Hinkley
It was hailed by UK Chancellor George Osborne as a “new dawn” – but serious questions remain about the security implications of Britain’s nuclear energy deal with China. The UK government has refused to say whether China’s planned investment in the British nuclear industry was approved by the National Security Council – the body that assess the risks from foreign investment in critical national infrastructure projects. Chancellor George Osborne announced during his trip to China in October that Chinese state owned companies CGN and CNNC would be allowed to take a 40% stake in the company planning to build the Hinkley C nuclear power station in Somerset. In the future Chinese firms could become “majority owners of a British nuclear power plant subject to British safety rules and policed by the British,” said Mr Osborne. Conservative MP Dr Phillip Lee said it was “perverse” and “Orwellian” to allow Chinese state owned firms a role in critical infrastructure projects like nuclear power at a time when questions over Chinese cyber-attacks on the west had not been resolved. He said future conflicts would not be about the “physical possession of nations” but would involve “control of information, control of infrastructure, water electricity and communication.” Labour MP Dr Alan Whitehead, also a member of the energy and climate change committee called the Chinese nuclear company CNNC an “arm of the state”. “There doesn’t appear to be a clear distinction between the role of the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation in developing civil nuclear and developing and forwarding military nuclear,” he told the World Tonight. “Big corporations particularly national corporations in China are not companies in the way that we would see them in the UK.” He said the Chinese military – the People’s Liberation Army – would be involved in some of the decisions made by the firm. He has called on the UK government to state publicly how the investment in critical national infrastructure was approved and by whom.
BBC 30th Nov 2013 read more »
SEDGEMOOR District Council has won an award for a campaign which it says has led to £128million worth of community benefits for the areas surrounding Hinkley Point C. The council’s fight for extra cash won CorpComms magazine’s Best Public Affairs Campaign.
This is the West Country 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Radwaste
Cumbria Tourism response: Given the scale and importance of the tourism industry in the county, Cumbria Tourism is anxious to protect the strong brand and image of the destination as perceived by visitors both within the UK and overseas. It is therefore keen to engage in the consultation to represent the wider views of the tourism industry. Cumbria Tourism is opposed to several proposals in the consultation in particular the proposed approach to assessing geological suitability as part of the MRWS siting process. Instead a thorough assessment of the geological suitability for a GDF should take place in advance of seeking volunteer communities. This should identify parts of the UK where geological conditions are broadly suitable and avoid disruptive challenges and the loss of confidence in the later stages of the process.
Cumbria Trust 30th Nov 2013 read more »
Our beloved Lake District could be in danger once more. Earlier in the year, thousands of 38 Degrees members came together to stop nuclear waste being dumped in the Lake District. But victories like this one are now under threat. The Lake District was saved from nuclear waste because 38 Degrees members persuaded the local council that it was a bad idea. But now the government are planning to change the law so that people-powered victories like this will be harder, if not impossible. The government’s now consulting on a scheme to bypass local opposition. Their consultation closes on Monday. So we don’t have long to try and persuade them it’s a terrible idea.
38 Degress 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Costs
Government officials have been pushing energy companies not to raise prices until after the next election in return for taking £50 of green levies off gas and electricity bills, several industry sources have told the Guardian. The sources confirmed a BBC report that gas and electricity firms are under the impression that they have been asked to keep down prices for an extended period, unless there were changes in international fuel prices – a claim dismissed by Downing Street on Friday as “utterly misleading”. The BBC said the government was demanding a price freeze until mid-2015 as part of a wider deal on environmental levies. It is understood there has not been a ministerial letter to this effect but officials are putting pressure on the companies not to announce any more price rises for another 18 months.
Guardian 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Labour claimed the Government was in “complete disarray” after energy companies suggested ministers are trying to stop them raising their charges while condemning the price freeze proposed by Ed Miliband. Downing Street and the Treasury denied the claim but it threw the Government on to the defensive as it finalised a package to cut gas and electricity bills to be announced in George Osborne’s autumn statement on Thursday. Ministers hope the reduction will be worth about £50 a year. But industry sources claimed that, in private talks with the “big six” energy firms, the Government sought assurances that they would not wipe out the benefit by raising their charges. Unless there was an unexpected rise in wholesale energy prices, the sources said.
Independent 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Times 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Household energy bills are expected to fall by £50 a year as a result of cuts in green levies to be announced in George Osborne’s Autumn Statement next week. Final negotiations between the Big Six energy firms and ministers are taking place this weekend and suppliers could announce a reduction in prices as soon as Sunday. Some are also expected to pledge that they will freeze prices until spring 2015, unless wholesale energy costs rise. David Cameron promised on Friday that by “eroding” the levies on gas and electricity bills, the Government will deliver “sustainably low energy prices” and help households struggling with the rising cost of living. The Daily Telegraph has been given details of the reforms under negotiation ahead of the Chancellor’s appearance in the Commons on Thursday. Sophie Neuburg, a fuel poverty campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said it would be “appalling” if big energy firms were allowed to dilute their obligations. She said ministers should increase funding for energy efficiency if they were committed to reducing bills.
