Hinkley
Letters: As Fukushima continues to turn into an ever more serious catastrophe, and as the Germans confirm that they are turning their back on nuclear, Britain decides it will be expanding nuclear power generation, with the Chinese as the driving force.
Independent 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Looming large over the UK Government’s EU state aid application for Hinkley C is the charge that this deal will distort the EU’s internal market, in particular to undercut solar pv arrays in Germany over 10 MW in size. Such arrays are no longer eligible to receive premium prices under the German feed-in tariff system. Such plant will only receive the wholesale electricity price, which is less than half the rates to be paid to Hinkley C. Even the German feed-in rates for smaller solar pv arrays have been reduced to well below the contract price being offered to EDF etc in the UK (see link at the bottom of this post). In addition, even in the UK the value of the incentives for British community wind power are in practice much lower than what is being offered to Hinkley C.
Dave Toke’s Blog 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Exclusive: Former Labour Party chancellor Alistair Darling has told Construction News the government should look at publicly funding new nuclear after the “expensive deal” agreed for the UK’s first new nuclear reactor for a generation at Hinkley Point C. “What we have done here is we are guaranteeing part of the construction costs and [have] passed them down the line; it will be the next generation that pay for these very high wholesale prices of electricity and the point is, you need to ask yourself would it be better for the state to do it as opposed to what looks like quite an expensive deal?”
Construction News 28th Oct 2013 read more »
The Government should pay for EDF Energy’s £16 billion nuclear reactor itself instead of passing the “very high” cost on to household energy bills for decades, according to Alistair Darling. The former Chancellor’s intervention — a stark shift from his stated policy in 2006, when Labour was in power and he was responsible for energy — will add to the clamour for more green and social levies to be funded from general taxation rather than from energy bills.
Times 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Carbon Targets
Letter from various including Ecotricity & Solarcentury: Today, members of the House of Lords will vote on whether or not to commit the UK to remove carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2030. We urge peers to seize this opportunity to take a decisive step towards creating a truly low carbon economy, by supporting the amendments to the energy bill tabled by Lord Oxburgh. There is overwhelming support for a decarbonisation target to be written into the energy bill. Businesses, large and small, economists, scientists, non-governmental organisations, academics, MPs and peers have all spoken out in support. Yet the Treasury has pushed for its removal until after the next election in 2015. The Conservative party formed this coalition government with a clear promise from the prime minister to be the greenest ever. This is not the time to go soft on promises already made. There is absolutely no reason for Britons to fear the challenge of decarbonisation – it is an excellent economic growth opportunity and we have the engineers, designers, investors, entrepreneurs and other innovation skills needed, but failure to support the target now will mean hundreds of millions of pounds worth of investment in renewable technologies will be lost along with the jobs and innovation that green technologies can deliver. What a prize it would be to hand the next generation a green economy with dramatically lower energy costs, more productive enterprise and new skills to offer the whole world in their efforts to resolve the same set of challenges. The UK is currently seen as wavering on renewables and our emissions increased by 3.5 per cent last year instead of the expected decrease enshrined in our legally binding Climate Change Act. This shows we are on the wrong road. The House of Lords has a golden opportunity to correct this for the benefit of the economy, the environment and all British citizens. We urge them all to do so by voting for today’s amendments to the energy bill.
FT 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
Liberal Democrat ministers will resist Conservative plans to cut green taxes that add to the public’s energy bills, Danny Alexander has said. The chief secretary to the Treasury told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show that the taxes, which amount to about 4% of the average bill, are vital to Britain’s long-term commitments to funding renewable energy and are a fixed Lib Dem policy.
