Nuclear Subsidies
The government’s deal to underwrite the £16bn Hinkley Point nuclear power station plan faces delay and possible rejection after the European commission said it was ready to launch an in-depth inquiry into the agreement. The EU competition commissioner said Brussels was likely to investigate the deal, which guarantees a minimum power price for 35 years, to make sure it conformed with state aid rules. The commission frowns on national governments offering deals to companies that stifle competition and distort the market. The government has said it is confident the deal will stand up to EU scrutiny but a formal probe could take years and cast prolonged doubt over the plan. The government has said the new plant is vital to make Britain more self-sufficient and to cut use of fossil fuels. Almunia gave no indication of how long an investigation might take but the commission sees the government’s deal with EDF, Areva and China’s General Nuclear Power as complex and highly novel. An investigation is therefore likely to be in-depth to investigate all aspects of the proposals. Moves by the commission to block or radically alter the nuclear deal could spark a major dispute between London and Brussels. Many Conservative MPs and constituency parties are virulently opposed to Europe’s influence over UK policy and David Cameron has pledged a referendum on UK membership of the EU if the Tories win the 2015 election.
Guardian 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
EU regulators are likely to open a formal investigation into whether Britain’s offer of state guarantees, to help finance a nuclear plant to be built by France’s EDF, conform with the bloc’s rules, its competition commissioner said on Monday.Britain in October signed a deal with EDF to build a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point in southwest England and became the first European country to offer a guaranteed power price over 35 years for a new nuclear project.”Two to three weeks ago we received notification from the UK,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a Brussels conference organised by Eurelectric, which represents the EU electricity industry. “We are starting to analyse what is in the British proposal. Probably we will open a formal investigation because many people are asking the same question as you do,” he said when asked whether the British proposal for 35 years of a guaranteed energy price was too long under the terms of EU rules on state aid.
Reuters 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Argus Media 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
IB Times 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Many people are not happy with government subsidising nuclear power at all, and in particular, huge public subsidies for the proposed new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, known as Hinkley C. Energy Fair, a group opposed to nuclear power, called on EU Commissioner Joaquin Almunia to open a formal investigation for breaches of competition law. They see no valid justification for subsidising nuclear power.
News Blaze 3rd Dec 2013 read more »
For money no object nuclear power the rules change. Governments have no right to commit other Governments – certainly not for 35 years? The secreat deal with EDF will remain secret until the deal is done. Shouldn’t parliament decide and not allow this to be a deal done without public scrutiny.
Paul Flynn MP 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
The still tentative nature of the Hinkley C ‘deal’ is being emphasised by reports that the Chinese government are demanding a cast-iron commitment from the UK Government to let them build Chinese owned power plant in the UK. If the UK Government agree, this will be yet another step down the slippery slope towards paying a higher and higher price for the sake of keeping face on its badly thought-out new nuclear build programme.
Dave Toke’s Blog 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Sellafield
Sellafield’s Environmental Health watchdog suggested Copeland Council consults with Scotland’s Dounreay and Dalgety Bay Councils’ about the use of beach signs advising the presence of radioactive materials. On Thursday 28th November, CORE (Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment) presented its case for the use of beach signs on West Cumbrian beaches to the Environmental Health Sub-Committee of the West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group (WCSSG). Highlighting that the human rights of members of the public to know that radioactive particles are polluting their local beaches were being ignored, CORE said such information should be included in some form on beach information boards. Copeland Council has refused to display this information. CORE’s snapshot beach poll at St. Bees, of both locals and visitors during the summer, showed an overwhelming 97% support for this ‘right to know’, as well as wanting to know where further information was available. None of the West Cumbrian libraries held such information, nor was any publicly available at the Copeland Council Office. CORE said today: “It is unacceptable that Copeland and the health agencies are playing ‘pass the parcel’ with the decision to be up front and pro-active about informing the public. That the regulators themselves admit a range of uncertainties about what is on-shore as well as off-shore, further weakens the wishy washy advice from the Health Protection Agency that ‘there is no risk to the public at this time’ – especially the numbers of radioactive particles found on West Cumbrian beaches have increased significantly in recent years, the beach areas monitored reduced and monitoring stopped altogether at holiday times when beaches are at their busiest”.