Telegraph 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Green energy companies Ecotricity and Good Energy have announced a price freeze for all gas and electricity customers until the end of winter. Good Energy, with 35,000 electricity customers and 12,000 gas customers, said it decided to hold prices as most of its external costs were not rising until April 2014. Ecotricity, which has some 85,000 customers, had frozen prices until January 1 but this deadline has been extended until April 1. The average bill for a dual fuel customer is £1,382. Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, said: We’re not just making greener energy, we’re making cheaper energy – and we’re demonstrating how that works now by freezing prices until the end of winter.”
Telegraph 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Prime Minister David Cameron says he wants to help households and families by getting “sustainably low energy prices”, claiming that this can only be done by “increasing competition and rolling back the costs of some of the levies on people’s bills”.
Telegraph 29th Nov 2013 read more »
The “Big Six” energy giants are under pressure to pass on every penny of fuel savings expected to be announced by ministers next week. The Coalition Government has announced that it plans to roll back some of the so-called green levies on household bills. The move could save up to £50 a year for the average home. But there are growing demands for energy companies to make sure that the savings are passed on to consumers.
Herald 30th Nov 2013 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
CCTV footage overlooks the Fukushima nuclear power plant, a rare glimpse inside the ruined site. The first fuel removals at the stricken plant began safely last week.
Channel4 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Iran – enrichment
Iranian president says Tehran is determined to forge ahead with its uranium enrichment programme, for peaceful purposes, and firmly insists Iran’s nuclear facilities will not be dismantled.
Telegraph 30th Nov 2013 read more »
Iran – Bushehr
Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency an earthquake near the city of Bushehr did not damage the country’s sole nuclear power plant and it continues to operate normally, the IAEA said on Friday.
Reuters 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Renewables
Sweden has come top of the new Energy Transformation Index (ETI) developed by the Fraunhofer Institute ISE and the International Solar Energy Society (ISES). The index, which will be published regularly from now on, measures a country’s progress in reaching 100% renewable energy while also boosting the energy efficiency of its economy. Sweden came top with a score of 40 while Brazil finished just behind on 39 and Italy on 34. Japan, Britain and Germany all scored 30.
PV-Tech 28th Nov 2013 read more »
Renewables – wind
The UK’s wind energy industry has set a new record today, delivering more than 6GW of power to the grid for the first time. National Grid confirmed the half-hour average output from the UK’s wind farms reached 6,004MW between 2:30 and 3pm, providing 13.5 per cent of the UK’s total electricity demand – equivalent to the demand from more than 3.4 million homes.
Business Green 29th Nov 2013 read more »
National Grid has confirmed that a record-breaking amount of clean electricity was generated by wind power in the UK today – achieving more than 6 gigawatts (over 6,000 megawatts) for the first time.
Renewable UK 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Renewables – offshore wind
The U.K. will soon see “major investments” in offshore wind projects, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said, signaling the country’s push to expand low-carbon power isn’t derailing. Interest from developers in signing contracts has exceeded expectations, Davey told lawmakers in parliament today. “There will be some good news to announce on offshore wind shortly.” Davey has sought to allay concerns that renewable-power developers are turning away from the U.K. after RWE AG scrapped a 4.5 billion-pound ($7.4 billion) offshore project and Centrica Plc said it’s still deciding whether to push ahead with another.
Bloomberg 28th Nov 2013 read more »
Ed Davey has promised “major investments” in UK offshore wind will be announced in the near future, just as an industry group yesterday warned that a clear commitment to the sector will be needed in next week’s Autumn Statement if investment is to be mobilised. The Energy and Climate Change Secretary told Parliament yesterday that the country’s offshore wind push has not hit the buffers in the wake of RWE pulling out of the £4bn Atlantic Array wind farm project. The German utility blamed technical difficulties for the decision, but the move sparked speculation that political uncertainty arising from the current row between the government and Labour over energy policy and “green levies” was undermining renewable energy investor confidence. There are also mounting concerns across the offshore wind industry that the level of support being proposed by the government for the second half of the decade is insufficient to drive large-scale investment. Aside from RWE’s withdrawal from the Atlantic Array, Centrica’s commitment to its 580MW Race Bank offshore wind farm is rumoured to be wavering, while SSE and RWE trimmed the size of their proposed Galloper offshore wind farm by a third earlier this year. Moreover, planned investment in new turbine factories from a number of manufacturers is continuing to hang in the balance.
