Nukes vs Climate
After the signing of a historic climate pact in Paris, we might now hope that the merchants of doubt – who for two decades have denied the science and dismissed the threat – are officially irrelevant. But not so fast. There is also a new, strange form of denial that has appeared on the landscape of late, one that says that renewable sources can’t meet our energy needs. Oddly, some of these voices include climate scientists, who insist that we must now turn to wholesale expansion of nuclear power. Just this past week, as negotiators were closing in on the Paris agreement, four climate scientists held an off-site session insisting that the only way we can solve the coupled climate/energy problem is with a massive and immediate expansion of nuclear power. More than that, they are blaming environmentalists, suggesting that the opposition to nuclear power stands between all of us and a two-degree world. That would have troubling consequences for climate change if it were true, but it is not. Numerous high quality studies, including one recently published by Mark Jacobson of Stanford University, show that this isn’t so. We can transition to a decarbonized economy without expanded nuclear power, by focusing on wind, water and solar, coupled with grid integration, energy efficiency and demand management. In fact, our best studies show that we can do it faster, and more cheaply. We probably won’t get very far if the alternatives to fossil fuel – such as renewable energy – are disparaged by a new generation of myths. If we want to see real solutions implemented, we need to be on the lookout for this new form of denial.
Guardian 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Guido Fawkes 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Hinkley
A new bypass for a Somerset village close to the nuclear plant at Hinkley Point has officially opened. The one-mile (1.6 km) road links the roundabout on the A39 Cannington southern bypass with the C182 which leads to Hinkley Point. EDF Energy, which plans to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point, paid for the bypass as part of a £16m package of road improvements. Somerset County Council worked in partnership with EDF on the road build.
BBC 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Old Nukes
EDF’s five of its 15 nuclear reactors in the UK are out of service. One went offline in October, four this month with three unplanned closures. Torness Unit 2, Heysham 1 and Hartlepool are designed to safely shutdown in response to any issue affecting key systems, the company explained. Earlier this week, Edinburgh-based demand response provider Flexitricity was called to secure power supply as a consequence of the Torness 2 reactor shutdown.
Energy Live News 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Radwaste
The review team found that overall CoRWM acted in compliance with the Cabinet Office principles of good corporate governance. The review team made a number of recommendations to ensure that CoRWM operates in the most effective and efficient manner and these were also informed by evidence provided by key stakeholders in the consultation. These were to revise the Terms of Reference, members’ Terms and Conditions and Code of Practice to clarify the Committee’s role in relation to other existing bodies with different remits and allow increased flexibility for the Chair to adapt working patterns to focus future work programmes and get the most benefit from available funding. This work was carried out in consultation with the CoRWM Chair and Devolved Administration officials. The revised documents can be found at Annexes C-E
DECC 16th Dec 2015 read more »
Energy Security
On to the topic of nuclear power, on which the Kent County Council Select Committee had many questions. Foremost in their minds was the question of a new nuclear power station at the existing Dungeness site. However, Prof. MacKerron noted that in 2009 the Government announced that Dungeness was not being considered as a site for a new nuclear plant because of coastal erosion and flooding concerns. While there has been some publicity about the possible suitability of Dungeness for a small modular reactor, this seems a long shot, as the concerns about the site would apply to any kind of reactor. The discussion around the Dungeness site actually gets very effectively to the root of the issue as far as I’m concerned – which is that energy security is not necessarily all about big legacy projects such as nuclear power stations. Nuclear power provides capacity; but then again, not all capacity is created equal, and building a new reactor on a site at risk of coastal erosion and flooding would quite possibly be a detriment to energy security. The vast majority of actual electricity shortfalls are caused not by a lack of generating capacity, but by problems on the transmission and distribution networks, most often caused by the weather. It might not be exciting, it might not be sexy, but some of the most important actions for improving energy security involve ensuring that networks are less vulnerable, for instance by cutting trees back and protecting against flooding. This is a timely take-home message: the recent floods which caused such chaos in Cumbria were, according to some quick modelling by the University of Oxford, 40% more likely due to climate change. Energy security clearly matters, but is a complex and multifaceted issue, and the major risks are often not those which first spring to mind.
