Chinese Deal
One of the Chinese nuclear power firms pushing for a stake in the UK’s energy industry left out hundreds of critical steel rods when building its first reactor near Hong Kong in 1987 because workers misread the blueprint. The missing parts were added in a higher layer of the foundation, with extra steel to reinforce them, after the extraordinary mistake was discovered. The plant has now been operating safely for more than two decades. But the nature and scale of the error raises serious questions about the rigour of Chinese nuclear firms and the country’s oversight regime, experts say. “[This a prospective] partner who, when they built the first nuclear power station in China, forgot to put in a large percentage of the protective steel,” said Professor Steve Tsang, senior fellow of the China Policy Institute at Nottingham University. “Potentially we are putting ourselves in a very difficult situation.” “I understand what the Chinese want, which is to have a demonstration plant, to show they can build inexpensively, quickly and reliably,” said Theresa Fallon, senior associate at the European Institute of Asian Studies. “But it’s at a time when energy is relatively inexpensive, and this plant is a bit untried technology. I understand there are rules, but there were rules in Hong Kong too when you had the problems in Daya Bay. You are not building a gazebo, it’s really dangerous, serious stuff.”
Guardian 19th Oct 2015 read more »
David Cameron is on the verge of signing a historic nuclear deal with the Chinese to help pay for billions of pounds of UK infrastructure. Under the deal – agreed in principle during Chancellor George Osborne’s trade mission to China last month – China is expected to commit funding to three new-build nuclear power plants at Hinkley in Somerset, Sizewell in Suffolk, and Bradwell in Essex.
Building 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Hinkley
Anti-nuclear protesters have set up camp on a roundabout at the gates of the Hinkley C nuclear building site. They say that EDF’s project “is an expensive road to nowhere”, and only investment in renewable makes sense. They’re urging others to join them, as they prepare to camp the night and cause disruption.
ITV 19th Oct 2015 read more »
A poll of 2,000 adults for Greenpeace showed only 29% backed Hinkley, with 34% opposing. The environmental campaign group said the research carried out by Populus, was a “major embarrassment” for the government before this week’s visit to the UK by China’s president, Xi Jinping. An announcement is expected during his four-day visit confirming Chinese investment in the new power station. The survey also showed that one in five people believed the role of the chancellor, George Osborne, in driving negotiations with the Chinese had worsened their opinion of him as a potential prime minister. “He’s putting British clean tech firms out of business whilst lavishing billions on a foreign state-owned nuclear industry,” said Dr Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK chief scientist. “None of this makes any economic, political, or business sense.”
Guardian 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Fewer than a third of people support plans to build the first nuclear power station in the UK for a generation, according to a new survey. The poll of 2,000 adults for Greenpeace showed 29% backed the planned multibillion-pound scheme at Hinkley in Somerset, with 34% saying they opposed it. The campaign group said the research carried out by Populus, was a “major embarrassment” for the Government ahead of this week’s visit to the UK by Chinese president Xi Jinping.
Western Morning News 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Energy Live News 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Business Green 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Daily Mail 18th Oct 2015 read more »
EDF may announce in the coming days an agreement with its Chinese partners to build two nuclear reactors in the U.K., the first in the country in over a generation, the French utility’s chief executive said Sunday. Hinkley Point has already been delayed a number of times since the development was first proposed. The company said it aimed to generate electricity from the new plant by the end of 2017. Meanwhile, construction costs have risen and natural gas and electricity prices have weakened.
Wall St Journal 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Letter Paul Dorfman et al: George Osborne assumes that energy demand will increase (“Nuclear deal with China is threat to UK security”, Oct 16) but he should know that, since 2005, energy use in the UK has fallen 18 per cent. He claims a new nuclear station at Hinkley is good value – but how can it contribute to affordability for consumers if it adds £17 billion to the deficit and imposes £2 billion a year on household bills to support Chinese and French state industries? Osborne says he will sign a deal to build Hinkley, even though he knows Austria and Luxembourg have launched a legal challenge, claiming UK subsidies violate EU law. Furthermore, he is aware of “critical anomalies” in the French reactor planned for Hinkley. French regulators are checking “serious flaws” in the reactor’s steel housing. The results will not be known unt il late 2016. How can a decision safely be made before then? UK low-carbon energy offers huge potential for job creation. To slash and burn renewable investment for the sake of costly support for new nuclear is, at the very least, unwise – and will lead to profound problems for the UK long after the chancellor has quit his watch.
