Hinkley
Some of Britain’s biggest infrastructure projects could face serious delays as a result of Brexit, the country’s top engineers have warned. The engineering industry, which contributes £280bn to the economy, has said that a restriction on access to skills could delay the building of major infrastructure projects such as HS2 and Hinkley Point C power station, which was given the green light just weeks ago after months of wrangling. Brexit could also push up the costs of the already high-price projects if demand for skilled
City AM 17th Oct 2016 read more »
Brexit could have damaging implications for the development of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power project. The project has already overcome legal obstacles, conflict within the EDF board, delayed UK government approval and other various issues, but Brexit now threatens the ability of the project’s developers to bring in the skilled personnel it needs to produce the facility. City AM reports that the engineering industry, which contributes £280bn to the economy, has said that a restriction on access to skills could delay the building of major infrastructure projects such as Hinkley Point C as it increases the expense for projects if demand for skilled engineers outstrips supply. The Royal Academy of Engineers is calling on the government to guarantee access to much-needed skills in a new report, published in the wake of Prime Minister Theresa May’s move towards a so-called hard Brexit, which would include a crackdown on immigration. Engineers are calling for the vocation to be added to the government’s shortage occupation list, an index of jobs for which recruitment can be made from outside the UK. Temporary visas should be granted to those from EU countries to plug the skills gap and procedures for moving staff across borders within a business should be extended.
Power Engineering International 17th Oct 2016 read more »
What should the future energy mix look like? Was it a good idea for the UK Government to give the go ahead for the Hinkley nuclear power plant in Somerset? Those questions and many more will be discussed at the Energy Live 2016 conference in London next month. Tom Greatrex, CEO of the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA), Dr Nina Skorupska, CEO of the Renewable Energy Association and former DECC nuclear strategist Hergen Haye will be debating on whether the UK needs new nuclear or not.
Energy Live News 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Wylfa
Horizon Nuclear Power, the firm behind new nuclear projects at Wylfa Newydd and Oldbury, has appointed a new commercial director. Ivor Sheppard, who has worked in Qatar with CH2M on the country’s World Cup programme and in the United Arab Emirates as bid manager with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, joined Horizon in September. He was also previously a director at Turner & Townsend, covering Heathrow Terminals 5 and 3, the London 2012 Olympics, and the Shard, according to his LinkedIn profile. Programme director Carl Devlin confirmed Mr Sheppard’s appointment at the CN Summit 2016, where he outlined Horizon’s plan for delivering Wylfa Newydd, a £10bn new nuclear project in North Wales. The delivery team for the project was confirmed in May, with engineers Bechtel and Japanese energy specialists JGC and Hitachi forming a consortium with client Menter Newydd.
Construction News 19th Oct 2016 read more »
Moorside
ENERGY company NuGen has released a short film to showcase its plans for a new nuclear power station in west Cumbria.
In Cumbria 18th Oct 2016 read more »
PLEX
The French energy company which owns the two Scottish nuclear power stations has re-started lobbying the SNP. Paris-based EDF took over the Torness and Hunterston atom plants when it acquired the privatised operator British Energy plc after it went into financial meltdown over the vast costs of storing highly radio-active spent nuclear fuel for generations. At the same time, the Scottish nuclear lobbying campaign was closed. But this year, EDF sponsored a fringe meeting at the SNP national conference – where Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her plans to introduce a new Scottish Independence Bill. Paul Winkle, EDF’s Scottish Business Director, told the meeting that it is possible for the Scottish nuclear plants to have their working lives extended – subject to safety approvals. Torness (in East Lothian) is scheduled to close in 2030, while Hunterston-B, near Largs, is due to shut in 2023. He said: “The current life for Hunterston is 2023 and Torness is 2030, and that is based on our assessment of ageing mechanisms in those plants and being absolutely sure that when they are shut down they are still safe to operate. “But to go beyond that we will do assessments and it may be possible to make some small further extensions, but we will not operate them beyond when we are confident they are safe to operate. “Our current estimate is, with Hunterston, we get to a point where, if we go beyond 2023 there will be uncertainty. We will do more analysis in due course. Those dates are based on our best judgement.
