Hinkley
As the European Commission considers the £100 billion subsidy package the UK has offered EDF to build and operate Hinkley C nuclear power station, Paul Dorfman explains why the ‘deal’ is illegal, anti-renewables, and ruinous to energy users and tax payers.
Ecologist 8th April 2014 read more »
SGR Sponsors, Prof Keith Barnham, Prof Roy Butterfield and Prof Dave Webb, and Director, Dr Stuart Parkinson, are among the signatories of a submission to the European Commission criticising proposed financial support for two new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point.
Scientists for Global Responsibility 7th April 2014 read more »
Emergency Planning
Those caught up in nuclear disasters suffer many times over, writes Robert Jacobs. Ill-health and early death aside, they are also cut off from their former communities, identities and family life, and the victims of social and medical discrimination.
Ecologist 8th April 2014 read more »
Electricity Market Reform
As most people will know, we’ve got two instruments in the UK to price carbon into energy use and investment – the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), and the UK’s, unilateral Carbon Price Support (CPS). I’ve always been a strong supporter of the EU system, and was sorry to see the difficulties it encountered last year. I’ve been a less strong supporter of a unilateral UK carbon price – but I have always thought that if there is to be one, it should be sober, stable and related properly to the European carbon price. The Chancellor’s short-term games with the CPS may look good for this week’s news but will, I am afraid, further destabilise the investment environment. And that is what will count, long term, for the low carbon investment policy that the price support mechanism was apparently originally intended to support.
Alan Whitehead MP 8th April 2014 read more »
PRISM Reactors
The UK should continue to use nuclear power, in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, writes Stephen Tindale. It should also test new nuclear technologies that can burn plutonium, such as the PRISM reactor, and develop molten salt reactors.
Ecologist 8th April 2014 read more »
Politics
Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps has given the first public indication that the Tories are planning to cement their opposition to onshore wind farms in a manifesto commitment, arguing that “the wind is moving in a clear direction”. In a media briefing reported by the Western Morning News, Shapps confirmed the Tories wanted to make onshore wind farms a political dividing line between the Conservatives and their coalition partners. Conservative Central Office is increasingly confident the issue could help tilt some Tory-Lib Dem marginal seats in the south west, where there is a relatively high concentration of onshore wind farm developments.
Business Green 8th April 2014 read more »
It is no longer “environmentally friendly” to have “giant” turbines in the countryside, a Conservative minister has said, as he indicated that the Tories will pledge to curb onshore wind power in their manifesto. Grant Shapps, the Conservative Party Chairman, said that the Conservatives want to focus on offshore wind and that they are completely opposed to Liberal Democrat plans to have onshore turbines “all over the place”.
Telegraph 8th April 2014 read more »
Every week that goes by, it seems there is another Tory-Lib Dem row over energy policy. In Energy and Climate Change questions last Thursday, I questioned Ed Davey after it emerged that David Cameron, under pressure from his climate sceptic backbenchers, was considering an effective moratorium on onshore wind developments. Onshore wind is, in the words of the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), “by far the cheapest large-scale renewable energy source that can be deployed at significant scale”. Yet David Cameron was happy for it to be known that he wanted to cap it, and Nick Clegg was pleased for you to hear that he had blocked said plans for a cap. Given these permanent internal rows, it is sadly no surprise that investment in renewable energy has halved on David Cameron’s watch, costing jobs and threatening our energy security. And according to the Environmental Audit Committee, the current level of green investment is running at less than half of the £200bn needed over the next 10 years.
Business Green 8th April 2014 read more »
Scotland
Scottish consumers would face a bill of £1.8bn to subsidise new green energy projects if Scotland were to vote for independence, Westminster says. Speaking before a UK government paper on energy and independence is released, Ed Davey, said the greater costs to Scotland for meeting its target for 100 per cent green electricity by 2020 would be likely to mean far less being spent on renewables after independence.
Business Green 8th April 2014 read more »
AN INDEPENDENT Scotland could see energy bills soar to pay for the SNP’s green energy revolution, according to a study by the UK government. Scotland would need to meet the full £1.8 billion subsidy bill for renewable energy schemes such as windfarms and wave and tidal schemes, the latest Scotland Analysis report has found. But the claims have been dismissed by SNP energy minister Fergus Ewing, who insists that the “plentiful Scottish electricity generation” can help keep bills down across the UK. The Scottish Government has published its own report which warns that the UK is facing an energy “crisis” as the margin between demand and supply grows ever tighter.
