Hinkley
Labour has called on the government to come up with a “Plan B” in case Hinkley Point is never built, ahead of talks between David Cameron and Francois Hollande to discuss the proposed nuclear power station. Mr Cameron disclosed during prime minister’s questions that he would raise the delays to Hinkley Point as part of a wider meeting with the French president on Thursday. Lisa Nandy, Labour’s shadow energy secretary, will warn in a speech on Friday that the delays to Hinkley Point are part of a wider energy crunch on the horizon. All but one of Britain nuclear power stations are scheduled to close by 2030 and the government has promised that all coal-fired facilities will close by 2025. Ms Nandy will argue that Hinkley Point C is on track to be the most expensive power station ever built, costing more than the 2012 Olympics, Crossrail and Heathrow’s Terminal 5 combined. She will call on the government to find cheaper ways to get more nuclear stations built in future. “That project has been hit by one delay after another, and there still has not been a final investment decision,” she will say. “Given the power crunch we face, it is increasingly clear ministers need a plan B in case it is never built.” Francis Raillott of CFE-CGC said the investment should not be made until problems surrounding a project in Flamanville, France have been solved. “Right now, Hinkley is too risky for the company,” he said. “We think it is better to wait and see. Wait for three years so we can see that everything works or not.”
FT 2nd March 2016 read more »
Electricite de France SA, the world’s largest operator of nuclear power plants, is stuck in a multibillion-dollar quandary that will shape its future. Going ahead with new EPR atomic plants in the U.K. would strain the limits of its balance sheet as slumping electricity prices across Europe reduce cash flow. Dropping the Hinkley Point venture in southwest England would further damage the image of a new French-designed reactor, already tarnished by delays and cost overruns at projects elsewhere. “This is a dilemma between a large risk on the one hand and the future credibility of the group on the other hand,” Xavier Caroen, an analyst at Bryan Garnier & Co. in Paris, said in an interview. “If EDF were to cancel it, that would jeopardize its business case for expansion in nuclear power.” “The backdrop has changed a lot in the past three months in Europe, with a quite strong drop in power prices,” said Pierre Georges, a credit analyst at S&P. “Their financial situation is more stressed than a few years ago.” Going ahead could add 1 billion to 1.5 billion euros in annual costs without contributing to earnings, he said. EDF shares, 85 percent of which are owned by the French state, have lost as much as 89 percent of their value since peaking in 2007 and hit a record low on Feb. 25. French year-ahead wholesale electricity prices dropped 60 percent over the same period.
Bloomberg 3rd March 2016 read more »
French state-controlled utility EdF’s plans to proceed with the UK’s 3.2GW Hinkley Point C nuclear plant are unlikely to be hindered by last year’s poor financial performance. The company’s profit fell by 68pc last year, because of a sharp drop in European wholesale electricity prices and lower demand for nuclear generation in France. But although this makes investment for EdF “more fragile”, it is unlikely to influence plans for Hinkley Point C, French economy minister Emmanuel Macron said. “Hinkley Point C is a good investment because it is profitable and would not massively deteriorate EdF’s financial situation,” Macron said.
Argus Media 2nd Marcvh 2016 read more »
Sellafield
Sellafield Limited has announced its “most significant stride ever” with the removal of the last batch of bulk metal fuel from the Pile Fuel Storage Pond (PFSP) in Cumbria, northwest England. The fuel has been moved to safer, more modern storage in the Fuel Handling Plant. Decommissioning teams lifted the final skip of ‘metal fuel’ from the pond via a remote controlled process. Retrieval of the pond’s ‘canned fuel’ inventory was successfully completed in October 2015. The project was commissioned and delivered under the management of Nuclear Management Partners.
World Nuclear News 2nd March 2016 read more »
Energy Policy
There is increased nervousness among some investors looking at energy projects in the UK, the Energy and Climate Change Committee have warned in their report. Investor confidence has been dented by a series of sudden policy changes since the election, which may lead to a hiatus in project developments and threaten the UK’s ability to meet its energy security and climate change objectives.
Energy & Climate Change Committee 3rd March 2016 read more »
Sudden cuts to UK renewables subsidies have spooked investors and could lead to higher energy bills, MPs say. Ministers said they needed to cut subsidies to force bills as low as possible. But the Energy and Climate Change Committee says the government’s sudden policy shifts on energy have hit investors’ confidence. It warns lenders may respond by putting a risk premium on future investments in clean energy. This in turn may lead, perversely, to bills increasing not decreasing in the long run. Angus MacNeil, committee chair, said: “Billions of pounds are needed to replace ageing energy infrastructure, maintain secure energy supplies and meet climate change targets. “The government made a number of sudden and unexpected changes to policy. This has spooked investors. “In the same way that someone with a poor credit rating will have to pay higher interest rates when they take out a bank loan, so an energy project that is perceived to be higher risk will have to pay a higher risk premium.