Guardian 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Chris Huhne: Green taxes will ultimately cut our bills as well as saving energy. By encouraging the energy companies to diversify away from fossil fuels, we’ll be able to save £166 per year by 2020. The only easy green tax to ditch is the carbon price floor, an unnecessary charge on electricity generated from oil, coal and gas. It is not needed to decarbonise electricity but it collects £600m this year, adding £5 to bills. It will steadily rise to add more than £20. The Liberal Democrats did not want it, but George Osborne insisted on the revenue. It is possible, of course, that some programmes now funded from energy bills could be paid from taxation, but ministers will find that they cannot ditch these policies. First, it would be foolish to raise future energy bills by slowing energy-saving and the shift to renewables. Second, there is a legislated fuel poverty target, and ministers would find themselves fighting a judicial review. The same applies to renewables, as we agreed an EU legal target of 15% of our energy from renewables by 2020. The real blame for high bills is our excessive reliance on gas and coal, and the world market price. Not even the British prime minister has much power over that.
Guardian 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Labour signalled that it would support an overhaul of one of the green taxes pushing up gas and electricity bills yesterday. The Energy Companies Obligation, which forces the major suppliers to insulate the homes of poorer customers, adds £47 per year to the average bill. The levy is one of those at the heart of a tussle between Conservative and Liberal Democrat ministers over how to make good David Cameron’s pledge to “roll back” levies. Ed Davey, the Lib-Dem Energy Secretary, accuses the energy companies of exaggerating the costs of the scheme, pointing out wide variations between the major suppliers. However, Caroline Flint, Labour’s energy spokeswoman, suggested the party would back moves to overhaul a scheme that she said was expensive, bureaucratic and poorly targeted. Britain’s major energy firms face a grilling tomorrow by MPs over c laims that they aggressively avoid tax and overcharge customers. Representatives of the so-called “Big Six” have been summoned to appear at a special hearing of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee.
Times 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Britain’s energy regulator is on course to clash with the “Big Six” power companies this week over the importance of wholesale gas and electricity prices in rising customer bills. British Gas, SSE, Scottish Power and npower have all used the argument of mounting wholesale costs – which make up nearly half of household bills – to justify recent price increases averaging 9.1 per cent. They have also blamed government green schemes and rising network charges. But data from energy regulator Ofgem show wholesale prices have been almost flat over the past year, rising by a mere 1.7 per cent. According to the regulator, wholesale costs should contribute only around an additional £10 to household charges.This element of the average annual bill has gone up from £600 to £610, according to Ofgem, while the regulator estimates that the companies’ average net profit margin has more t han doubled over the past year from £45 a household to £95. The findings will prove awkward for company bosses, who are due to appear in front of the energy select committee on Tuesday amid mounting anger over rising bills. With the effect of the recent price rises, the average dual fuel energy bill has now risen to £1,320 per household.
FT 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Britain’s biggest electricity providers show remarkable unanimity on what is the main driver of rising energy bills: the increased cost of buying gas and power on the wholesale market. It was a theme that turned up repeatedly in the statements SSE, Scottish Power, Npower and British Gas issued to explain why they had put up bills by an average of 9.1 per cent before winter. But outside the big six energy companies, there is far less consensus. Figures from Ofgem, the energy regulator, suggest that wholesale costs only went up 1.7 per cent over the past year. Others agree that something is amiss. “Wholesale prices don’t seem to be going up as fast as retail prices are,” says Jim Watson, research director at the UK Energy Research Centre.
FT 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Since UK opposition leader Ed Miliband promised to freeze energy bills for 20 months, the Conservatives have vacillated between calling him a conman and peddling snake oil of their own. If Britain is to keep the lights on without incurring crippling costs, the country’s energy policy debate needs more substantial fuel. Two revolutions are unfolding in the electricity market. The first involves building expensive renewables and nuclear plants, paid for through higher bills. Environmental levies have so far been modest, accounting for less than 10 per cent of the cost of electricity. By 2030 this will rise to 41 per cent. Britain has pledged to supply 15 per cent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, and to halve emissions from 1990 levels by 2025. Some experts say that, given more time, the same targets could be achieved at lower cost.
FT 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Energy policy is a serious problem which won’t be solved by gimmicks or slogans. Most of the debate in the UK over the last few weeks has focused on the prices being paid by domestic consumers. Now, though, the focus is set to shift to the competitive burden on businesses and jobs not just in the UK but across Europe. With yet more price increases to come, the need for a new and serious policy covering both supply and demand is becoming urgent.