CORE 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
SELLAFIELD executives are set to face MPs over the soaring cost of decommissioning the nuclear site – which is estimated to exceed £70billion. The meeting has been called by the Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Barking and Dagehnam MP Margaret Hodges, and will look at the cost of decommissioning and apparent inefficiency by Nuclear Management Partners, the consortium contracted with decommissioning the site.
NW Evening Mail 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Harwell
WORKMEN are removing a pipe into the Thames for radioactive waste from the garden of Hollywood star Helena Bonham Carter. The four-mile-long underground pipe had been discharging treated water from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell into the river since the 1940s until March this year. For the past few weeks workmen have been removing the section through the garden of the £2.9m home of actress Helena Bonham Carter and partner Tim Burton, which backs on to the Thames in Sutton Courtenay.
Oxford Mail 3rd Dec 2013 read more »
Radwaste
An anti-nuclear group from Cumbria is protesting in London today. Radiation Free Lakeland is opposed to the idea of an underground nuclear waste store being built in the county. They are planning to demonstrate outside the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
ITV 3rd Dec 2013 read more »
Energy Investment
Could Chinese cash rescue £50bn HS2? Country’s premier says he wants slice of the scheme and also calls for co-operation on nuclear power. Already ministers have allowed the Chinese to take a 30 per cent stake in a new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, Somerset. But yesterday it became clear China has far greater ambitions. These include investing in new nuclear projects and the proposed HS2 line from London to the Midlands and North. Downing Street sources said Chinese investment could cut the cost of the rail scheme to British taxpayers.
Daily Mail 3rd Dec 2013 read more »
China could invest in Britain’s controversial HS2 rail project as well as a new generation of nuclear power stations. The economic giant wants to ‘push for breakthroughs’ on nuclear power and high speed rail, its leader said. Speaking after talks with David Cameron on the first day of the prime minister’s visit to China, premier Li Keqiang said: ‘On infrastructure, the two sides have agreed to push for breakthroughs and progress in co-operation on our enterprises in nuclear power and high-speed railway. ‘The Chinese side is willing to not only participate, but also purchase equities and stocks in UK nuclear power projects, and the UK side is open to this idea.’
Metro 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Scotsman 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
The UK’s largest energy suppliers have announced a rollback of their planned price increases, honouring a pledge to pass on savings from the government’s shake-up of social and environmental levies on bills. The reform of the levies is part of a government response to Ed Miliband’s call for a 20-month freeze on fuel bills, which catapulted energy costs to the top of the political agenda. The issue took on new urgency after five of the UK’s largest energy suppliers announced price increases well ahead of inflation, inflaming an increasingly impassioned debate about the cost of living.
FT 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
The government is coming under pressure from energy firms to make a second stage of cuts to green levies or face gas and electricity price rises in the months before the 2015 election. Ministers agreed to scale back the Energy Company Obligation (Eco) scheme that cuts the fuel usage of poor households, while funding another subsidy out of taxation, reducing average energy bills by £50. The big six energy firms all said they would pass on the £50 cut to consumers, and most suggested they would be able to hold off from raising prices for the whole of 2014 without further rises in wholesale or network costs. But industry sources say the companies are still in negotiations with officials on further possible ways of bringing down gas and e lectricity bills, with one executive in a big six firm saying the £50 cut is “very much seen as a first step”. Among various targets for companies are further cuts to Eco, another look at the £11bn smart metering scheme and scrapping the carbon floor price – a tax on emissions that makes the cost of nuclear and renewable energy comparatively cheaper. Tory MP Tim Yeo, chairman of the Commons energy committee, warned of the danger of having “opened the door” to cutting environmental programmes, arguing the government is looking in the wrong place in its drive to cut bills.
Guardian 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
The government has today announced households would be paying £50 less for energy next year – good news, says climate skeptic journalist David Rose in the Mail on Sunday. But before everyone rushes out to spend their newly-recovered funds, they should hear the bad news: The paper says households will still be expected to foot a £300 billion “eco-bill” due to the UK’s climate legislation. But that headline figure is almost double what the government says will need to be spent to modernise the UK’s energy system. Rose’s £300 billion claim appears to come from a report by consultants Liberum Capital, released earlier this year. According to Liberum’s analysis, meeting the UK’s decarbonisation target would mean spending £376 billion by 2030 on building and connecting new power plants, as well as making homes more energy efficient. But lots of investment will be needed regardless of the government’s low carbon goals, Liberum says. It estimates that without any effort to decarbonise at all, the government would still need to spend a little over £150 billion replacing the UK’s old power plants and pipelines. So even based on Liberum’s analysis, the “eco” part of the UK’s energy infrastructure bill is around £175 billion – not £300 billion. But the CCC says Liberum’s figures are still too high. One reason could be that Liberum seems to assume the cost of building low carbon energy sources will stay about the same as it is now, the CCC says.