BBC 3rd Mach 2016 read more »
A series of short-sighted and contradictory policy shifts has put billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s energy system at risk at a time when the money is urgently needed, MPs have warned. Consumer costs could jump because of sudden policy changes since the Conservatives won last year’s May election, says a highly critical report by the cross-party House of Commons energy and climate change committee. “It is clear that the confidence of many investors has been dented by the government’s actions since the election,” the MPs say. A month after the election, ministers began unveiling plans to cut subsidies for onshore wind and solar power; scrap a zero-carbon homes measure; pull funding from the Green Deal energy efficiency scheme; cut a tax exemption for renewable generators and cancel a £1bn carbon capture and storage competition. “T his has spooked investors and left them wondering what will be next,” said Angus MacNeil, the Scottish National party MP who chairs the committee.
FT 3rd March 2016 read more »
Mixed messages, lack of transparency and a history of sudden announcements by the government has undermined investor confidence in the UK’s energy system, according to a committee of MPs.
Carbon Brief 3rd March 2016 read more »
Scottish Energy News 3rd March 2016 read more »
The government needs to lay out “a credible, long-term vision for the future of the UK’s energy system” in order to calm the nerves of investors, according to a report released by the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC). The paper said that policy changes over the summer of 2015 – such as the early closure of the Rewewables Obligation – “took many stakeholders by surprise” and “raised serious questions” about the government’s plans for decarbonisation. It said although it was “too early to provide hard data” there was “anecdotal evidence of a pause in investment”. Committee chair Angus MacNeil said: “Since coming to office in May, the government has made a number of sudden and unexpected changes to policy. This has spooked investors and left them wondering ‘what will be next?’”
Utility Week 3rd March 2016 read more »
The energy regulator Ofgem is to be handed sweeping new powers to manage the country’s electricity supplies, switch off factories and request emergency back-up generation, under energy market reforms being considered by Whitehall. Documents seen by The Times show ministers are considering three main options designed to strip National Grid of its role as the UK’s power system operator, a role that grants it huge supervisory influence. Alarmed by the country’s growing reliance on importing electricity and a lack of new domestic power station developments, ministers are leaning towards a “lead option” which involves the creation of a not-for-profit company modelled loosely on Network Rail. Overseen by Ofgem, it would manage Britain’s electricity system, a role that has traditionally been handled independently by National Grid, one of the nation’s biggest co mpanies. The new organisation would be responsible for balancing the UK’s electricity system and preventing blackouts by calling on extra supplies or requesting that big industrial users temporarily power down to curb demand.
Times 3rd March 2016 read more »
Energy Costs
Energy suppliers will be forced to open up their customer databases so that rivals can write to offer better deals, according to a plan that will be announced next Thursday. The measure is part of a package of proposals that will be unveiled next week after an 18-month investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into whether households are being overcharged for their gas and electricity. The fear that consumers are paying too much has been on the political agenda for several years, especially after the Labour party suggested freezing prices for 20 months in 2013.
FT 2nd March 2016 read more »
Nuclear Transports
The NDA-owned ship Oceanic Pintail shown returning to its home port of Barrow-in-Furness on the evening of 29th February after its covert voyage to dump yet more plutonium at the Savannah River site in South Carolina. Originally sailing from the German port of Nordenham in late January, the highly secretive shipment of over 20 kg of plutonium from Swiss and German research facilities reached the US port of Charleston on 15th February for onward transit to Savannah River. As just one of a number of such shipments being made under the US-led Global Threat Reduction Initiative, the US Department of Energy has remained as tight-lipped about the Pintail’s ‘under the radar’ plutonium delivery as it has on the shipment – by Barrow-based ships Pacific Heron and Egret – of over 300 kg of plutonium expected to leave Japan imminently for similar dumping at the Savannah River site. In contrast to its hush-hush voyage to and arrival in Charleston, the return to UK waters of the ageing Oceanic Pintail – now some 3 years past the nuclear fleet’s customary shelf-life of 25 years – was marked by the ship’s readily observable antics in the Irish Sea on 29th February – Leap Year day. For reasons yet unknown, but nevertheless adding to the many weird traditions associated with that particular day, the Pintail decided not to head straight home to Barrow after its two-week stormy track across the Atlantic but instead to spend 18 hours chasing its own tail in circles off the Lancashire coast.