Business Green 29th Nov 2013 read more »
SSE and RWE, two of Britain’s big six energy suppliers, have sold to a consortium led by Balfour Beatty for £317m the high-voltage link connecting the Greater Gabbard windfarm off the Suffolk coast. The disposal is required under the latest rules of the energy regulator, Ofgem, but the timing of it could be seen by some as a further retreat by the utilities at a sensitive time.
Guardian 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Geoffrey Lean: It’s not the price of energy that is the problem in Britain but the poor insulation of our homes – which means we use more fuel to heat them. despite all the furore, energy prices are not the principal problem. Even though they have soared, EC figures show British gas prices to be the lowest in Europe. But our bills are among the highest, because we use a lot of fuel – since our homes are among the least energy efficient. Compare us to Sweden, with an almost identical per capita income, but a much colder climate. We have four times their percentage of people in fuel poverty, though we pay only half as much for gas. As our homes are poorly insulated, they lose three times as much heat through their walls. The answer should be a no-brainer – insulate. And there have been a series of, admittedly inadequate, programmes to help the poor to do so, culminating in the current Energy Company Obligation (ECO), under which suppliers are required to carry out efficiency measures. It is this that Mr Osborne is intent on cutting, by spreading its two-year programme over four. If he does so, spending on energy efficiency in England will have dropped by 62 per cent since the Coalition took office.
Telegraph 29th Nov 2013 read more »
UK homes are some of the most expensive to heat in Europe because of poor maintenance and insulation, according to new figures from the EU compiled for the Guardian. The analysis of official EU data also found that the UK has the highest levels of fuel poverty of a dozen comparable EU nations, as well as one of the worst proportions of homes in a poor state of repair. Over 10m British families live in a home with a leaking roof, damp walls or rotting windows. The expense of heating leaky homes means government plans to cut a programme that insulates properties in an attempt to trim energy bills is “unforgivably perverse”, according to the government’s fuel poverty adviser, Derek Lickorish. He condemned the intention signalled by ministers to cut the energy company obligation (ECO) in George Osborne’s autumn statement next Thursday. “ECO is a life-saving measure for some and we should be actually doing more. No one should be dying because they cannot afford to heat their home.” Andrew Warren, director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, who speaks frequently to ministers, said: “It is absolutely disgraceful that the big energy companies have orchestrated this unscrupulous campaign, that appears to be succeeding in blackmailing the UK government into cutting by half its established policy to help customers stop wasting money by wasting fuel.”
Guardian 29th Nov 2013 read more »
The BBC has learned the full details of how the government plans to roll back the largest so-called green levy in an attempt to cut energy bills. The details come in a letter – seen by the BBC – that was sent to energy firms by the government last night. It sets out how a scheme that forces energy companies to give free insulation to low income households will be reformed by law next year. The document: Reveals that the government plans to reduce the Energy Companies Obligation’s (ECO) key energy efficiency target by 30%; Confirms my report earlier this week that ECO will be extended for another two years until March 2017. It says that ECO’s Carbon Emissions Obligation Reduction target – known as CERO – will be reduced by 30%. This means that energy firms will not have to install so much expensive solid wall insulation in hard-to-treat homes. Instead, they will be given greater freedom to install cheaper cavity wall and loft insulation in easy-to-treat homes. The letter says that as a result only 100,000 solid wall insulations will have to be made over the next four years, about 25,000 per year. That amounts to a massive reduction – there were 80,000 solid wall insulation installations in 2012 alone. Building groups said this would severely damage the green energy industry and mean thousands of people will lose their jobs in coming weeks. It also means much less free insulation for fuel poor households, half of whom live in solid wall properties.
BBC 29th Nov 2013 read more »
David Cameron pledged on Friday to cut energy bills by reducing green levies but denied a BBC report that he had asked the country’s biggest gas and energy companies to hold prices steady until the 2015 election. Details of a review of green levies, which include obligatory insulation for poor families and help with their bills, will be unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne in his December 5 Autumn Statement, a government spokesman said. Some of the cost of those measures could be shifted to general taxation, Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary Ed Davey has said. Another possibility reported in local media is to extend the lifespan of the government’s energy efficiency scheme to reduce its annual cost to consumers.
Reuters 29th Nov 2013 read more »
Obituary
With deep sadness we must announce that last night WRI Chair Howard Clark passed away. Howard was Chair of WRI since 2006, and earlier worked for many years as Coordinator of WRI in London before moving to live with Yolanda Juarros Barcenilla in Spain. (Howard was in charge of First Aid at the Torness Direct Action in September 1979 when he helped a policeman hit by a lorry on the A1)
War Resisters International 29th Nov 2013 read more »