Scotsman 8th April 2014 read more »
So Scotland could be the Saudi Arabia of renewables. It has natural energy resources the envy of Europe, with 25% of the EU’s offshore wind and tidal power potential and 10% of its wave power potential, and some 90% of the UK’s hydro capacity. Alex Salmond was keen to stress how significant those resources could be for Scotland, and for his case for independence, when he addressed the Bloomberg Future of Energy Summit in New York on Tuesday. But does that mean Scotland’s citizen will enjoy the luxuries of a Saudi prince, fat on the revenues and proceeds of that natural bonanza? It seems the answer is no, not by a long shot. While Scotland wind and wave resources are amongst the richest in the world, the tax take is not. Unlike North Sea oil and gas, renewables are very lightly taxed – in fact they’re heavily subsidised. But given the huge costs involved in bringing Salmond’s Saudi Arabia vision to life, and the significant impact all our energy choices will have on public spending, not to mention the climate, much more work needs to be done on how this can be made to pay.
Guardian 8th April 2014 read more »
Scottish households will have to pay as much as £189 a year more for their energy if they vote for independence, an official Government report warns. Electricity and gas bills would soar because an independent Scotland would be forced to bear the costs of Scottish energy projects that are currently shared between all UK consumers, the analysis finds. It calculates that bills would rise by a minimum of £38 a year this decade and could increase by £189 a year if Holyrood takes on the full cost of supporting Scottish wind farms.
Telegraph 9th April 2014 read more »
Ed Davey: Some things work better when they are together — united and integrated. Energy certainly does. In the UK, as one nation, our integrated, single energy market is delivering the investment, jobs and power we need. The same goes for booming oil and gas industry in the North Sea and our world-leading renewables sector; both are successes in the UK, helped by the UK. Take our oil and gas industry. The UK and Scottish governments have both agreed that the best way to maximise our North Sea resources is through the Wood Review, commissioned by the UK government. Even though Scotland accounts for just 10 per cent of electricity sales, it already benefits from a disproportionate amount of support for renewable energy – 28 per cent of the total UK-wide support for renewable generators (around £560 million). Scotland’s green investments are doing well within the United Kingdom. The Scottish consumer could bear the brunt of any changes. Currently the UK has amongst the cheapest energy bills in Europe, and we are doing everything we can to keep it that way, despite all the rises in gas prices in international markets. Independence would change this. The rest of the UK wouldn’t contribute as they do now to the costs of supporting Scottish energy network investment, small-scale renewables and programmes to support remote communities. Instead those costs would fall on Scottish bill-payers alone.
Telegraph 9th April 2014 read more »
A UK Government minister has warned that “going green will be far more expensive” in an independent Scotland, and could see consumers hit with increases in their energy bills to fund the renewables industry. The Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc), the Whitehall deperatment headed by Ed Davey, is due to publish the latest in the Scotland Analysis series of reports on the effects of separation. It will argue that Scotland is able to invest heavily in renewable energy because the costs are shared across the “broad shoulders of the UK”. It receives 28 per cent of the UK’s support for generators, but accounts for only 10 per cent of electricity sales.
Times 8th April 2014 read more »
Removal of Trident nuclear weapons and sharing a sterling monetary zone will become linked issues in negotiations between Scotland and the rest of the UK in the event of a “yes” vote, a group of academics has said. The claim backs the anonymous UK government minister who said that despite Conservative, Liberal Democrat, and Labour rejections of a currency union, a deal for such a union involving keeping Trident on the Clyde would be worked out.