CORE 1st March 2016 read more »
Nuclear Smuggling
US man arrested for exporting nuclear-linked metals to Iran Erdal Kuyumcu, 44, could face up to 20 years in jail and $1 million fine for allegedly sending cobalt-nickel metallic powder to Iran. Authorities Tuesday arrested a US man charged with exporting a potentially dangerous metallic powder to Iran, which is used for space and nuclear activities, including missile production, the Department of Justice said.
Times of Israel 2nd March 2016 read more »
Chernobyl/Fukushima
Beyond Nuclear: towards a safe, secure and affordable energy future ‘Cher30byl and Fuku5hima – Beyond Nuclear’. Towards a safe, secure and affordable nuclear free future March 2016 A series of four distinct events, in Manchester and London, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and the 5th anniversary of the Fukushima disaster
GMCND 1st March 2016 read more »
A new report has called on the Japanese government to re-focus its energy policy on shifting the country to 100 per cent renewable energy – and move away from nuclear – nearly five years after the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami disaster put a serious question-mark over the nation’s dependence on nuclear power generation. The report, released on Thursday by Greenpeace Japan, warns that the renewable energy revolution that was set in motion in the wake of Fukushima, is in danger of losing momentum, held back by conflicting government policies that unfairly favour coal and nuclear.
Renew Economy 3rd March 2016 read more »
Japan Diary 2016, Fukushima+5 Part 2. Hope and False Hope: Atomic Fallout Changes our Environment and Always Results in Injustice.
Green World 2nd March 2016 read more »
Tokuo Hayakawa carries a dosimeter around with him at his 600-year-old temple in Naraha, the first town in the Fukushima “exclusion zone” to fully reopen since Japan’s March 2011 catastrophe. Badges declaring “No to nuclear power” adorn his black Buddhist robe. Hayakawa is one of the few residents to return to this agricultural town since it began welcoming back nuclear refugees five months ago. The town, at the edge of a 20-km (12.5 mile) evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, was supposed to be a model of reconstruction. Only 440 of Naraha’s pre-disaster population 8,042 have returned – nearly 70 percent of them over 60. “This region will definitely go extinct,” said the 76-year-old Hayakawa. He says he can’t grow food because he fears the rice paddies are still contaminated. Large plastic bags filled with radioactive topsoil and detritus dot the abandoned fields More than 160,000 people were evacuated from towns around the Daiichi nuclear plant. Around 10 percent still live in temporary housing across Fukushima prefecture. Most have settled outside their hometowns and have begun new lives.
Reuters 3rd March 2016 read more »
Trident
THE Defence Secretary will announce today the replacement of Trident is already underway – before a crucial vote on renewal of the controversial nuclear deterrent has taken place. The declaration will come just days after Nicola Sturgeon pledged to make the weapons system a key issue in the forthcoming Scottish election. Conservative cabinet minister Michael Fallon is expected to reveal an extra £640m for the programme. The statement will take the amount already being spent on Trident’s successor to almost £4bn. But the declaration that debate around Trident is effectively over is likely to trigger an explosive response from the SNP and other opponents of nuclear weapons. The party has previously accused UK ministers of trying to pre-empt a Com mons vote on the issue.
Herald 3rd March 2016 read more »
China
China aims to build 30 nuclear power units in countries involved with the Belt and Road Initiative by 2030, Sun Qin, president of China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC), said Tuesday. The CNNC has reached bilateral agreements on nuclear energy cooperation with countries including Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Britain, France and Jordan, Sun said. More than 70 countries are now planning or are already developing their own nuclear power projects, and it is estimated 130 more nuclear power units will have been built by 2020, Sun said. The CNNC is willing to cooperate with countries throughout the whole nuclear power industry chain. It will actively promote localization of the technology and strive to establish an integrated industrial system for countries involved with the Belt and Road Initiative, Sun said.
Xinhua 1st March 2016 read more »
Denmark
The small country of Denmark (pop. 5.6 million) is making a big commitment to renewables. In the early 1970s imported oil supplied 92 percent of Denmark’s energy. Today Denmark’s electric grid is over 40 percent renewably powered, and the country is aiming to reach 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035 and 100 percent renewable energy in all sectors by 2050. Denmark also plans to reduce its domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 relative to 1990 levels–without the use of carbon credits—ten years ahead of the proposed EU target.
Renew Economy 3rd March 2016 read more »
Renewables
The business benefits of making the switch from fossil fuels to renewables have been made even clearer with a new report revealing that clean electricity adds less than 1% to power bills, drives employee engagement and wins new customers. The Business and the Renewables Revolution report, from independent green energy supplier SmartestEnergy, combines the findings of numerous other recent reports and investigations into renewable energy usage within the private sector, concluding that “a rapid shift to low-carbon electricity is essential”. “Smart companies should rethink their energy supply and understand the benefits that switching to renewables can bring to their business, to the economy, and to tackling the global threat of climate change,” said SmartestEnergy chief executive Robert Groves.