Carbon Brief 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
The government this morning announced a range of measures which it claims should save households around £50 per year on their energy bills. While this might seem like good news at first, the changes don’t mean energy bills will go down. Households are still expected to pay more for energy in 2014.
Carbon Brief 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Letter from various incl Andy Blowers, David Lowry & Ian Fairlie: The policies of the coalition Government on energy prices are contradictory to an almost unfathomable extent. At the same time as scrabbling around to find a way to cut £50 off bills, they are committing energy consumers to buy electricity at fully double today’s prices for decade after decade. The Government proposals to fund new nuclear power stations show that nuclear is far too expensive to be politically acceptable: it is only the myopia of contemporary politics and the highly influential nuclear lobby that allows these proposals to roll onwards despite their absurdity.
Times 3rd Dec 2013 read more »
Millions of households are set to miss out on the energy savings promised by the Government’s controversial “rollback” of green levies because they are locked into fixed-price gas and electricity deals.
Telegraph 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Next winter promises a coalescence of factors that will affect the capacity of the electricity system. The political parties seem to have fought themselves to a standstill over energy prices after the announcement yesterday that the recent increase in bills is to be pegged back. The impact of green levies on suppliers is to be lessened and the savings passed on to consumers. Bills will still go up – but the Big Six energy companies believe gas and electricity prices will rise by £70, rather than £123, a saving of about £50 on average this winter. The cheapest way to generate electricity at the moment is by burning coal, whose world price has dropped significantly. Yet Labour and Lib Dem MPs are tomorrow expected to support a Lords amendment to the Energy Bill that will force coal stations to close earlier than planned. Furthermore, in the medium term, there are doubts over the nuclear power programme planned at Hinkley Point, with questions in Brussels over the payments of subsidies to French and Chinese companies. Future supply, then, is the big issue: voters may be pleased to see their bills go up less than planned (even if they are paying for it in taxes). But they will be appalled if the lights go out.
Telegraph 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
MAJOR energy firms have announced plans to slash their bills after the government revealed a new package of measures to help control energy costs. British Gas said it would cut dual-fuel bills by 3.2 per cent from 1 January, while rival SSE also pledged to slash costs by 4 per cent by the end of March. However, the reductions come just weeks after all of the Big Six energy companies announced increases to their bills of between 8.2 and 10.4 per cent. Other companies, including ScottishPower, yesterday welcomed the government’s proposals and said they hoped to put off further price rises as long as possible – but did not commit to reducing bills. Npower said it would reduce its prices, but had not yet decided by how much.
Scotsman 3rd Dec 2013 read more »
Herald 3rd Dec 2013 read more »
Energy Markets
I have recently been re-reading some old academic articles on electricity markets – in particular by Professor Steve Thomas – in order to figure out how we got to this position in the UK. What is clear from his detailed analysis is that those economists and politicians tasked with the privatisation and liberalisation of the UK’s considerable energy assets envisaged a future where competition between companies would help to deliver affordable and secure energy. Early visions of what a competitive market would look like included the separation of generation and supply, liquid and transparent energy wholesale markets as well as real consumer choice between suppliers. Instead what has emerged in the UK are electricity and gas systems dominated by six, integrated energy companies who operate at both sides of a not-so-liquid wholesale market and who wield considerable political power. Moreover, many involved in the processes of policy-making and regulating electricity and gas markets, and Ofgem in particular, do not seem to have a clear vision of what a competitive market would look like.
IGov 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Scotland
New nuclear would not play a role in an independent Scotland, according to a white paper published by the Scottish government in November. The current Scottish government is opposed to the building of any new nuclear power stations in Scotland and will phase out existing stations in Scotland over time, it said. Scotland has four AGR reactors in operation at the Huntersont B and Torness sites, which are due to close in 2023. However, EDF Energy plans to extend the lifetime of the fleet for as long as it remains safe and cost effective to do so. In an independent Scotland the decommissioning costs of Scotland’s three non-operational sites (Dounreay, Hunterston A and Chapelcross) would continue to be met from the public purse. EDF Energy would meet the cost of decommissioning Hunterston B and Torness.
