Nuclear Subsidies
Draft documents show EU weighing radical change in rules on state aid in move that would make it easier to build new reactors in Britain. The European Commission is considering a radical change in rules on state aid to nuclear power in a move that would make it easier to build new reactors in Britain. Draft documents show the proposals along with negative reactions from ministers in Berlin, who have abandoned nuclear in favour of renewables. The proposals, drawn up by the EU’s Competition Commission after pressure from the UK and France and leaked in a German newspaper, are regarded as a work in progress and could yet be opposed by the influential German energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger.
Guardian 19th July 2013 read more »
The EU has drawn up plans to change state aid rules to make it easier for member countries to subsidise nuclear power, in a move that looks set to trigger a political row across the continent. By exempting all nuclear projects from the general restrictions on state aid – subject to certain conditions – the EU’s competition commission will prompt relief in UK and France but fury in Germany and Austria.
FT 19th July 2013 read more »
Germany on Friday rebuffed draft plans by the European Commission to allow European Union member states to directly subsidise nuclear power.Several European governments, such as Britain and France, plan to build new nuclear power stations, but many companies are shying away from investing in the expensive technology without the safeguard of government support. The Commission’s draft, seen by Reuters and titled “Paper of the Commission Services containing draft guidelines on environmental and energy aid for 2O14-2O20”, proposes to allow governments to provide direct state aid for nuclear power. The paper says that aid may be compatible with EU rules and that “these guidelines apply to state aid for environmental protection, including CO2 capture, transport and storage (CCS), energy infrastructure, capacity mechanisms and nuclear energy”.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she opposed nuclear subsidies.
Reuters 19th July 2013 read more »
The European Commission is preparing to review the guidelines for state aid in the energy sector. Even though the Commission’s proposals will probably only be unveiled after the German Bundestag election on 22 September, the Greens have already obtained a draft version of the new rules. This draft text has been pre-decided by the EU commissioners for competition and energy – Joaquin Almunia and Günther Oettinger. It provides for limitations on the promotion of renewable energies and paves the way for subsidies for the construction of new nuclear power stations.
Greens 19th July 2013 read more »
The European Commission is facing controversy over plans to change existing rules and allow member states to provide direct state aid to nuclear power. The plans leaked to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and seen by Energydesk are fiercely opposed by some member states including Germany and Austria. The proposals, drawn up by the EU’s Competition Commission could also be opposed by the influential German Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger. In a section, marked in italics because it may be deleted the commission spells out the criteria it would apply before allowing a member state to offer state aid for nuclear power. In a submission to the European Commission the German Government described an earlier draft of the plans as “not acceptable”. The problem – for Germany – is that the plans would put new renewable technologies at a disadvantage by putting them on an equal footing with older, established technologies.
Energy Desk 19th July 2013 read more »
The nuclear industry has had 60 years to come up with a way of financing itself. In that time it has failed utterly to do so. Decade after decade it has had to rely on taxpayers and government subsidies to build its reactors. It’s never enough. Time and time again they come back with their begging bowls asking for another handout. And here they come again. Leaked plans show that the European Union wants to change existing rules to allow countries to provide state aid to nuclear reactor builders – something not currently allowed under EU law.
Greenpeace 19th July 2013 read more »
Community Benefits
The UK Government is rigging the energy market after its announced nuclear power would pay five times less than wind energy in community benefit. Ministers announced yesterday that communities around eight sites (Hinkley Point, Sizewell, Wylfa, Oldbury, Sellafield, Bradwell, Heysham, and Hartlepool) in England and Wales could be in line to receive benefits – otherwise known as bribes – worth up to £1000/MW over 40 years from when and if nuclear power stations sited there begin operating. The founder of leading renewable energy supplier Ecotricity, Dale Vince, said: “This is a further move by the Government to rig the energy market against renewables in favour of nuclear and gas. Nuclear power is already being fast-tracked through the planning system and today they’ve announced nuclear will pay a fraction of the community benefit paid by wind power.”