SPRU 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Cybersecurity
Security specialists Guardtime has been given the job of protecting the UK’s nuclear power stations, flood defence systems, and electricity grid from cyberattack, using its Keyless Signature Infrastructure blockchain based on hash-function cryptography. The UK infrastructure deal is a partnership with Future Cities Catapult, a UK-based centre of excellence for smart city innovation. Blockchain systems remove single points of attack by distributing permanence of data over trusted, private networks of validators, or trustless, public ones made up of many nodes like Bitcoin.
IB Times 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Flamanville
French nuclear regulators have approved Areva’s proposed program of tests to investigate the mechanical properties of the vessel head and vessel bottom of Flamanville 3’s reactor pressure vessel.
World Nuclear News 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Areva
News agency Reuters reports that disagreements over valuation and charges related to the Olkiluoto nuclear plant project are likely to delay EDF’s acquisition of Areva’s nuclear reactor business until next year. In July EDF agreed to buy 51 to 75 % of the Areva NP reactor unit based on a value for the division of €2.7 billion ($2.96 billion). But sources within EDF told Reuters that the company had revised that valuation down to 2.2-2.3 billion in recent months, and that a firm offer would likely follow next year, instead of in Q4 2015 as originally planned. It appears that the two sides disagree substantially about the value of the NP unit, mainly because of delays and cost overruns at the Finnish Olkiluoto III project. The EPR reactor Areva is building in Finland is years behind schedule and billions over budget and has led Areva and its Finnish customer Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) to claim billions of euros in damages from one another. The lack of certainty caused by these claims is causing the most difficulty in negotiations. EDF has ruled out taking on the Olkiluoto-related liabilities. And the French government, the majority owner of both parties, has to face the possibility that any guarantees it provides will be considered illegal state aid. Areva is 87% state-owned, and EDF 84.5%. Finnish utility TVO has lodged a €2.6 billion claim against the Areva-led EPR consortium at the International Chamber of Commerce’s arbitration court. Areva-Siemens has a €3.4 billion counter-claim.
Modern Power Systems 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says radioactive fallout that polluted the environment in mid-March of 2011 was likely caused by a leak directly from a containment vessel of the facility’s No.3 reactor. Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, on Thursday reported their latest findings on what happened at the plant in northeast Japan during the 2011 crisis. Workers at the plant repeatedly vented the vessel after the March 11th accident to release water vapor and reduce pressure in the container. But TEPCO officials said data showed only a moderate drop in pressure after a third venting at 9 PM on March 13th, indicating that operations failed after that. They concluded that radioactive contamination of the environment between the night of March 14th and the 16th was likely caused not by the vent operations but failure of the vessel. They said the vessel likely lost airtightness due to heat from nuclear fuel, leading to the direct release of radioactive substances into the environment.
NHK 17th Dec 2015 read more »
China
China’s State Council yesterday approved the construction of two more units at each of the Tianwan and Fangchenggang nuclear power plant sites. In an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, the State Council agreed that it is important to speed up the construction of hydropower, nuclear power and other clean energy projects. The council gave its approval for units 5 and 6 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in Jiangsu province. These units will feature 1080 MWe ACPR1000 reactors and will be 50% owned by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), 30% by China Power Investment and 20% by Jiangsu Guoxin Asset Management Group. It also approved the construction of two Hualong One reactors as units 3 and 4 of the Fangchenggang plant in Guangxi province. These units are owned 61% by China General Nuclear (CGN) and 39% by Guangxi Investment Group.
World Nuclear News 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Kallanish Energy 18th Dec 2015 read more »
Turkey
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia’s decision to participate in the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey would be based on purely commercial considerations. “Questions about this project should be decided on a corporate level … We will not take a single step that would damage our own economic interests,” Putin told his annual news conference.