Nuclear Engineering International 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
An independent Scotland would veto nuclear support such as that agreed with EDF Energy for Hinkley Point C, according to a white paper published on Tuesday. The report said a Scottish Government would not allow Scottish generation to be “compromised” by “expensive, long-term contracts for new nuclear generation”. However, it expects to continue a system of shared support for renewables, claiming Scottish generation “will continue to be the most cost-effective means for the rest of the UK to meet its renewable ambitions”.
Utility Week 26th Nov 2013 read more »
Emergency Planning
A project backed by 43 organisations is preparing Europe to react and communicate effectively in case of a nuclear emergency, drawing on the lessons of the Fukushima accident. The project, known as PREPARE, brings together national nuclear emergency centres, universities and safety authorities from 20 European countries, including Germany, Italy, Belgium, Norway and Ukraine and has €4 million ($5.4 million) in funding from the EU Framework Program for Research (FP7).
World Nuclear News 29th Nov 2013 read more »
South Korea
Several microscopic cracks have been discovered in control rod tunnels at a reactor of the Kori nuclear power plant’s (NPP) during a scheduled maintenance, an official from the plant’s operator Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) has revealed. KHNP official Kim Tae-seok was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying that the cracks were found in six out of 84 tunnels that guide the control rods at the Hanbit No. 4 reactor, which is situated in Yeonggwang, southwest of Seoul. The cracks, however, do not pose any radiation risks, Tae-seok added. The newly found cracks are however, likely to postpone the resumption of reactors’ operation by approximately ten days, from its originally scheduled date of 01 January 2014, BusinessKorea reports.
Energy Business Review 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Renewables
Dirk Ketelsen is a farmer but these days most of his income comes from harvesting the wind. On Germany’s North Sea coast, where a fierce sea breeze blasts in across the polders, the generous financial support the government has poured into renewable energy has reared a crop of wind turbines as far as the eye can see. Mr Ketelsen began using wind to generate electricity on his organic farm in 1990. The next year, Germany adopted legislation that set guaranteed tariffs for power generated from renewables as part of an effort to encourage less polluting forms of energy. Such policies have unleashed a boom for wind, sun and other sources of renewable energy, which now account for 23 per cent of the electricity consumption of Europe’s biggest economy.
FT 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Less than 20 miles north of the hulking corpse of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Eiju Hangai, a businessman, is plotting his own modest course toward Japan’s energy future. A native of Minamisoma – the largest city in the plant’s immediate fallout zone – Mr Hangai says he is trying to help his devastated home town make a comeback with a solar-powered lettuce farm. “It’s my contribution to our recovery,” he says. The farm, sheltering under two nylon domes on land leased from the city government, is powered by 2,000 Toshiba solar panels. Any surplus electricity is sold to the local utility, Tohoku Electric Power. Katsunobu Sakurai, the mayor, is an enthusiastic supporter and he hopes small projects such as this will help make Minamisoma self-sufficient in energy by 2030. Even before the March 2011 disaster, Japan’s electricity rates were among the world’s most expensive.
FT 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
British Gas played a key role in persuading ministers to weaken anofficial target for insulating Britain’s coldest homes. The country’s largest energy supplier helped to convince the Government to cut by two thirds the number of homes with solid walls that will receive subsidised insulation. Under the revised target, energy companies will have to insulate 100,000 solid-wall homes by 2017, 200,000 fewer than expected. TheAssociation for the Conservation of Energy accused British Gas of putting profits before customers by lobbying for a reduction in the target. Andrew Warren, head of the association, which represents the insulation industry, said: “To sell more energy, British Gas has ensured fewer homes will be insulated.” Energy bills for a solid-wall home fall by almost £500 a year on average once insulated. Britain has 7.7m, mostly built before the 1930s, and insulating one costs an average of £9,000. The lower target angered some rivals to British Gas, including E.ON, which had made much more progress towards meeting its original target under the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO). Tony Cocker, its chief executive, said: “We are disappointed that a decision has been taken proposing a very low backstop minimum level of solid-wall insulation.