Times 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Dilomats accuse Britain of kowtowing to secure Hinkley backing. According to several diplomats the regular encrytpted cables sent babk to European and North American capitals over recent weeks have been filled with snide remarks and criticisms of the UK kowtowing in the run-up to President Xi’s visit. Meanwhile Britain’s intelligence chiefs are seeking assurances that China’s involvement in UK nuclear would not involve China pulling the plug at times of international tension. Steve Tsang a china expert at Nottingham University said in the longer term it will be counter-productive Osborne will not persuade China to respect the UK Government more.
FT 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Plans to build two next-generation nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in southwest England are stalled at the crossroads of ambitions by Britain, China and French electricity giant EDF.
Yahoo 18th Oct 2015 read more »
NDTV 18th Oct 2015 read more »
China is believed to execute more people than the rest of the world put together. This cannot be proved because reliable statistics do not exist, but it is beyond debate that demands for greater autonomy for Tibet and Xinjiang have for decades been answered with forceful repression. Demands for greater freedom of expression generally have been silenced with jail, house arrest and exile. Mr Osborne should take no pride in being praised by Chinese media for not emphasising human rights issues on his visit last month. And while China’s ambassador to London is welcome to try to stifle debate on the subject, as he has, he should not expect to succeed. Jeremy Corbyn has indicated that he will raise the question of human rights with Mr Xi if given a chance, but it should not be left to him. Mr Cameron must, too. A deeper economic relationship between Britain and China is in the interests of both. Britain has lagged behind Germany and France in exporting to China, and Shanghai values London as the European capital of free trade. But no relationship is worth a betrayal of British values.
Times 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Cybersecurity
British spies will scrutinise computer systems and cybersecurity at nuclear plants built by Chinese companies, amid fears that Beijing could use new commercial deals to threaten the UK’s national security. The role of the listening station GCHQ in protecting Britain’s energy network from cyberattack has been confirmed as President Xi lands in London tonight on a four-day state visit hailed by David Cameron as the start of a “golden era” in Britain’s relationship with Beijing. The Times disclosed last week that security chiefs had expressed concerns to ministers about the decision to ask Chinese companies with links to the military establishment in Beijing to take a stake in three nuclear power plants. Negotiations over China’s role in the first project, at Hinkley Point, Somerset, continued over the weekend, but an accord is expected to be signed during President Xi’s visit. Under the deal, China will join the French energy giant EDF in building nuclear plants at Hinkley Point and Sizewell, Suffolk, and will have the chance to design and build its own facility at Bradwell, Essex. China is still seen as a serious threat to British interests, especially in cyberespionage, and ministers are seeking to allay fears over its involvement in a key element of the national infrastructure.
Times 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Intelligence agency GCHQ will be responsible for protecting the country’s energy network from cyber attacks.
Express 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Press and Journal 19th Oct 2015 read more »
New Nukes
How did Britain end up in a place where the future of the industry it created runs through Paris and Beijing? Whether or not China chooses to invest in UK reactors, there can be few better examples, surely, of government mismanagement than the cack-handed treatment of Britain’s domestic nuclear industry – and the botched attempt at a revival. The mistakes started in the 1960s, when Britain embraced a technology, the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor, that turned out to be a cul-de-sac ignored by the rest of the world. Yet the country’s pre-eminence was still clear in the 1970s, when the oil crisis prompted France to launch a headlong dash into nuclear power.
Times 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Jonathon Porritt: I wonder what our pro-nuclear greenies will be thinking this week as they listen to President Xi Jinping and George Osborne bombastically declaring ‘a new nuclear dawn for the UK’. I hope they’ll be feeling as ashamed as they should be. It may be just a little harsh to blame the meltdown in UK energy policy on a handful of well-meaning but monumentally misguided environmentalists, who chose some time ago to lend their voices to the nuclear establishment here in the UK. They were warned that it would probably end in tears, and so it has turned out.