Scottish Energy News 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Scotland’s nuclear power stations could be kept open beyond their current closure dates, a senior figure at EDF has said. Paul Winkle, EDF’s Scottish business director, said that there was a chance that the operating lives of the company’s plants in Torness in East Lothian and Hunterston in Ayrshire could be extended, but only if safety concerns were addressed. Mr Winkle stressed that the present closure dates for the nuclear stations — 2023 for Hunterston and 2030 for Torness — represented his company’s best estimates and that Torness in particular could be kept open for longer. If the working lives of Hunterston and Torness were to be extended, that would infuriate some in the SNP who want Scotland to become nuclear-free as soon as possible. It would, however, also provide ministers with a few more years of energy security, giving them more time to build up a reliable base load from renewable sources. A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said that ministers would welcome any extensions, as long as these could be done safely. She said: “We support life extensions for existing nuclear power stations where the environmental and safety requirements continue to be met. Extending the operating life of Scotland’s existing nuclear stations can help to maintain security of supply while the transition to renewables and cleaner thermal generation takes place.”
Times 19th Oct 2016 read more »
ENVIRONMENTAL groups have come out in opposition to attempts by the energy company EDF to persuade the SNP to extend the lives of Scotland’s two nuclear power stations. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Scotland has also dismissed claims by the energy giant that the only way for Scotland to meet its energy demands was to invest more in nuclear power. Instead, campaigners have emphasised the importance of renewables as the main source of economic growth, jobs and sustainability. Speaking to CommonSpace, Lang Banks, the director of WWF Scotland said: “Despite EDF’s claims, there’s simply no need for the two remaining nuclear power stations in Scotland to have their lives further extended. “Independent analysis has shown that our electricity system could be powered almost entirely by renewables within two decades without the need for any gas, coal or nuclear power in Scotland. The analysis also shows that Scotland would maintain security of supply and its position as an electricity-exporting nation. “From opinion polling, we know that the majority of the Scottish public support the view that all of our nation’s electricity should be generated from pollution-free renewables. “The Scottish Government’s forthcoming energy strategy provides the perfect opportunity to set out a bold vision of becoming the EU’s first fully renewable electricity nation by 2030. “Embracing such a vision would ensure that we secure the maximum economic and social benefits that would come from a transition toward a zero-carbon society.” Last month, WWF Scotland was among a number of charities including Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) which protested the decision to give a g o-ahead to the new nuclear plant at Hinkley in Sussex. The main reason for campaigners objections to the Hinkley plant were the vast costs of construction and the better deals for customers if solar and hydro were invested in. They additionally argue that Scotland’s progress in renewables capacity warrants further development of wind, hydro, solar and tidal and a rejection of nuclear. WWF Scotland’s research showed that this year, renewables generated 57 per cent of Scotland’s electricity consumption. The Scottish government in turn has set a target that by 2020 the equivalent of 100 per cent of gross annual electricity consumption will be renewables derived.
CommonSpace 18th Oct 2016 read more »
GDA
The Generic Design Assessment process is being carried out in an open and transparent manner, designed to facilitate the involvement of the public, who are able to view and comment on design information published on the web. Westinghouse welcomes questions and comments about the AP1000® nuclear power plant and its assessment for use in the UK. Questions and comments can be submitted electronically via this website, or by telephone or post, to Westinghouse or the UK regulators. Information for all of these options is listed below. The deadline for making a comment on the AP1000 plant, as part of the GDA process is 30th November 2016.
Westinghouse (accessed) 19th Oct 2016 read more »
SMRs
Small modular reactors offer significant benefits to the UK, experts have said, but government must clarify whether it wants near-term deployment or maximum value to domestic industry, while industry has to efficiently mass produce to realise economic savings.”All SMRs share advantages over large nuclear in terms of siting flexibility, potential operational flexibility, grid stability, and potential use of heat,” Richard Beake of Atkins told a London conference today. He was presenting to the Nuclear Energy Insider Small Reactor UK Summit on Atkins’ contribution to a Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) on SMRs commissioned by the UK government, and due to be published soon. The report is meant to inform government, he said, “as to the potential of SMRs to contribute to the generation of low-carbon electricity at affordable prices in the UK”. It is technology neutral, having taken and anonymised vendor input on 15 reactor designs originating from five countries.