Reuters 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Bulgaria
Bulgaria has presented to a potential Chinese investor the opportunities for possible cooperation in the construction of a new unit at Kozloduy nuclear power plant, the Energy Ministry in Sofia said on Tuesday. “A delegation from a Chinese corporation operating nuclear plants visited Kozloduy nuclear power plant,” the Energy Ministry said in a statement. The ministry didn’t name the Chinese corporation.
Novinite 15th Dec 2015 read more »
Renewables – Solar
The Tory party’s cuts to clean energy subsidies won’t save consumers more than a few pounds a year – but will cost the industry, and the climate, dearly. “My priority is to ensure energy bills for hardworking families and businesses are kept as low as possible,” said energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd, announcing sweeping cuts to renewable energy subsidies on Thursday. Yet this rationale crumbles to dust under the slightest scrutiny. The nations’s most popular energy technology, solar power, adds just a few pounds a year to energy bills. The best cost-saving measure – energy efficiency – has had its support slashed by Rudd and the Conservative party has forgone the cheapest of all low-carbon energy, onshore wind. Coming just five days after a global agreement on climate change was signed in Paris, which Rudd attended and said was”vital for our long-term economic and global security”, the government was under heavy pressure to row back on its proposed 87% cut to subsidies for solar panels on homes. Rudd said on Thursday: “We have to get the balance right and I am clear that subsidies should be temporary, not part of a permanent business model. When the cost of technologies come down, so should the consumer-funded support.” Yet this only applies to renewable energy. Nuclear power, whose cost never comes down, will enjoy 35 years of bill payer subsidies to support Hinkley Point, the most expensive power station ever built. Fossil fuels enjoy £27bn a year in subsidies in the UK, according to the IMF, £425 for every man, woman and child in the country. Are these coming down? No, the UK is the onlyG7 nation increasing fossil fuel subsidies. Nick Mabey, from the think-tank E3G, summed this up pithily: “The government replaces domestic renewables and efficiency with imported gas, then proposes shale to solve the [energy] security problem. Mad.”
Guardian 17th Dec 2015 read more »
The government has decided to cut subsidies to householders installing rooftop solar panels by 65% just days after agreeing to move swiftly to a low-carbon energy future at the climate change conference in Paris. An impact assessment study by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) admits the move could wipe out up to 18,700 of the industry’s 32,000 jobs.
Guardian 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Subsidies for small scale solar electricity panels on homes are to be cut, the government has announced, although by less than expected. The subsidies will be cut by 64%, although this is less than the previous proposal of an 87% reduction. The cuts have been softened following a storm of criticism. The government says large-scale solar farms are cost-competitive, but the sector says it is being forced to stand on its own feet before it is ready. The industry is worried about a new government cap on the volume of solar installations.
BBC 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Less than a week ago Amber Rudd was basking in the glory of the Paris Agreement. Today, she’s betraying all her high-flown rhetoric as she smashes up what’s left of the UK solar industry with a deep cuts in incentives to solar generators and the imposition of 20% VAT.
Ecologist 17th Dec 2015 read more »
The farming industry has welcomed the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) decision to soften plans to slash support for domestic solar and wind power schemes. The NFU said it meant medium-sized rooftop solar power remained an ‘excellent low-risk investment’ for many farmers with substantial electricity bills. It is estimated farmers can still make returns of about 10-11 per cent) for 49 kW PV roofs where more than half the electricity generated is used on site.
FG Insight 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Solar panel payouts SLASHED by two thirds as Cameron makes mockery of climate change deal.
Express 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Solar panel subsidy cuts could result in 18,700 job losses, ministers have admitted, as they confirmed payments to homeowners would be slashed in the new year. The Government on Thursday said it would cut level of ‘feed in tariff’ subsidies for rooftop solar panels by 64pc – less severe than an 87pc cut first proposed in August. The drastic reduction is nevertheless expected to deter more than 700,000 of the 900,000 households that would otherwise have installed the panels over the next five years.More than half of the 32,000 jobs in the solar panel installation industry could be lost as a result as work dries up, the Government’s impact assessment suggests.
