EMR
De Rivaz told the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC) June 12 that subject to some fine tuning, we believe the [EMR] reform package is needed and will deliver the required private sector investment in new energy infrastructure. He told the ECCC it should work with stakeholders to make tangible improvements to the draft bill. To take our own multi-billion [pound] final investment decision for our new project, we need three clear, concrete priorities for the bill, de Rivaz said. First, moving to a tangible counterparty contractual model, which is clearly understood and precedented Second point, insuring that the early [Hinkley Point C-specific] CfD, which will be delivered through the transitional arrangements, is legally robust for the long term; and third, working to ensure the government keeps to its original timetable of Spring next year for royal assent. De Rivaz did not specify why royal assent to a final bill in early 2013 is crucial to EDFs investment decision at the end of 2012, particularly when its own CfD will have already been negotiated separately with government by then. Queried on this point and whether EDF was preparing to move back its final investment decision to 2013, an EDF Energy spokesman would only reiterate that the final investment decision is intended to be made at the end of the year. ONR has said that it wont allow any nuclear safety-related work at the Hinkley Point C site until all 31 of the GDA issues has been resolved and that that effort could extend into 2013. Although EDF and government are expected to sign a CfD for the Hinkley Point C project and take its final investment decision before the EMR bill is made law, there are other parts of EMR that could be important to EDF. For example, the EMR includes legislation for payments to electricity generators for providing capacity and it sets emissions performance standards that would penalize EDFs fossil fuels competitors.
i-Nuclear.com 13th June 2012 more >>
The UK governments planned electricity market reforms (EMR) were introduced as a draft bill less than three weeks ago, but have already been written off as dead-on-arrival by officials of the Big Six. According to testimony June 12 before the Energy and Climate Change Committee, officials from E.On UK, RWE nPower, Scottish and Southern Energy, Scottish Power, EDF Energy and Centrica all said they foresee the need for changes to the proposed bill. As it stands the bill will not provide the confidence investors need, John McElroy, RWE npower director of policy and public affairs told the committee. At the heart of the EMR is the contract for difference (CfD), which is effectively a long-term contract for power at guaranteed prices, something EDF has said would be necessary for it to proceed with plans to build new reactors in the UK. According to the draft legislation, it appears government is now proposing that retail electricity suppliers would be the counterparties to the CfDs under a new statutory obligation. This would mean the retail electricity suppliers would have to collect and disburse the funds needed to pay electricity generators a guaranteed price for power, passing on the costs ultimately to electricity consumers. RWEs McElroy said June 12 the governments role as counterparty is important to the cost of capital. Without the government as counterparty, that claimed cost of capital benefit is not there, he said. Whether the governments proposals could work as well, he said it was too early to say.
i-Nuclear 13th June 2012 more >>
Radwaste
Proposals for a nuclear research and disposal facility at Romney Marsh in Kent have been opposed by East Sussex County Council. The government is looking at a range of options for managing nuclear waste and a facility deep underground is the preference. Romney Marsh has been put forward as a possible location and Shepway District Council is considering the proposal. A spokesman for East Sussex council said: “We have serious concerns.”
BBC 13th June 2012 more >>
Sizewell
THERE is now a real risk that the long-anticipated Sizewell C nuclear power station will not be built, a senior Suffolk MP warned last night. Tim Yeo, chairman of the Governments Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, urged Prime Minister David Cameron to step in and show Whitehalls commitment to new nuclear projects. Uncertainty over electricity market reforms aimed at delivering the £110billion that needs to be poured into the power sector over the next decade risks delaying investment, the South Suffolk MP warned. Mr Yeo was speaking after French energy giant EDF which hopes to build a new nuclear power station at Sizewell told ministers that the reforms were critical to the go-ahead of its plans.
East Anglian Daily Times 13th June 2012 more >>
Hinkley
The French company behind Britains first nuclear power station for decades has denied the project will bring fresh crime and disorder to the Westcountry and claims its plans are on track. Police have criticised the plans to build two reactors at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, claiming an influx of transient and foreign workers will affect community relations. Avon and Somerset Constabulary has also warned that the construction process will become the focus of major protests, and says it wants extra compensation for the increased costs of policing anti-nuclear demonstrations. But EDF Energy, which yesterday called for the Government to push ahead with reform of the electricity market, says a £500-million package of compensation measures is already in place. It predicts the scheme will create up to 25,000 jobs during construction and add £100 million each year to the regional economy.
