British Energy
Gas and electricity group Centrica is in the early stages of studying whether it should weigh into the £10bn takeover battle for nuclear power company British Energy (BE).
Telegraph 24th March 2008 more >>
PA 23rd March 2008 more >>
Channel 4 News 23rd March 2008 more >>
Manchester Evening News 23rd March 2008 more >>
New nukes
Senior German energy executives warned yesterday that Europe’s biggest economy faces growing blackouts unless it follows the Franco-British lead in promoting new nuclear power stations. They seized on a weekend report in the Guardian that Gordon Brown and French president Nicolas Sarkozy will unveil an alliance to build nuclear plants and export the modern technology worldwide at their “Arsenal” summit at the Emirates Stadium this week to press the case for Germany to pursue its own new nuclear renaissance.
Guardian 24th March 2008 more >>
Coal
Plans to build Britain’s first coal-fired power station since 1984 have led to a cabinet split amid concerns that the project would undermine efforts to cut carbon emissions.
Independent 24th March 2008 more >>
John Sauven: Kingsnorth exposes a government energy strategy in disarray. One week the Prime Minister commits the UK to generating around 40 per cent of its electricity from renewables, the next his Business Secretary sings the praises of the most carbon-intensive form of power generation around. We can only hope that John Hutton’s words were an attempt to stake out his territory in the Cabinet, not a wider signal of government intent.
Independent 24th March 2008 more >>
North Korea
North Korea is again in the news. The visible success of the New York Philharmonic’s February concert in Pyongyang produced a predictable wave of optimistic expectations. Combined with the talks about alleged “progress on the nuclear issue”, the concert has helped to foster an impression that the soft approach to the country is working and will eventually bring about the miraculous transformation of a destitute rogue state into a reforming nation, akin to China or Vietnam. However, this sense of optimism needs to be kept in perspective. The North Korean regime has been striving to acquire nuclear weapons for half a century. Pyongyang needs them both as a deterrent against a foreign attack and as a negotiating chip to deploy in order to squeeze important concessions from the outside world.
FT 24th March 2008 more >>
