not being eradicated. It appears that an act of parliament can be ignored if the government decides there is insufficient money available, and since 2008-09 it has been cutting the funds for Warm Front, the primary policy on energy efficiency. It has now been scrapped altogether. Freezing fuel prices, or lowering them, would help. However, the real solution is to make the homes of the fuel-poor more energy efficient. At the moment, they have to buy expensive heat, because most of the heat they create quickly flows out of the house, through cracks and poorly insulated fabric. If the home is properly insulated and made energy efficient, they can buy cheap heat, because they need so much less of it – it stays indoors with them. So, where is the money going to come from to fund these energy efficiency improvements?
Guardian 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Fusion
Are we a step closer to living in a world with endless energy resources? Scientists make nuclear fusion break even for the first time.
Daily Mail 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Climate
The UK government should “stay the course” on its green policies instead of weakening the commitment to tackle greenhouse gases, the head of the club of the world’s richest nations has urged. The comments by Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), come after the chancellor, George Osborne, last week told his Conservative party’s conference that the UK should not be at the forefront of tackling global warming.
Guardian 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Tropical regions will experience the greatest shifts in climate this century with some equatorial areas experiencing unprecedented changes as early as the next few decades, a study has found. Scientists discovered that the tropics, which are home to the highest densities of wildlife as well as some of the most vulnerable human populations on the planet, will be hit hardest and earliest by climate extremes. A “meta-analysis” of future climate predictions culled from 39 global computer models used in climate research found that tropical regions are expected to cross the threshold into unprecedented climate change significantly earlier than other areas of the world. If industrial em issions of greenhouse gases remain unchanged in a “business-as-usual” scenario then some tropical regions, such as Jamaica and Indonesia, could see a shift into new climate territory as early as the next decade, the scientists warned.
Independent 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Greg Barker: BBC gives too much prominence to climate change sceptics. Climate minister tells MPs that the BBC does the public a disservice by treating sceptics as equal with climate scientists.
Guardian 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Focusing on keeping world temperatures beneath 2°C is no longer an effective policy strategy, warn scientists from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change. They say the UN needs to consider adapting climate policy to an amended goal of ‘Mitigate for 2 but adapt for 4’ as the 2°C limit – the point beyond which the effects of climate climate are likely to become catastrophic – starts to slip out of sight.
RTCC 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Coal’s dominance of the global energy mix is set to fade as economic and climate change pressures drive more gas and renewable power, according to the head of one of the world’s biggest utilities, Iberdrola.
FT 9th Oct 2013 read more »
Former Irish president criticises Scottish and UK governments for claiming to be greener yet promising more oil and gas. Mary Robinson, one of the world’s senior diplomats, has warned that Scottish and UK ministers must quickly agree to strict limits on the use of North Sea oil and gas to help the world avoid the worst effects of climate change. Robinson, the former Irish president and UN high commissioner for human rights, said there was a clear contradiction between the Scottish and UK governments claiming to be greener, while at the same time promising voters they will maximise oil and gas production. She told the Guardian there was an “urgent” need for faster, tougher action by western, oil-rich governments to agree far stricter limits on carbon emissions after the latest report by the International Panel on C limate Change (IPCC) published “unequivocal” evidence linking human activity to global warming.
Guardian 9th Oct 2013 read more »
European coal dropped to a record amid expectations that imports of the fuel from Colombia will increase after strikes that hampered supply ended. Coal for 2014 delivery to Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Antwerp, the European benchmark, fell as much as 0.4 percent to the lowest since it started trading in 2010 and the cheapest for a next-year contract since December 2009, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg 9th Oct 2013 read more »