Jonathon Porritt 19th Oct 2015 read more »
EDF
EDF plans to sell as much as €10bn of assets over five years to shore up its balance sheet, as the French energy group prepares to start the expensive process of building three UK nuclear reactors. The French state-controlled utility is considering the sale of the exploration and production operations of Edison, its Italian subsidiary, as well as its stake in American nuclear group CEGN, as part of efforts to maintain its credit rating, said two people familiar with the company. News of the €10bn disposal plan – first reported by Les Echos – comes as China’s president Xi Jinping visits the UK for the first time this week, amid hopes that EDF and Chinese investors will agree a commercial pact on the construction of Hinkley Point C, the first of the new plants. The two sides have been trying to strike a deal on their share of investment in the £24bn Hinkley Point project in Somerset, with a team led by China General Nuclear Power Group reluctant to raise its interest beyond 30 per cent. Ministers are hopeful that a “heads of agreement” will be signed with a final investment decision to follow. Beijing would be involved in the construction of a second power station at Sizewell in Suffolk and take a majority stake in a third plant at Bradwell, in Essex, using its own design. Jean-Bernard Lévy, chief executive of EDF, said on French television on Sunday: “If all goes well, we will be able to announce major news in coming days; the first nuclear new-build in Europe since the Fukushima accident.” The French group agreed in principle to buy between 51 per cent and 75 per cent of Areva NP, which will cost between €1.3bn and €2bn if the deal closes as expected next year. EDF is looking for other partners to take a stake alongside it in Areva NP.
FT 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Trident
“Moderate” Labour MPs were urged to “put national security first” and back replacing our nuclear-armed Trident submarines. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon urged them to ignore leader Jeremy Corbyn , who has become the new vice-president of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Mirror 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Renewables – solar
Edinburgh residents are being offered a new ethical investment by Edinburgh Community Solar Co-operative. It aims to raise over £1m to fund the installation of solar panels on all council sites – including Gylemuir Primary School, where the project was launched with TV weather presenter Heather Reid. The minimum share purchase is £250, the projected return is five per cent a year plus RPI inflation and it should also be eligible for the Enterprise Investment Scheme, offering 30 per cent tax relief on shares held for three years. It aims to become the UK’s largest community-owned renewables scheme and after two weeks has reached £73,000. It becomes the eighth Scottish cooperative project supported by Energy4All, following five in the Highlands and two in Lanarkshire. In 2013/14 the Spirit of Lanarkshire Co-op raised £2.7m from 608 investors to buy a stake in two local wind farms.
Herald 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Renewables
Cuts in support for renewable energy in the UK have been criticised by the UN’s chief environment scientist. Prof Jacquie McGlade said the UK was shifting away from clean energy as the rest of the world rushed towards it. She said the cuts in renewables subsidies, coupled with tax breaks for oil and gas, sent a worrying signal to the coming UN climate summit in Paris.
BBC 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Express and Star 19th Oct 2015 read more »
The solar power industry has proposed an emergency plan to rescue renewables, which it says would add just £1 to consumer bills by 2019, on top of the £9 a year that clean technology subsidies cost bill payers. The scheme is a response to government plans to cut subsidies for rooftop solar panel installations by 87% from 1 January. The Solar Trade Association (STA) has warned the move could cost up to 27,000 jobs and waste public money already spent on supporting the technology. The STA plan would include higher initial tariffs for subsidies to make investing in the technology viable, with reductions set out to allow the government to control costs and give the industry certainty. The plan would ensure that families, farmers, housing associations and community groups could continue to be involved in the move towards low-carbon power and give them more control over their energy, the STA argues. The STA says its plan would allow the solar power industry to become subsidy-free, preserve 15,000 to 20,000 jobs and enable hundreds of thousands more homes to become solar powered.
Guardian 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Some of Britain’s most powerful solar executives have accused the government of mounting an ideologically driven campaign against their industry which has driven it into crisis. Their criticism comes as a solar power company backed by the billionaire inventor Elon Musk has pulled out of the UK, becoming the fourth such firm to close in two weeks. Executives have become increasingly outspoken ahead of a consultation on a proposed 87% cut in small scale solar subsidy levels closing on Friday and job cuts mounting in the industry. The Solar Trade Association (STA) has warned the move could cost up to 27,000 jobs and that the government support would add £1 to bills by 2019 – on top of the existing £9 that solar adds annually to customer energy bills.