Edie 3rd March 2016 read more »
Renewables – Heat Pumps
Three projects in Shetland, Clydebank and Glasgow have been awarded £1.75m to extract heat from rivers and sea water. A £1.6m loan will help fund a large scale sea-water source heat pump in Lerwick, to allow 225 more households to join the existing heat network. A £75,000 grant will fund plans for a district heating network in Clydebank using heat from the River Clyde. Another grant of £75,000 will be used to develop an existing heating network in Glasgow using the River Kelvin. The Clydebank scheme is for the Queens Quay Development on the site of the former John Brown Shipyard.
BBC 2nd March 2016 read more »
STV 2nd March 2016 read more »
Herald 3rd March 2016 read more »
Scotsman 3rd March 2016 read more »
Scottish Energy News 3rd March 2016 read more »
Renewables – wind
The UK’s first onshore windfarm to be built without government subsidy is now under planning in Cornwall, to be financed in part by the local community. The Big Field wind farm, near Bude, will consist of 11 turbines, none of more than 125m in height to the tip of the blade, and provide electricity for 22,000 homes. Its backers hope it will point the way to further such projects, after the damages to the onshore wind industry caused by the reversal of policy on government support for clean energy. Likely to cost about £30m to build and install, Big Field is planned by the green power company Good Energy. While other wind and solar farms have been cancelled or left in limbo by the government’s scrapping of incentives for onshore wind, the company decided instead to try to raise funds locally to support the installation. An initial application for planning permission for the turbines was filed under the previous subsidy regime. However, that was blocked, and with the withdrawal of government support for onshore wind, the plan looked at an end. Good Energy revived its prospects with a new project that would use the same number of turbines, of the same size, but with 50% more generation capability, because of changes to the turbine technology.
Guardian 2nd March 2016 read more »
Scottish Energy News 3rd March 2016 read more »
Renewables – tidal
The Bridgwater Tidal Barrage is to be constructed within the next few years we understand – and it will change the River Parrett forever. No more muddy banks revealed at low tide and potentially the end of major flooding in the town and surrounding villages. River craft will be able to pass up stream and into the town providing a new marine based tourism. But the nature of the tidal barrier is yet to be defined. Should it carry a road and a possible bypass? Should it have lock gates so large ships can enter from the Bristol Channel so Bridgwater could host events like the Tall Ships Festival? Potentially it could transform the Levels into a vast network of inland water ways and provide sustainable employment for thousands of people. Whatever the plans – it is going to happen and readers and residents must be part of the decision.
Bridgwater Mercury 1st March 2016 read more »
Renewables – solar
Almost 100 Million Homes May Run Only on Solar by 2020.
Bloomberg 3rd March 2016 read more »
District Heating
Residents of Wick, a small town in the far North of Scotland, will soon have greater access to low-carbon heat and power thanks to a major upgrade of its district heating system. The Green Investment Bank (GIB) has today announced it has teamed up with sustainable investors Equitix to buy and upgrade the town’s 3.5MW combined heat and power plant and associated district heating system.
Business Green 2nd March 2016 read more »
Energy Storage
Full utilisation of energy storage has the potential to cut household electricity bills by £50 a year through a system-wide saving of £2.4 billion, a new report by the Carbon Trust has claimed. The report, funded by three of the big six energy suppliers – Eon, SSE and Scottish Power – in conjunction with the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) and the Scottish government, has analysed the benefits of energy in three future energy scenarios. But the report also highlights that an incompatible market structure has reduced the commercial viability of storage for investors by increasing risk and reducing revenue potential. It also said that the split of benefits across network stakeholders makes it difficult for a single one to develop a business case.
Utility Week 2nd March 2016 read more »
Business Green 2nd March 2016 read more »
Green Investment Bank
The process of privatising the Edinburgh-based Green Investment Bank (GIB) will begin today, Business Secretary Sajid Javid has announced. In a speech last night at the Lord Mayor’s Trade and Industry Dinner at the Mansion House in London, Javid said the move would involve the sale of existing shares owned by the UK government and the injection of additional capital by new investors. He said the privatisation of the bank would enable GIB to “maximise investment” into green energy projects by attracting more private sector investment, which has so far been constrained by rules governing how public bodies can raise capital. Javid said: “The Green Investment Bank is a world first, and it is a sign of its success that the idea is being copied globally. Having proven the business model works, we now want it to make an even greater impact.
Scotsman 3rd March 2016 read more »