Telegraph 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Independent 17th Dec 2015 read more »
FT 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Juliet Davenport Good Energy: The Feed-in Tariff has transformed how the UK generates electricity with more than 750,000 homes now generating their own power. It’s helped move us away from fossil fuels towards a cleaner, local, more democratic energy system. The new measures are a slight improvement on the original proposals but still mean that installing solar panels will no longer be attractive to British home-owners and the changes will also make it harder for housing associations and councils to use FIT to help those in fuel poverty.
Good Energy 17th Dec 2015 read more »
The government will cut feed in tariffs to small-scale by 64% – not the 87% originally mooted – after a backlash to the proposals. This follows hot on the heels of the Paris climate change talks, which finished only a few days ago. At the talks the UK government has signed up to a treaty with the goal of “well below” 2 degrees and an aim of pursuing 1.5 degrees. Shortly after the cuts to support for solar were originally announced this autumn, three solar businesses operating in the UK went into administration, and one decided to pull out of operations in the UK. According to the Solar Trade Association 1,800 jobs in the sector have already been lost – out of an industry of around 35,000. There were 55,000 responses to feed-in tariff consultation, many asking solar tariffs not to be cut because of their impact on jobs and carbon emissions. 90% of responses to the consultation opposed the cuts. According to DECC’s own survey solar generation is supported by 80% of the UK public. Despite its popularity – and businesses asking for support and stability for renewables – the government has made the cuts saying that they are necessary to reduce the overspend in the Levy Control Framework. Analysts highlighted the government’s inconsistencies over generation source subsidies, pointing out the contrast of solar subsidy cuts with generous support of diesel generation and nuclear.
Energy Desk 17th Dec 2015 read more »
The government’s decision to cut support for domestic solar by 64% reflects antiquated thinking, writes Doug Parr. Just as the rest of Europe is shifting to ever-cheaper renewable, low carbon, decentralised, participatory, employment generating energy systems, the UK is stuck in the dirty past of nuclear and fossil fuels.
Ecologist 17th Dec 2015 read more »
In just 15 years, the world as we know it will have transformed forever. The age of oil, gas, coal and nuclear will be over. A new age of clean power and smarter cars will fundamentally, totally, and permanently disrupt the existing fossil fuel-dependent industrial infrastructure in a way that even the most starry-eyed proponents of ‘green energy’ could never have imagined. These are not the airy-fairy hopes of a tree-hugging hippy living off the land in an eco-commune. It’s the startling verdict of Tony Seba, a lecturer in business entrepreneurship, disruption and clean energy at Stanford University and a serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Seba began his career at Cisco Systems in 1993, where he predicted the internet-fuelled mobile revolution at a time when most telecoms experts were warning of the impossibility of building an Internet the size of the US, let alone the world. Now he is predicting the “inevitable” disruption of the fossil fuel infrastructure.
Motherboard 10th Dec 2015 read more »
Renewables – Tidal
Atlantis Resources has boosted its tidal energy portfolio by acquiring two projects from ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) in an all-share deal. The deal includes a 100MW development at the Ness of Duncansby in the Pentland Firth and a 10MW project at the Sound of Islay in western Scotland. The projects were acquired by Atlantis’s development vehicle, Tidal Power Scotland Limited (TPSL). In exchange, SPR has gained a 6% shareholding in TPSL. The project assets include lease agreements with The Crown Estate for both sites, while the Sound of Islay development also has a grid connection offer and construction consents from Scottish ministers. Atlantis said the two projects would sit alongside its flagship 398MW MeyGen tidal energy scheme in the Inner Sound of the Pentland Firth, which separates the north Caithness coast and Orkney. The firm eventually plans to have up to 269 turbines installed on the seabed there.