World Nuclear News 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Energy Policy
The permanent secretary for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Alex Chisholm revealed that he expects an emissions reduction plan to be published by the end of February 2017. As part of the first session for the new BEIS Committee – which replaces the now disbanded ECC – Chisholm claimed that a plan to meet post-2020 reduction targets should be introduced by February. The permanent secretary also claimed that BEIS would “learn the lessons of the past” in regards to financing the low-carbon transition.
Edie 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Submarines
A lack of money, expertise and disposal sites mean derelict British nuclear submarines containing radioactive material will not be fully dismantled and disposed of for 25 years, officials have admitted. The Royal Navy has 19 old nuclear-powered submarines stored in ports waiting to be dismantled, with another eight due to retire and join them in the coming years. HMS Dreadnought, the Navy’s first nuclear-powered submarine, has been waiting to be dismantled since it retired 36 years ago. Ministry of Defence officials told MPs that radioactive parts on board could not be finally disposed of until an underground dump for all of the UK’s nuclear waste has been chosen and built. That site is not due to be ready until 2040. The submarines are currently stored at Devonport, near Plymouth, and at Rosyth, on the Firth of Forth. Stephen Lovegrove, permanent secretary at the MoD, told the Commons defence committee that a lack of money and skills meant it was impossible to speed up the process. The MoD said contaminated material would be held temporarily at a storage facility in Capenhurst in Cheshire until the underground site was ready, but said dismantling of the first submarine was still not scheduled to begin for at least five years.
Telegraph 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Japan
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ambition to restart the country’s fleet of nuclear reactors may face further challenges from local elections. The victory of an anti-nuclear gubernatorial candidate in the central prefecture of Niigata on Sunday, following a similar win in the southern Kagoshima region earlier this year, is complicating efforts by the country’s ruling party to revive Japan’s nuclear fleet. There will be at least three such elections next year in areas where utilities are vying to restart reactors. “Even as the Abe administration remains committed to including nuclear power as part of Japan’s energy mix, implementing this vision will require overcoming ever-more-dogged resistance from local communities and their representatives,” Tobias Harris, a vice president with Teneo Intelligence in Washington D.C., said in a note Monday. “The restart process will continue to proceed unevenly at best.” Almost all the country’s reactors remain shut because of new safety regulations and public opposition following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Only 2 of Japan’s 42 operable reactors are producing power commercially as of Oct. 6, when Kyushu Electric Power Co. shut its Sendai No. 1 unit for maintenance.
Bloomberg 18th Oct 2016 read more »
France
French state-controlled utility EDF will halt production at five more nuclear reactors by the end of the year, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday, amid worries that the shutdown would lead to a tight power supply in winter. French forward power prices rallied on concerns about further reactor downtime in coming months. The source said that out of 13 reactors on which EDF is expected to carry out tests on following a request from nuclear safety body ASN, six have restarted, and seven others will be restarted soon. An EDF spokesman declined to comment, but the company has said that the nuclear outages would not change its already restated power output forecast for the 2016.
Reuters 18th Oct 2016 read more »
France’s nuclear watchdog has told EDF to conduct safety tests on five nuclear reactors before their scheduled maintenance period. The move could add further potential further pressure to the country’s tight supply situation. The regulator ASN said EDF has confirmed it would carry out the tests on the five reactors concerned within three months, earlier than previously planned. An EDF spokesman said the new schedule did not change its nuclear production outlook for this year. Nevertheless, French forward power prices climbed on the news amid concerns the situation could tighten European electricity supplies during the winter.
Energy Voice 18th Oct 2016 read more »
India
First concrete has been poured for the foundation slabs of Units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam nuclear station in Tamil Nadu, southern India, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.
NucNet 17th Oct 2016 read more »
Renewable Skills
Perth-based utility giant SSE has called on the government to take action to help skilled workers made redundant from the North Sea oil and gas industry to transfer their skills into the offshore wind energy sector.