Energy Collective 19th July 2013 read more »
Would you happily accept living next to new windfarms, nuclear plants or frack pads for shale gas if companies and the government paid your community? The UK government hopes so. We look at how new community benefits schemes will work as the UK increases the amount of energy it generates at home. Some experts seem rather unconvinced by the government’s belief that community payments will persuade people to accept new power plants. Geoff Wood, an energy researcher at the University of Dundee says: “The government’s promotion of these payments herald a new approach that suggests you can pay to get what you want. But people don’t seem to be motivated in that way – and you could argue that it removes some of the public’s involvement in the planning process.” Hewitson agrees: “The current government seems to genuinely believe that people object to planning applications because they don’t see what’s in it for them. But that’s not been my experience. Mostly, people just want to keep their corner of the world the way it is”.
Carbon Brief 19th July 2013 read more »
Hinkley
A massive £128 million boost for Somerset was announced by the Government on Wednesday (July 17th).The huge sum will be a reward to Somerset and local communities for hosting a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point and paid out over the 40-year life of the reactors. A final agreement on the project is still to be made by the Government and the energy firm EDF.
Aboutmyarea 19th July 2013 read more »
Sellafield
A PLANT at Sellafield has become the first nuclear waste plant worldwide to produce more than 220 containers of waste. The Waste Vitrification Plant smashed the previous record held by French Company Cogema. As part of the process, highly active liquid waste is combined with glass in a huge vessel called a melter, and then poured into containers for long term storage. Liquid HAL is converted to a stable solid by turning it into glass – a process known as vitrification.
NW Evening Mail 19th July 2013 read more »
Heat
So far much of governments energy policy focus has been on low-carbon electricity generation (in particular, the Energy Bill, which aims to reform the electricity market). Yet heat is responsible for 46% of UK energy use, approximately a third of UK GHG emissions, and is a major cost in both the domestic and non-domestic sectors. This has been recognised in DECC’s Heat Strategy. The committee has recently held enquiries into the RHI and biomass. This inquiry will develop these and explore how and where emissions and costs can be reduced from UK heat, specifically looking at the range of trade-offs between costs, GHG emissions, and wider sustainability issues, as well as potential interactions with other technologies – for example distributed use of fuel makes carbon captures and storage difficult.Written submissions for this inquiry should be submitted via the Heat inquiry page on the Committee’s website.
Parliament 17th July 2013 read more »
Japan
Fukushima Crisis Update 16th to 18th July. TEPCO is scrambling to determine the cause of steam rising from the fifth floor of reactor #3 at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, site of the March 2011 nuclear meltdowns. The fifth floor is home to the reactor’s spent fuel pool, where 500 spent fuel rods are stored. The steam was first discovered at 8:20 am yesterday (July 18) and continued throughout the day;
Greenpeace 19th July 2013 read more »
Iran
World powers hope Hassan Rowhani’s election as president of Iran will provide fresh impetus and “a change in tone” in ongoing talks on the country’s controversial nuclear programme. A senior Western diplomat talking on condition of anonymity said Friday that the so-called P5+1 group of global powers negotiating with Iran hoped to see a new team appointed “soon” in Tehran so the talks can resume “as soon as possible.”
EU Business 19th July 2013 read more »
Arab Gulf states have raised concerns about the safety of an Iranian nuclear power station built in an earthquake-prone coastal area. The concerns about the Bushehr plant, which officially opened in 2011, were raised during a meeting of the 35-nation board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, last month (3-7 June).
Trust 19th July 2013 read more »
Trident
The cost of replacing Trident is likely to be in excess of £100bn. Just think what the National Health Service could do with that. Or even our regular armed forces. Or even the research and development contractors working on missile defence systems like Iron Dome. Better to spend money on how to make the nuclear missile threat of others ineffective than to add to the world’s worries by creating more of the damned things ourselves.
Guardian 19th July 2013 read more »
Submarine Dismantling
A £2 million defence project to build a colossal crane for the decommissioning of nuclear submarines is nearing completion at a Black Country firm.
Express & Star 19th July 2013 read more »
Renewables
Wind power capacity must grow exponentially if the UK is to hit its 2020 renewables target, according to National Grid models. That was true even after the network operator scaled back its expectations for offshore wind installation by around 5GW compared to its 2012 central case. It made up the difference in its Gone Green scenario with lower demand, due to depressed economic growth, and increased coal-to-biomass conversions, driven by changes to government policy. Biomass conversions provide 4GW of power in 2020 in this case.