BBC 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Times 18th Dec 2015 read more »
Herald 18th Dec 2015 read more »
Orkney based Scotrenewables Tidal Power (SRTP) has received a further capital investment of £7½ million to allow it to demonstrate the world’s largest tidal turbine. This is the second major boost within 24 hours for the Scottish tidal energy sector, following the announcement that Atlantis Resources – the world’s leading tidal energy developer – is taking over Scottish Power’s marine energy projects. Scotrenewables Tidal Power – which is at the forefront of the floating tidal turbine sector – is currently nearing the completion of the build of its SR2000 (2MW) system in the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
Scottish Energy News 18th Dec 2015 read more »
Smart Energy
A smart energy system, based around new forms of flexibility, could help the UK deliver our objectives more cost effectively. Over the period to 2050, this could help us build less power generation, turn off generation less when it exceeds demand, and avoid significantly reinforcing our energy networks. It could also reduce the cost of balancing our energy system in real time.
DECC 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency policies have contributed to significant reductions in UK household energy consumption. Total household energy use decreased by 19% between 2000 and 2014, despite a 12% increase in the number of households and a 9.7% increase in population. On average, individual households now use 37% less energy than they did in 1970, with the bulk of this decrease occurring since 2004. Between 2004 and 2011, total household gas consumption decreased by 5% per year on average, or approximately 3.6% per year after temperature correction. However, the rate at which houses are insulated has stalled recently as a result of a number of radical policy changes. The UK government decided to radically overhaul the existing system in 2011/2012. CERT and CESP came to an end, the Green Deal was launched and a substantially different supplier obligation – the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) was introduced. It is now clear that the Green Deal has failed to deliver any significant investment in energy efficiency. Its existence also resulted in ECO being focussed in areas in which it was less immediately effective, with the result that the energy-saving targets have now been reduced. Together, the Green Deal and ECO have been a major setback for UK energy efficiency policy. Early assessments by myself (CIED) and Dr Nick Eyre (Oxford University) forecast that the introduction of the Green Deal and the restructuring of the energy efficiency obligations would lead to a decline in energy savings of around 80%. Whilst such forecasts are always uncertain, recent figures confirm that they were if anything an overestimate of the energy savings, with the rate of energy efficiency improvements dramatically slowing down.
SPRU 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Transport
Subsidies to buy low-emission cars have been cut by ministers who have changed the way they are distributing the next £400 million of sweeteners to persuade motorists to go electric. Announcing that it is to extend the cash subsidies for plug-in hybrids or full-electric vehicles to March 2018, the government said that it aimed to treble the take-up from 50,000 over the past four years to another 100,000 in the next two years. However, the £5,000-off sweetener, reducing average prices by about 15 per cent, is going. The greenest vehicles will attract a £4,500 handout, but many plug-in hybrids will have only £2,500 off.
Times 18th Dec 2015 read more »
Fossil Fuels
MPs have voted by 298 to 261 to allow fracking to take place under national parks, despite the government previously pledging an outright ban on fracking in protected areas.
Edie 17th Dec 2015 read more »
The Oil and Gas Authority has awarded a raft of new licences to explore for oil and gas on the mainland of the UK. The 93 licences to explore 159 blocks of land could pave the way for more controversial hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking. Large parts of North East and the North West have been opened up for exploration. There are also licence blocks in the Midlands, the South of England and Wales. Around 75% of the exploration licences relate to shale oil and gas, which typically requires fracking.
BBC 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Guardian 17th Dec 2015 read more »
Fracking could take place deep beneath three national parks and five areas of outstanding natural beauty under exploration licences awarded by the government.
Times 18th Dec 2015 read more »
He built it from scratch into a multibillion-pound chemicals empire. Now Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire founder of Ineos, wants to turn his hand to a new business. The privately owned chemicals group acquired 21 of 159 new fracking licences awarded yesterday, as Mr Ratcliffe sealed his position at the forefront of the UK’s emerging shale gas industry.
Times 18th Dec 2015 read more »
Scottish Energy News 18th Dec 2015 read more »