Times 9th April 2014 read more »
Letter: I read the Scottish Government’s “demolition” of the Westminster Government’s ramshackle and dysfunctional electricity generation policy as did Sir Donald Miller, but I find his intervention on the report a red herring. The question of whether there should be a new nuclear power station in Scotland at this time is hardly a priority when we are exporting up to 25% of our electricity production. And Sir Donald’s remarks about the cost of Scotland’s renewables, mainly onshore wind, pale into insignificance when one looks at the massive projections over the next decade by Ed Davey and Greg Barker for much more expensive offshore wind and solar PV in England. Has Sir Donald no view on these projections? The real questions that should be directed at the Scottish Government are these: First, why are you apparently so desperate to remain an integrated part of the UK electricity generating market, which is certainly not in Scotland’s interest to do so? Where does Scotland benefit from having more renewable – that is, wind farm – capacity than its international obligation would oblige it to have, and where does Scotland benefit from having its flexible and low-cost, yet still subsidised, hydro electricity exported to England to the financial benefit of two predominantly foreign-owned private companies? Secondly, why are you so keen to continue in a system that is driven by a subsidised free market approach when more and more people are beginning to question the operation of this free market? Our so-called free market delivers expensive electricity to Scotland only when high profits are guaranteed. It pays no attention to any national interest. It is time it advocated that we should go back to planning a system that utilises Scotland’s wide ra nge of generating resources to provide a secure and least-cost industry driven by the Scottish national interest.
Herald 9th April 2014 read more »
Energy Supplies
The first and easiest prediction arising from the continuing crisis in Ukraine and the deterioration of relations between Russia and the EU is that natural gas prices will rise. After all half the gas Europe imports from Russia comes through Ukraine. Very little of that supply can be replaced from other sources in the short term. Russia has announced a sharp (44 per cent) increase in prices for the gas supplied to Ukraine – in part as a punishment for past unpaid bills. Surely Europe must be vulnerable to either a cut-off of supplies or a forced price rise? And yet in the real world actual gas prices have fallen over the past month and now stand at a three-year low. Is the market mad? No. The market is entirely rational. There are good reasons for the price fall and good reasons to think the price will fall further. The immediate decline is the result of warm wea ther. It has been a mild winter across Europe and less gas has been used than usual. Stocks are high in many countries, and amount to more than 35 bcm, or 35bn cubic metres of natural gas, across the continent. And there has been no interruption of trade. Russia has not cut off supplies – even to Ukraine. On the contrary supplies have reached record levels at times over the European winter.
FT 9th April 2014 read more »
Nuclear Weapons
The United States will scale back its nuclear bombers, submarine launchers and ballistic missiles in the first cuts to its leftover cold war nuclear arsenal since ratifying a landmark treaty with Russia in 2011, officials said on Tuesday. Under the treaty, known as New Start, the U.S. military will disable four missile launch tubes on each of the 14 U.S. nuclear submarines, convert 30 B-52 nuclear bombers to conventional use and empty 50 intercontinental ballistic missile silos, senior administration officials said.
Reuters 8th April 2014 read more »
Test Veterans
CAMPAIGNERS seeking justice and recognition for servicemen left permanently scarred by British nuclear test are set to meet with the Prime Minister.
Burton Mail 8th April 2014 read more »
Ukraine
The Sevastopol National University of Nuclear Energy and Industry with its nuclear reactor was seized by Russian occupation troops using brutal force, according to an e-mail report from Andriy Martynyuk, board chair of Ecoclub in Rivne, Ukraine, which is part of the NIRS-WISE international network. Ukraine has acted to bring in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to protect the facility, which is located on the territory of Crimea, says acting deputy head of the presidential administration Andriy Senchenko.
Green World 8th April 2014 read more »
South Africa
The agency responsible for the management and disposal of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants has officially been launched in South Africa. Called the National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute (NRWDI), it will also have the responsibility for managing and disposing radioactive waste that spreads from the use of radiation at medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics and from industrial activities such as mining. South Africa’s National Radioactive Waste Disposal Act of 2008 mandated that a national agency for dealing with the country’s waste should be established.
Energy Live News 9th April 2014 read more »
Iran
As Iranian negotiators sat down in Vienna today with representatives of six major powers in Vienna, the head of the country’s delegation, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested that the negotiations are going well enough for all sides to start drafting a comprehensive nuclear deal as early as the next round, in May.
Guardian 8th April 2014 read more »
BBC 8th April 2014 read more »
Iran defended its nomination for ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday, after hawks in the US Senate passed legislation to ban the official from entering the country over his alleged role in the 1979 hostage crisis. The dispute over Hamid Aboutalebi, Tehran’s pick as its envoy to the UN in New York, threatens to derail talks over Iran’s nuclear program, which are entering a critical phase in Vienna.
Guardian 8th April 2014 read more »
The United States said on Tuesday Iran has the ability to produce fissile material for a nuclear bomb in two months, if it so decided, as Tehran and six world powers swung into a new round of talks in Vienna on resolving their atomic dispute.
