EDF
Financial problems facing EDF could force the French energy giant to pull out of the £14bn project to build the first of a new generation of nuclear power plants in Britain, a French expert has warned. Mycle Schneider, a former energy adviser to the French government, questioned whether EDF could finance the investment. “EDF is in big trouble. The whole of the nuclear power industry in France is in big trouble,” he said. His comments, on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, came as David Cameron prepared to raise the nuclear power issue with the president of France, Francios Hollande, during his lightning tour to try to win support for EU reforms. President Hollande is seen as a pivotal figure because he wants state controlled EDF to curb its nuclear power ambitions and invest heavily in improving safety at plants in France as well as giving a higher priority to renewable energy. Mr Schneider said that EDF with debts of €39bn (£33.3bn) might not have the cash to put into Hinkley and added: “It’s not certain it will go ahead. “There are a long list of issues that need to be agreed, not only the strike price. Even if there is an agreement the financing package has to be put together. It’s a very long-term investment of very uncertain levels of realisation.”
Telegraph 8th April 2013 read more »
EMR
The government is today facing fresh calls to divulge more details of its long-running negotiations with EDF over the level of support its proposed new Hinkley Point nuclear power plant will receive. In a letter to the Telegraph, a group of more than 50 MPs, academics and green campaigners have requested that “in the context of openness, transparency, fiscal and regulatory accountability, and ‘best value’ for the UK taxpayer and energy consumer”, the National Audit Office should be tasked with undertaking a detailed review of the negotiations between the government and EDF.
Business Green 8th April 2013 read more »
Nukes & Climate
At the DESERTEC Foundation, we believe that it is the world’s deserts that hold the key to addressing the global climate challenge. By harnessing their abundant energy, renewable technologies such as concentrating solar power (CSP), photovoltaic (PV) and wind can complement renewables in other regions to generate the affordable power we need to reduce emissions and provide greater security of supply. However, in order to take full advantage of the plummeting costs of solar PV and onshore wind and get the most out of the clean and affordable power they provide, we will require a transmission grid and an energy mix that plays to their strengths. Such a system would not include nuclear power. Ultimately, this is why nuclear is a dangerous distraction. Not because of legitimate concerns about safety, or waste, or proliferation, but because the right combination of renewable technologies can deliver more of the electricity we need and cut more carbon emissions in less time and with less cost. Compare the rising cost of nuclear to the long-term and consistent fall in the cost of a range of renewable technologies: PV modules have plummeted, dropping by 75% in price in the last three years alone; in some locations and some markets geothermal, onshore wind and PV are already competitive with fossil fuels. Nuclear alone exhibits a negative learning curve.
Energy Desk 4th April 2013 read more »
Politics
Mrs Thatcher arguably did more than any major UK politician at the time to legitimise the environment as a concern at the highest level. During her brief green period in the late 1980s she shocked first the Royal Society then the UN with speeches crackling with environmental passion. Her intervention consolidated the issue in the media and provoked many organisations into formulating policies on the environment. She later recanted, voicing fears that climate had become a left-wing vehicle. But her earlier remarks had already changed the institutional landscape.
BBC 8th April 2013 read more »
Hungary
Hungary may repatriate spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from its Paks plant to Russia as soon as 2014, the country’s nuclear authority said in late January, triggering a wave of concern from Hungarian environmentalists, who believe the decision to export the dangerous material – which was severely damaged during chemical treatment in 2003 – is irresponsible and threatens risks to public health and the environment.
Bellona 5th April 2013 read more »
Poland
Poland will need to provide some form of state support for its long-awaited nuclear plant that is expected to cost $15 billion, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday. Poland, the European Union’s largest eastern member, originally planned to launch a 3 gigawatt nuclear plant by 2023 and to double that capacity by 2030 to reduce its dependence on highly polluting coal. But the chief executive at Poland’s top utility PGE, had warned that due to high costs it would be difficult to build the nuclear power plant without government backing, which had been ruled out by the treasury ministry.
Reuters 2nd April 2013 read more »
Renewables
The UK’s fledgling tidal energy industry received a dual boost this week, after US company ResHydro revealed plans to set up shop in Scotland and proposals for a tidal power lagoon in Swansea Bay moved forward. ResHydro’s hydrokinetic tidal device induces and maintains a phenomenon known as “flutter” – a vibration caused by aerodynamic forces on an object which couple with a structure’s natural mode of vibration.
Business Green 8th April 2013 read more »
BBC 8th April 2013 read more »
STV 8th April 2013 read more »
Times 8th April 2013 read more »
A project to power 107,000 homes using a tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay is seeking £10m of funding from the public. The first of its kind in the UK, the scheme intends to generate up to 250MW of renewable power by harnessing the tides to drive enormous turbines, enough to meet Swansea’s annual domestic electricity needs. Tidal Lagoon, a company backed by entrepreneur Mark Shorrock, who previously developed windfarms in Scotland and solar arrays in Cornwall and Spain, wants to start construction in Swansea in 2017. Shorrock said tidal lagoons could eventually provide 10% of the UK’s energy, and the company has already carried out initial investigations into a second project in Cardiff Bay. Nearly seven miles of breakwaters need to be built to create a lagoon which will capture water at high tide. Once the sea begins to flow the other way, release gates will funnel water through turbines set in the lagoon wall.
Guardian 8th April 2013 read more »
Cooking waste from thousands of London restaurants and food companies is to help run what is claimed to be the world’s biggest fat-fuelled power station. The energy generated from the grease, oil and fat that clogs the capital’s sewers will also be channelled to help run a major sewage works and a desalination plant, as well as supplying the National Grid, under plans announced by Thames Water and utility company 2OC. The prospect of easing the financial and logistical problems of pouring £1m a month into clearing the drains of 40,000 fat-caused blockages a year is being hailed by the companies as a “win-win” project. Thirty tonnes a day of waste will be collected from leftover cooking oil supplies at eateries and manufacturers, fat traps in kitchens and pinchpoints in the sewers – enough to provide more than half the fuel the power plant will need to run. The rest of its fuel will come from waste vegetable oil and tallow (animal fats).
Guardian 8th April 2013 read more »