Western Morning News 13th June 2012 more >>
The Prime Minister must step in to show the Governments commitment to a nuclear power renaissance, a senior Tory has urged. Uncertainty over reforms to the energy market, aimed at delivering the £110 billion that needs to be poured into the power sector over the next decade, risks delaying investment, Energy and Climate Change Select Committee chairman Tim Yeo warned.
Western Daily Press 13th June 2012 more >>
MORE than 1,000 people have applied for jobs helping to build the proposed new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Applicant EDF Energy has revealed the figure, as well as 1,200 training places delivered through Bridgwater Colleges Construction Skills Centre. Darren Smith, project manager at Kier BAM, which is preparing the site, said: Were looking to augment our workforce from the local area, and the support were getting from EDF Energy and initiatives like the local jobs brokerage is great.
This is the West Country 13th June 2012 more >>
A SERIES of public exhibitions is being held for people to find out more about plans to erect a new 400,000-volt overhead power line across the countryside south of Bristol. National Grid wants to erect the new 37-mile line, which will cut through swathes of countryside between Avonmouth and Hinkley Point power station near Bridgwater to bring electricity onto its transmission network.
Bristol Evening Post 13th June 2012 more >>
Hunterston
LOCAL MSP Kenneth Gibson has been told at the Scottish Parliament that there are no plans to take nuclear waste to Hunterston. Following claims by local Labour politicians that government policy was to create a dump for radioactive material on the Ayrshire site Mr Gibson put a question to Parliament. Richard Lochhead , Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment stated: ‘It is really important to recognise that neither the Scottish Government nor the NDA plans to create a single facility for the storage of all radioactive waste generated in central and southern Scotland. The Scottish Government’s policy is clear: higher activity radioactive waste should be stored as near as possible to the site at which it was produced. Again, the NDA will release in due course details of its policy on storage in that part of Scotland.’
Largs & Millport Weekly News 13th June 2012 more >>
Politics
Labour will today formally launch a “fundamental and wide-ranging” green growth policy review designed to identify measures that can help stimulate the low carbon economy and create new green jobs. The review will be advised by a host of green business leaders and economic experts, including Solarcentury’s Jeremy Leggett, Matthew Spencer of the Green Alliance, Ecotricity’s Dale Vince, Dimitri Zenghelis from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, and PwC’s Paul Davies, as well as Iain Wright MP from the shadow business team and Cathy Jamieson MP from the shadow Treasury team.
Business Green 13th June 2012 more >>
Europe
The EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive, which has entered its final stages of negotiation, has missed the opportunity to give the cogeneration industry the incentives it needs to attract investors, according to Fiona Riddoch, managing director at COGEN Europe. Fiona Riddoch is the managing director of COGEN Europe, the European association for the promotion of cogeneration.
Euractiv 13th June 2012 more >>
Japan
Japan has taken a potentially decisive step towards restarting two of its idled nuclear reactors after the mayor of a town located near a power plant approved plans to bring it back into operation.
Guardian 14th June 2012 more >>
Fukushima Update 9th to 11th June 2012.
Greenpeace 13th June 2012 more >>
Iran
Crucial negotiations between Iran and leading world powers in Moscow next week are unlikely to yield a breakthrough on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, Russia’s foreign minister warned.
Telegraph 13th June 2012 more >>
Germany
Eon, Germanys largest utility by sales, is to seek 8bn in damages from the German government for the accelerated phase-out of nuclear energy, should the countrys constitutional court deem the policy shift an illegal act of expropriation.
FT 13th June 2012 more >>
Times 14th June 2012 more >>
China
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) reported the major lift, which took took only 76 minutes to carry out, on 9 June. The company is leading the construction of the Yangjiang plant, which is planned to eventually feature six reactors using the CPR-1000 technology. It will be operated by the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management Company – a joint venture with Hong Kong’s China Light and Power. The company already manages the Daya Bay, Ling Ao and Ling Ao Phase II nuclear power plants.
World Nuclear News 13th June 2012 more >>
An insatiable craving for electricity among Chinas households and factories pushed up global energy demand in a year disrupted by the Arab Spring and a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. China accounted for 71 per cent of growth in energy demand during 2011 the first year in history that oil changed hands at an average price of more than $100 per barrel.
