Energy Bill
Coalition ministers are locked in a stand-off over sweeping electricity market reforms in a bill the energy secretary, Ed Davey, is due to present to parliament before the end of the month. The bill, which has taken almost two years to prepare, sets out a new system of financial incentives to spur billions of pounds of investment in low-carbon power generators such as nuclear plants and wind farms. But officials in Mr Davey’s Department of Energy and Climate Change are still negotiating with the Treasury about how large the incentives should be. Energy department officials and investors are worried that the bill could be undermined if the Treasury puts tight limits on the financial support available. Mr Davey, a Liberal Democrat, wants to reinforce the bill’s incentives with a target to decarbonise the electricity sector by 2030. But George Osborne, the chancellor, believes that such targets are costly to meet and wants to see significant amounts of potentially cheaper gas power used until at least 2030, a move that the government’s climate advisers say risks breaching the UK’s carbon reduction commitments. A Treasury insider said there might not be a deal before the energy bill was presented to parliament. "I am not excluding it but we may not have an agreement," they said.
FT 11th Nov 2012 more >>
Two of Britain’s largest energy companies have broken ranks with their peers and have urged the Government to ditch a radical plan to make electricity generation almost entirely green by 2030. RWE npower and Centrica believe that the proposed decarbonisation target, which could be included this month in the Government’s new Energy Bill, goes too far, given how much needs to be done to meet existing green targets. Their stance over the plan to eradicate almost all carbon emissions from the power sector by 2030 is at odds with the rest of the energy industry. Today, Vincent de Rivaz, the chief executive of EDF Energy, will sign a petition from the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change backing the plan, which would be funded by levies on electricity bills. The policy has split the coal ition: the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, is backing it; George Osborne is leading opponents. Supporters say that spending tens of billions now building wind farms, nuclear reactors and green power plants would lead to lower electricity bills, as rising gas and carbon prices are taken out of the equation.
Times 12th Nov 2012 more >>
Before the end of this month, the man formally in charge of energy policy, the Liberal Democrat Ed Davey, will set out what the government actually plans to do. After all the chopping and changing and copious hot air from his colleagues, he will have a tough job. The politics of this are not incidental; they are fundamental. The Conservatives and the Lib Dems face in two different directions, as ministers on the respective sides freely admit. These gusts of uncertainty would make setting policy in any area difficult; in energy, it makes it almost impossible. Investors in a costly nuclear power station or offshore gas field expect repayment over the coming decades, not the next few years: the prospect of big changes to regulation means they are unlikely even to part with their cash. No wonder then that last month seven of the biggest nuclear and electricity firms in the world threatened to change their British investment plans because of heightened "political risk".
Guardian 11th Nov 2012 more >>
A group of eight senior businessmen, including the chief executives of Unilever, Kingfisher and Philips Electronics, have today written to the Prime Minister warning him that the failure to stick to green policies risks undermining the economic recovery. The businessmen form the Prince’s “UK corporate leaders group on climate change” and his heraldic badge adorns the letter sent to Mr Cameron. Britain’s energy policy is currently the subject of intense negotiation between the Coalition partners. One key area of disagreement is whether the country should set a target to “decarbonise” energy production by 2030, meaning a wholesale shift to renewable energy. However, the Chancellor is understood to believe that renewable energy is too dependent on subsidies and more reliance should be put on gas-based energy.
Telegraph 11th Nov 2012 more >>
Magnox
The selection process to choose a contractor to decommission 12 sites including nine Magnox stations will officially begin next month. Predominantly US engineers and consultants, such as URS, Bechtel and Fluor, are expected to put in bids when invitations to tender are placed in the Official Journal of the European Union. The teams, which also include the listed British engineers Serco, Babcock and Amec, have been circling the lucrative contract for months, and have already pre-qualified to bid. However, the protracted selection process means that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will not pick a winner until 2014.
Independent 12th Nov 2012 more >>
Dalgety Bay
The expert report revealing a near-doubling of cancers around Dalgety Bay available to download at the end of the story.
RobEdwards.com 11th Nov 2012 more >>
Japan
Anti-nuclear protests are held in several locations in Tokyo as demonstrators condemn the restart of reactors.
Reuters 11th Nov 2012 more >>
Japan’s only working nuclear power plant sits on what may be a seismic fault in the earth’s crust, a geologist has warned, saying it is "very silly" to allow it to continue operating.
AFP 11th Nov 2012 more >>
Japan Today 12th Nov 2012 more >>
Middle East
Plans for an international conference in December to discuss banning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East look in doubt even though Iran has said it would attend, Western diplomats say.
Reuters 11th Nov 2012 more >>
Germany
Renewable energy sources are booming in Germany, and electric utilities exported more power in 2012 than ever before. But energy experts warn that what sounds like progress has its downsides. Germany began turning off its nuclear power plants 18 months ago, following the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Since then, many in the business and industrial communities and the general public have feared that the country would soon be facing energy shortages and even blackouts due to a lack of electricity. Instead, Germany has produced so much electricity this year that it has actually exported its surplus.
Deutsche Welle 11th Nov 2012 more >>
Nuclear Weapons
The latest NIS Update newsletter contains news on the first test firing of a Trident missile by the Royal Navy for three years; the findings of an investigation by the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee into the implications of Scottish independence for Trident; and progress in making nuclear safety improvements across the UK in the light of the Fukushima accident. News from the Atomic Weapons Establishment covers a fire service call-out to an acid incident and the opening of the Orion laser, scheduled for spring 2013.
Nuclear Information Service 11th November 2012 more >>
CCS
Britain’s efforts to develop cutting edge carbon capture technology have suffered a fresh blow as Brussels rules out funding several UK projects because London failed to say how much money it would spend on them. The move is "devastating" said Chris Davies, the Liberal Democrat MEP who has been a long time campaigner for the technology, which captures and stores carbon emissions from industrial plants. "It is now clear that the UK has lost out on the prospect of more than £600m of EU funding," he said, adding the "finger of blame" should be pointed at George Osborne, the chancellor, for failing to guarantee sufficient financing.
FT 11th Nov 2012 more >>
Energy Efficiency
The “Cinderella of the energy sector” finally will get the recognition it deserves this week when ministers launch the first government-wide energy efficiency strategy. A new Energy Efficiency Deployment Office will co-ordinate dozens of existing policies across departments to give them proper clout, Greg Barker, the Environment Minister, said.
Times 12th Nov 2012 more >>