Guardian 18th Oct 2015 read more »
In the 1980s, leading consultants were skeptical about cellular phones. McKinsey & Company noted that the handsets were heavy, batteries didn’t last long, coverage was patchy, and the cost per minute was exorbitant. It predicted that in 20 years the total market size would be about 900,000 units, and advised AT&T to pull out. McKinsey was wrong, of course. There were more than 100 million cellular phones in use in 2000; there are billions now. Costs have fallen so far that even the poor — all over world — can afford a cellular phone. The experts are saying the same about solar energy now. They note that after decades of development, solar power hardly supplies 1 percent of the world’s energy needs. They say that solar is inefficient, too expensive to install, and unreliable, and will fail without government subsidies. They too are wrong. Solar will be as ubiquitous as cellular phones are.
Washington Post 19th Sept 2015 read more »
Renewable Costs
RENEWABLE sources of energy are bringing down the wholesale cost of electricity, reducing the impact of clean power subsidies on consumer bills, research has shown. The UK ¬government recently moved to cut support for onshore wind and solar power, warning that the subsidies which are added to household and business energy bills need to be brought under control. But there are calls for consumers to be given the “full picture” about the costs of backing renewables, as the research suggests their inclusion in the energy mix can bring down bills. A report by renewables company Good Energy said that while supporting the development of clean power adds cost to consumer bills, the electricity generated by them is cheaper as their energy sources – the wind or the Sun – are free. This means that when wind or solar power is available, they are first in line to meet demand, reducing the amount of power that needs to be bought from more expensive generation sources, and bringing down costs overall. The study calculates that wind and solar generators brought down the wholesale cost of electricity by £1.55 billion in 2014.
Scotsman 19th Oct 2015 read more »
Renewables – Hydro
Small and medium sized hydro projects are being abandoned across Scotland following controversial changes in subsidy arrangements by Whitehall since the General Election. It will mean many millions of pounds of investment being lost and the potential for much needed jobs in rural communities. In July the Department of Energy and Climate Consultation (DECC) shocked the renewable energy sector by announcing a consultation on removing preliminary accreditation from its main subsidy vehicle, the Feed in Tariff (FIT) scheme. Pre-accreditation provided developers with the security of knowing what they would be paid for the power they generated from their new development, as long as it was built within two years. The consultation only lasted a month. A few weeks later the UK Government announced “We will remove the ability to pre-accredit und er the FIT scheme, effective from October 1 2015.” It meant that developers only had a few weeks to get all their paperwork in place, including planning permission, grid connection and a licence from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. For many this was simply impossible; and after October 1 they would have to gamble on what they would earn. Business and energy minister Fergus Ewing says he is shocked and knows of at least a dozen schemes that will not go ahead as a direct result.
Herald 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Renewables – tidal
Atlantis – a global leader in the tidal power sector – has announced that the European Commission’s Climate Change Committee has approved the transfer of €17 million of funding from the Kyle Rhea project to Atlantis’s MeyGen project, the world’s largest planned tidal stream energy project. The funding is for MeyGen Phase 1B (“Project Stroma”) and will accelerate the development of the MeyGen tidal turbine marine energy development in the Pentland Firth, with this second phase targeted to reach financial close and commence construction during 2016.
Scottish Energy News 18th Oct 2015 read more »
Fossil Fuels
The SNP leadership increasingly recognises the economic and political potential of a new energy revolution: not only could a successful domestic fracking industry generate significant revenue, but it could form the central plank of a rejuvenated argument for economic independence. But the mood in the party self-evidently supports a complete ban. This is partly the SNP’s own fault, having created a rod for its own back during the referendum campaign by conflating fracking with the Tory/Unionist Westminster status quo. SNP badges with the instruction to “Frack Off!” remained prominent in Aberdeen at the weekend. It was only during Friday morning’s fracking debate, h owever, that I realised quite how salient this opposition was. Delegate Ian Black’s peroration invoked the old SNP slogan “It’s Scotland’s Oil”, to which he added: “now it’s Scotland’s land, it’s Scotland’s air, it’s Scotland’s water” drawing loud and sustained applause, as did every other contribution in favour of an outright ban. As this newspaper reported on Saturday a snap poll of delegates found 76 per cent against and only seven per cent in favour, a mood reflected beyond the SNP, another recent poll finding that six in ten Scots say they oppose fracking. Now of course public opinion can change, but margins like that illustrate what a bind the Scottish Government now finds itself in.
Herald 19th Oct 2015 read more »