Times 14th June 2012 more >>
Poland
As Warsaw hunts for ways of reducing its carbon dioxide emissions as part of its EU commitments difficult to do in a country that relies on polluting coal for 90 per cent of its electricity. Poland also hopes to reduce its energy dependence on Russia, which supplies almost all of its oil and most of its natural gas. And, despite the promise offered by the countrys potentially large shale gas deposits, premier Donald Tusk and his government are hedging their bets by committing to build two nuclear power plants by 2035.
FT 13th June 2012 more >>
Trident
Moving the nuclear deterrent out of Scotland would be the single biggest issue of independence, costing a gargantuan amount of money and taking a very long time, said Nick Harvey, the armed services minister. However, he said the Ministry of Defence had not made contingency plans for the possibility because it did not believe that the people of Scotland would vote to leave the union, in the governments first detailed remarks on the subject since the Scottish referendum was announced.
FT 13th June 2012 more >>
An independent Scotland might have to share the bill for decommissioning the Faslane nuclear submarine base, according to the UK Armed Forces Minister. Removing the Trident nuclear deterrent from the Clyde would be the biggest financial item in post-independence negotiations, Nick Harvey told MPs at the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee last night. Mr Harvey said it would be sensible for both sets of taxpayers to share the cost. The Ministry of Defence had no contingency plans for independence, he added, because we dont expect it to happen. It is therefore not making any plans to move the nuclear deterrent, or indeed the submarines, from HM Naval Base Clyde.
Times 14th June 2012 more >>
THE FASLANE nuclear submarine base on the Clyde could remain under UK control in an independent Scotland, according to a senior defence minister.
Scotsman 13th June 2012 more >>
AN independent Scotland might have to surrender Faslane to the rest of the UK or face sharing the multibillion-pound bill of decommissioning the nuclear submarine base, a UK minister has warned.
Herald 14th June 2012 more >>
GANGS of anarchists including the notorious Rebel Clown Army are planning a summer of disruption in Scotland for the 30th anniversary of Faslane Peace Camp. The troublemakers are expected to join the permanent protesters near HM Naval Base Clyde, home to Britains nuclear submarine fleet, for a month-long campaign of action. The plans for 30 days of insubordination include blockades and marches, with organisers warning that brushes with the law are guaranteed.
Express 10th June 2012 more >>
A 30 Day campaign of anti-nuclear insubordination 9June – 9 July.
Trident Ploughshares 9th June 2012 more >>
Renewables
Sharp Solar is set to unveil a restructuring plan that will include moving its German headquarters to North Wales, in a move which will be seen as a major boost for the UK solar power industry in the wake of deep cuts to the feed-in tariff incentive. The company is expected to confirm plans at a conference in Munich this week to relocate its Hamburg heaquarters to Wrexham, Wales, where it already has a manufacturing plant employing 500 people.
Business Green 13th June 2012 more >>
Guardian (same story) 13th June 2012 more >>
The economic payback from the offshore wind industry could see it wipe out most of the UKs current trade gap by 2030, a report today claims. The Centre for Economics & Business Research (CEBR) argues that a more-aggressive approach to investing in the sector could reap rewards of an annual 1 per cent uplift to gross domestic product (GDP), the creation of up to 215,000 jobs and an increase in net exports of some £22.5 billion. The report comes as Ian Marchant, chief executive of Perth-based utility group SSE, prepared to warn MPs today that consumers will be forced to pay higher energy bills for many years ahead to fund subsidies to French energy giant EDF, which wants to build a fleet of nuclear power stations. The CEBR report commissioned by renewables developer Mainstream Renewable Power, whose proposed projects include a 450 megawatt offshore wind farm in the outer Firth of Forth off the Fife coast estimated that, under current investment plans, the sector will create 45,000 jobs by 2015, over 97,000 by 2020 and 173,000 by 2030.
Scotsman 12th June 2012 more >>
Offshore wind developers are set to embark on an ambitious programme to ensure the sector is cost competitive with other green technologies by 2020, following the release today of a major new report that calls on ministers to boost their support for the emerging sector. The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will today unveil a report by the industry-led Offshore Wind Cost Reduction Taskforce, which includes 29 recommendations on how to cut the cost of offshore wind from £140 per megawatt hour currently to £100/MWh by the end of the decade.
Business Green 13th June 2012 more >>
Action Plan at a Glance.
Business Green 13th June 2012 more >>
Reports by wind industry and government suggest offshore wind could be commercially viable by end of decade. The costs of offshore wind power generation could be brought down by one-third by the end of the decade, making this form of renewable energy commercially viable in the UK, according to new reports by the wind industry and government.
Guardian 13th June 2012 more >>