FT 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Radwaste
Canadian utility giant Ontario Power Generation says the layers of rock where it proposes a deep underground nuclear waste storage facility are solid, stable and well-suited for the job. But what’s at the surface and less than a mile away — the shores of Lake Huron — has people on the Michigan and Canadian sides of the Great Lake fiercely opposed to the plan. “I’m up in arms,” said Michigan resident Sherry Hummel of Williamsburg. “It’s just a dangerous, dangerous thing to do near 20% of the world’s” unfrozen surface freshwater.
USA Today 27th Oct 2013 read more »
China
As the UK prepares to build a fleet of new nuclear power stations with Chinese capital and expertise, a former state nuclear expert warns: China itself is heading for nuclear catastrophe.
Ecologist 25th Oct 2013 read more »
Germany
Germany’s Energy Agency (Umweltbundesamt or UBA) has come up with a proposal for a 95 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, far more than the country’s current goal of an 80 percent reduction. Craig Morris points out that the recommendations are intended not only for a German audience. The UBA has published a 32-page study in English investigating how Germany can go from around 10 tons of CO2-equivalent emissions per capita and year today to less than one ton by 2050. And it wouldn’t be Germany if the proposal did not specify that “we do not need nuclear power or underground CO2 sequestration” [carbon capture and storage, CCS].
Energy Transition 24th Oct 2013 read more »
Japan
For months now, it has been hard to escape the continuing deluge of bad news from the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant. Even after the company that operates the plant admitted this summer that tons of contaminated groundwater was leaking into the Pacific Ocean every day, new accidents have added to the uncontrolled releases of radioactive materials. This week, newly tainted rainwater overflowed dikes. Two weeks before that, workers mistakenly disconnected a pipe, dumping 10 more tons of contaminated water onto the ground and dousing themselves in the process.
New York Times 24th Oct 2013 read more »
Fukushima horse breeder braves high radiation levels to care for animals. Despite the departure of all his neighbours and the unexplained deaths of some of his stock, Tokue Hosokawa refuses to budge.
Guardian 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Pakistan
Pakistan has commenced spadework on the 1,000MW nuclear power plant being built with the Chinese assistance near Hawkes Bay in Karachi, unnamed sources have revealed.
Energy Business Review 28th Oct 2013 read more »
South Korea
It started with a few bogus safety certificates for cables shutting a handful of South Korean nuclear reactors. Now, the scandal has snowballed, with 100 people indicted and Seoul under pressure to rethink its reliance on nuclear power.A shift away from nuclear, which generates a third of South Korea’s electricity, could cost tens of billions of dollars a year by boosting imports of liquefied natural gas, oil or coal. Although helping calm safety concerns, it would also push the government into a politically sensitive debate over whether state utilities could pass on sharply higher power bills to households and companies.
Reuters 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Iran
A prominent Iranian lawmaker said on Sunday Iran would never agree to shut down its Fordo underground nuclear enrichment facility as demanded by world powers, Mehr news agency reported.
Middle East Online 27th Oct 2013 read more »
Submarines
Eleven significant safety incidents have taken place at two nuclear submarine bases in Britain in the past five years, the Ministry of Defence has revealed. The extent of the problems at the Faslane base on Gare Loch, Scotland, and Devonport, Plymouth, was revealed by Defence Minister Philip Dunne after a parliamentary question from SNP defence spokesman Angus Robertson. Mr Robertson told the Sunday Herald that the answers made “scary reading”. “They concern the most serious types of incidents, and information wouldn’t be made public without asking,” he said.
Independent 27th Oct 2013 read more »
China has revealed that its first fleet of nuclear submarines has started sea patrols, in the latest sign of its military’s growing confidence which has raised concerns in the region.
FT 28th Oct 2013 read more »
Test Veterans
“We are like ghosts, they don’t see you, they don’t hear you,” Jeff Liddiat reflects on the struggle of more than a half-century to get justice for servicemen who were exposed to nuclear tests by the British government. “I suppose they hope those remaining of us will die sooner rather than later.
Independent 27th Oct 2013 read more »