Scottish Energy News 19th Oct 2016 read more »
Local Energy
Cities have an “unprecedented” opportunity to transform and decarbonise energy systems and transition to greener city infrastructure, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable Energy in Cities released today (18 October), analyses the overall energy use in 3,649 cities, including London and Aberdeen, and explores how different cities can scale-up renewable energy and green infrastructure by 2030. The report highlights best practices from different cities from around the world and shows what policies would need to be implemented to accommodate the low-carbon transition. The IRENA report also suggests that city actors can accelerate the renewable energy transition at a local level by implementing city acting planners, regulators, financers and operators of urban infrastructure. Pressure has been mounting on UK cities specifically to combat rising energy demand by investing in renewable energy sources as part of a transition to smart cities, in order to cope with growing energy demand. Analysis from Smart Energy GB recently highlighted that electricity demand is set to increase by at least 30% in London, Cardiff, Birmingham and Bristol by 2035. Other groups are calling on substantial policy intervention to promote the low carbon transition in cities across the UK. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has previously called on the then-unannounced London Mayor to set up a publicly-run energy company for London in order to promote low carbon transition for the capital.
Edie 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Renewables – Scotland
The day Scotland quietly ushered in an energy revolution. Amid the gale-force havoc, 7th August also brought a critical milestone in a quiet energy revolution: For the first time ever, the army of spinning white turbines that has sprouted across the lush countryside generated enough electricity to power all of Scotland. The exceptional output brought the country membership in a small but growing club of nations proving that the vision of a world powered by renewable fuels is closer than many realize. Long derided as a fantasy, a day’s worth of energy harvested purely from the sun and the wind has lately become reality in nations such as Portugal, Denmark and Costa Rica. In those countries, and others, the gains in renewable production have come quickly and unexpectedly, offering a ray of hope amid dire predictions from scientists about the impact of carbon emissions on the planet. Scotland over the past decade has set a series of increasingly ambitious renewable-energy targets and has surpassed every one. More than half the country’s electricity now comes from zero-carbon sources such as wind, hydro and solar, and the latest target of 100 percent by 2020 may be within reach.
Independent 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Renewables – wind
Wind could supply as much as 20 percent of the world’s total electricity by 2030 due to dramatic cost reductions and pledges to curb climate change, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) said in a report released in Beijing on Tuesday. If last year’s Paris climate accord leads to a worldwide commitment to the decarbonization of the electricity sector, total wind power capacity could reach as much as 2,110 gigawatts (GW) by then, nearly five times its current level, the industry group said. Such an increase in capacity would involve annual investment of 200 billion euros ($224 billion) and would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 3.3 billion tonnes per year, it said.
Reuters 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Community Energy
Turbine deliveries have recently been completed at the 7.5MW Hoprigshiels windfarm in the Borders to enable installation work to proceed. One turbine has now been erected and two more are soon to follow – autumn weather permitting. This joint venture wind farm is being jointly developed by Community Energy Scotland (CES) and Berwickshire Housing Association.
Scottish Energy News 19th Oct 2016 read more »
Renewables – solar
The Craigdon Mountain Sports – Pentland Outdoor Centre in Edinburgh is now benefitting from lower running costs – thanks to its new solar-powered heating and cooling systems provided and installed by AES Solar and Solar Kingdom. An AES Solar spokesman explained: “This new build project features an advanced heating and cooling system, other energy savings measures and in the case of this submission, a solar roof as an integral part of a radical building design. This is a building that makes a statement.