Times 3rd Dec 2013 read more »
The overall package is carbon neutral. Watering down the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), by giving companies an extra two years to meet its targets (the deadline has been extended from March 2015 to March 2017), actually increases emissions. By the government has announced various energy saving measures, for home buyers, landlords and public sector buildings, to offset this impact. These measures will cost £540m over three years. Around 60,000 homes will benefit from the scheme allowing people to get £1,000 to spend on energy saving measures when they buy a new home. Funding for Green Deal Communities is being extended from £20m to £80m. The Green Deal is being “strengthened, streamlined and reformed”. There are more details here, in a separate news release. You could read this as an admission that so far it has not been a glittering success.
Guardian 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Responding to announcements today (Monday 2 December 2013) by Government around cuts to the Energy Company Obligation [ECO] and a new package of measures around the Green Deal, Friends of the Earth Energy Campaigner Sophie Neuburg said: “The Government has crumbled in response to pressure from the Big Six, leaving the fuel poor and the environment to pick up the bill. The effect of all the measures announced today is that funding for energy efficiency has fallen by over £700 million, condemning thousands of people to shiver in heat-leaking homes. If Ministers were serious about tackling fuel bills they would introduce a comprehensive energy efficiency programme and take urgent steps to wean our economy off increasingly costly fossil fuels – the real driving force behind rocketing fuel bills.”
FoE 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Greg Barker has conceded that the changes announced to national energy efficiency schemes today will result in a “short term” fall in carbon saved, but insisted the shortfall will be made up with compensatory measures. The raft of changes to the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) initiatives revealed by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are designed to save £50 on consumer bills without compromising on the government’s green commitments.
Business Green 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
The government formally announced today that it’s going to weaken one of its key energy efficiency programmes as part of its package of measures to reduce consumer bills. But it’s sweetened the pill – by also announcing a raft of measures to strengthen its energy efficiency policies elsewhere. How does it all balance out? There will be £540 million of new funding for energy efficiency measures, according to the announcement. But that needs to be balanced against the loss of funding elsewhere – and many of the new measures appear to already exist in one form or another. What do the measures add up to? At this stage, it’s hard to assess the government’s claim that the changes won’t mean a lessening of its commitment to energy efficiency – or that the changes are ‘carbon neutral’ in total. ECO hasn’t been hit as hard as expected, and some money will still be spent on tackling fuel poverty. But few profound changes appear to have been introduced. Many of the ‘new’ announcements look like pre-existing programmes that have been recycled, extended or incentivised.
Carbon Brief 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
The government’s lead advisers on energy efficiency and fuel poverty have both condemned changes to energy bills as “sticking plasters” and “watering down” the only measures that permanently reduce costs to consumers. On Monday, the energy secretary, Ed Davey, announced a complex set of measures that he said would cut the average bill by £50. Most of this saving comes from cuts to the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) that requires energy companies to insulate homes and subsidise energy efficiency measures for hard-to-treat properties. “We have policies that are among the best in the world, which we are unfortunately watering down,” said Peter Boyd, expert chair of the energy efficiency deployment office within the Department of E nergy and Climate Change(Decc). Boyd, whose role is to provide strategic guidance on energy efficiency to ministers, said: “Energy efficiency is the one piece of the government’s energy policies that can really cut bills in the future” – because more efficient homes use less fuel. Boyd told the Guardian that as well as delivering warmer homes with lower bills, better energy efficiency delivers local jobs, a high return on investment for homes, businesses and public buildings, and big, affordable reductions in carbon emissions. He said the UK could be a world leader in energy efficiency. “What is disappointing is that the UK is not yet fully grasping the quadruple prize of energy efficiency,” he said. Derek Lickorish, chair of the government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, condemned all political parties for not taking energy efficiency seriously. “This is a sticking plaster and platitudes competition. What we need is a cross-party unity to deliver permanent reductions to bills through energy efficiency.”
Guardian 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
Letters incl Andrew Pendleton FoE: If the chancellor genuinely wants to tackle rising fuel bills he should use his autumn statement to increase public funding for energy efficiency, not cut it below its already woeful level. Not only would this save the 10,000 jobs the insulation industry projects will be lost if the changes go ahead, it would also create thousands more, mostly in small, local firms. The big six have made a poor fist of using the cash they’ve taken from consumers already to insulate our homes. It’s time to remove responsibility for installing energy efficiency measures from these companies, and give it to a body whose profits don’t depend on households using more energy.
Guardian 2nd Dec 2013 read more »