Utility Week 18th July 2013 read more »
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks has said that the number of wind farms in the UK could increase following the successful testing of new safety equipment designed to eliminate concerns over installing turbines near airports. The equipment could allow double the present number of wind farms built across the country after a successful trial conducted near Prestwick airport in Scotland. The test of the revolutionary new 3D holographic radar system successfully demonstrated its ability to distinguish between aircraft and moving wind turbine blades.
Renewable Energy Magazine 19th July 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
The system used to calculate energy savings under the Green Deal, which is critical to the flagship energy efficiency programme’s success, is unreliable and inflates the savings a householder can expect to achieve from retrofit work to their home by as much as 77%, a study has found. Social housing provider Affinity Sutton, which produced the study, monitored the effect of retrofit work carried out by contractor Keepmoat on 102 homes over the course of a year. The data, analysed by consultants Verco, Baily Garner and Parity Projects, found that the SAP model, which is used to calculate building performance, on average predicted that tenants would save 77% more on their energy bills than they actually did.
Building 18th July 2013 read more »
Fossil Fuels
The Chancellor is set to outline plans later today to create the most generous shale gas tax regime in the world, according to reports. But could the tax breaks kickstart a UK shale gas industry? The impact of the Treasury’s proposal ultimately depends on whether energy companies see shale gas as a profitable pursuit. The only way to find that out is by drilling more exploration wells -which the tax breaks could encourage – but the industry is urging caution. Bradshaw says company representatives he’s spoken to are concerned the shale gas debate is “getting way ahead” of industry development. So even though media reports say this could be the start of a whole industry, declarations of a UK shale gas revolution look premature. It’s too early to say whether Osborne’s plans – if approved – are as significant as he hopes.
Carbon Brief 19th July 2013 read more »
The Scottish Government has been urged to “close the door” on fracking activity north of the border. Environmental campaigners at WWF Scotland made the plea after Chancellor George Osborne unveiled tax breaks for the controversial technique for extracting shale gas. Mr Osborne aims to create the “most generous” regime for shale gas in the world. But Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland claimed these “bribes” were a “recipe for environmental and financial disaster”
Herald 20th July 2013 read more »
Scotsman 20th July 2013 read more »
FRACKING is a method of extracting natural gas from under the ground by injecting high-pressure liquids and chemicals to crack the rock and release the hydrocarbons within. A report earlier this year by PricewaterhouseCoopers claimed that Scotland has £5bn of natural gas reserves that could be extracted using this technique. We should beware Chancellors in a hurry. There have been too many energy-related environmental disasters in the past, from the Exxon V aldez to Deepwater Horizon. The message for the development of new energy sources should be to ca’ canny.
Herald 20th July 2013 read more »
The British government unveiled what it described as the world’s most generous incentives for shale gas on Friday, offering tax breaks to drive investment in a sector that has already transformed the U.S. energy market. Finance minister George Osborne said the government wanted to create the right conditions in Britain for industry to unlock the potential of shale gas.
Reuters 19th July 2013 read more »
Scotsman 20th July 2013 read more »
Times 19th July 2013 read more »
Telegraph 19th July 2013 read more »
The Government is right to give tax breaks for hydraulic fracturing of shale gas. Most opposition to fracking is contradictory, even on its own terms. Yesterday George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed generous tax breaks for companies that intend to exploit new technologies for extracting shale gas from beneath Britain. According to Greenpeace: “The Chancellor is telling anyone who will listen that UK shale gas is set to be an economic miracle, yet he’s had to offer the industry sweetheart tax deals just to reassure them that fracking would be profitable.” This is kneejerk stuff. Yes, under Mr Osborne’s proposals companies engaged in fracking will pay 30 per cent tax on their income, as opposed to the 62 per cent paid on new offshore oil operations. But, as any honest environmentalist could tell you, burning gas produces vastly less CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions than burning oil or coal – with CO2 of course being regarded as the key contributor to climate change.
Times 20th July 2013 read more »
Drinking water could be contaminated with methane gas and chemicals due to fracking, water companies have warned. Water UK, which represents all major UK water suppliers, said the shale gas extraction method posed a threat if not “carefully planned and carried out”. It also warned fracking’s “huge” use of water could cause shortages in areas of low supply, like South East England. Shale gas company Cuadrilla said there were no proven cases of aquifers being contaminated by fracking. Dr Jim Marshall, of Water UK, called on fracking firms to hold “upfront discussions” with water companies “before fracking becomes widespread in the UK”.
BBC 19th July 2013 read more »