Scottish Energy News 19th Oct 2016 read more »
Energy Efficiency
A SCHEME aimed at making a Western Isles district the first LED community in the UK has dealt with referrals from around 140 homes for the free lighting upgrade. Tighean Innse Gall is working with community windfarm charity Point and Sandwick Trust on a five-year project to convert the whole peninsula to energy-efficient lighting in a bid to tackle fuel poverty in the area. The LED Energy Communities project officer Dan Morrison has been working on replacing the lightbulbs in houses. Under the lighting project, each household can get up to 14 bulbs free of charge. At about £6 each, that is a gift of about £84 which should cut yearly bills by around 10 per cent The cost of the bulbs is being covered by Point and Sandwick Trust, who have committed £72,000 a year to the project. Point and Sandwick Trust general manager Donald John MacSween said: “We are top of the national league of fuel poverty statistics. “A wet, windy climate, ageing population, low wages, a significant number of properties below the national ‘tolerable standard’ and above-average prices for fuel of all types all combine to make fuel poverty a major issue. “Point and Sandwick Trust have a strong commitment to helping people in direct, practical ways, and by helping to reduce consumers’ carbon footprint we are partly fulfilling our long-term aim.”
Scotsman 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Fuel Poverty
The death rate from December 2015 to March 2016 was down from the previous year, according to National Records of Scotland (NRS) statistics. In total, 20,503 deaths were registered in the four months compared with 22,013 in 2014/2015.The 2014/2015 figures represented the highest winter death rate in 15 years. NRS chief executive, Tim Ellis, said: “There are always more deaths in the winter in Scotland than in any other season.” The seasonal increase in winter deaths for 2015/16 was smaller than in most of the 64 previous winters, but exceeded the level seen in eight of the previous 10 winters.
BBC 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Herald 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Scotsman 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Times 19th Oct 2016 read more »
Grid Connections
National Grid is to be guaranteed a minimum of £1.3bn income for building the world’s longest subsea power cable to import electricity from Norway. Energy regulator Ofgem on Tuesday announced plans for consumers to guarantee the utility giant at least £53m annual revenues for 25 years in return for its 50pc investment in the £1.4bn North Sea Link interconnector. The 450-mile cable from Blyth in Northumberland to Kvilldal in Norway is due to be built by 2021 and will be the first electricity link between the two countries. It will be able to import or export up to 1.4 gigawatts (GW) of electricity – enough to power about three quarters of a million UK homes. Interconnector owners make their income by selling companies access to their cable to trade power. However, Ofgem is keen to encourage investment in the cables and has introduced a “cap and floor” regime guaranteeing developers a minimum income, backed up by consumer subsidies if needed, while also limiting their total revenues. Ofgem said the minimum £1.3bn revenue that National Grid would be guaranteed by consumers compared with estimated benefits to consumers of £3.5bn by accessing cheaper power from Norway.
Telegraph 18th Oct 2016 read more »
Fossil Fuels
Oil companies face a “resoundingly negative” threat from a sharp growth of electric cars, one of the leading credit rating agencies has warned. “Widespread adoption of battery-powered vehicles is a serious threat to the oil industry,” says a report from Fitch Ratings that urges energy companies to plan for “radical change” spurred by new technologies that could arrive faster than expected. “If they stick their heads in the sand and try and pretend it will all go away, we think they will ultimately have issues,” the report’s lead author, Alex Griffiths, a Fitch managing director, told the Financial Times. “They need to have a plan.” Although the report accepts it could take a long time for electric cars to become a disruptive force through mass adoption, Fitc h outlines a grim scenario for global oil companies, such as Chevron, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell. The agency says that the threat of electric cars could create an “investor death spiral” as nervous asset holders sell out of oil companies, making debt and equity more expensive.
FT 19th Oct 2016 read more »
ONE of Scotland’s most influential firms has launched a new attack on Labour over its policy to ban fracking. Ineos, which wants to establish a shale gas industry in Scotland and wider UK, told Jeremy Corbyn in an open letter that his newly-adopted policy would mean a reliance on “unstable and illiberal regimes” for energy imports. The UK party recently adopted Scottish Labour’s plan to back an outright fracking ban. It is understood that Ineos, owner of the Grangemouth petrochemical plant and oil refinery which accounts for four per cent of Scottish GDP, has also written to Labour MSPs Jackie Baillie and Claudia Beamish calling for a rethink. Gary Haywood, the chief executive of Ineos Shale, told Mr Corbyn that the firm was “deeply disappointed” with the recent announcement, made at the party’s annual conference.
Herald 19th Oct 2016 read more »