Reuters 9th April 2014 read more »
Germany
Germany’s heavy industry will continue to be largely exempted from paying for the country’s switch to renewable energy, under the terms of a deal agreed between Berlin and the European Commission. The agreement is part of a blueprint to reform energy policy in Germany, where a decision to exit from nuclear energy and reduce reliance on fossil fuels has led to an expensive boom in renewable energy. The German government plans to take other measures to reform energy policy in the coming weeks, including looking at payments to utilities to prevent a loss of conventional generating capacity. Utilities such as Eon and RWE have been shutting down or mothballing power plants, blaming the fact that their profits have been squeezed by green energy’s preferential access to the grid. German ministers will also look at burying power cables to address public protests that have threatened the construction of vital power transmission lines.
FT 8th April 2014 read more »
Renewables – solar
Solar Trade Association’s Leonie Greene welcomes the government’s new strategy, but asks why Ministers have to detract from the launch by bashing solar farms? There is much to celebrate in the UK’s newly published solar strategy. A target of one million solar homes in the UK in 2015 is truly ambitious and world-class. It’s a target we have been championing at the Solar Trade Association and which, to be met, would require a 50 per cent increase in domestic deployment levels compared to the past three years – beautifully bold but certainly achievable.
Business Green 8th April 2014 read more »
The government’s new plan for solar wants the south facing roofs of public buildings covered with PV panels as quickly as possible. The 22,000 schools in England and Wales are a particular target. Two communities are currently raising money for schools in their area. Staffordshire Sunny Schools is raising about £1m to put an average of 40 kW of panels on 25 primary schools. Plymouth Energy Community is looking for £0.5m to match a loan from the local council that will see PV installed on about the same number of schools. The two schemes are both proposing investor returns of about 5-6%, as well as discounted electricity for the schools and large amounts of cash devoted to local energy efficiency schemes. Both these companies will happily accept investors from outside their area.
Carbon Commentary 7th April 2014 read more »
We’ll curb the blight of the solar farm, say Tories: Minister vows to slow the spread of panels across countryside.
Daily Mail 5th April 2014 read more »
Renewables – wind
Letters – the realities of living with wind farms.
Guardian 8th April 2014 read more »
WWF Letter: While Jane Merrick is of course correct that the British weather is variable she is wrong to suggest that this means onshore wind farms don’t make sense. Onshore wind is cheaper per unit of electricity generated than any other source of renewable electricity. It is also cheaper than new nuclear, which, under current government proposals, will receive subsidies for 35 years as well as up to a £10bn loan guarantee from the Treasury. Electricity from onshore wind soared by 36 per cent last year compared with 2012 and contributed nearly 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs. Most polls suggest that 70 per cent of the British public are in favour of onshore wind turbines. It is important to focus on a range of renewables as we move towards a decarbonised electricity mix, but onshore wind has an important part to play for the foreseeable future.
Independent 8th April 2014 read more »
Large windfarms can knock as much as 12% off the values of homes within a 2km radius, and reduce property prices as far as 14km away, according to research by the London School of Economics. The findings contrast sharply with a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research in March, which found no negative impact on property prices within a 5km radius of a turbine.
Guardian 8th April 2014 read more »
Zero Carbon Britain
‘Zero Carbon Britain: Rethinking the Future’ is the flagship research project from the Centre for Alternative Technology. The latest report contains the most detailed work to date on ‘keeping the lights on’ in a 100% renewable energy system, and feeding ourselves well on a healthy, low-carbon diet. Chaired by Owen Jones (columnist, commentator and author of ‘Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class’) with an introduction and scene-setter from Duncan Clark (Guardian environment consultant editor, director at Kiln and author of ‘The Burning Question’), researchers Tobi Kellner and Alice Hooker-Stround will present their work, and how we can use this. Presentations and speakers will be followed by Q&A and informal discussion. This event will be broadcast live for all those unable to attend in person.
Zero Carbon Britain 9th April 2014 read more »
Here, we integrate new research in two key areas ‘keeping the lights on’ with a variable renewable energy supply, and ‘feeding ourselves properly’ on a low carbon diet. By combining cutting edge technology with a smart approach to agriculture and land use, energy supply and demand, buildings and transport, we show that it is possible for the UK to meet the challenge of climate change and acknowledge our responsibility as a long-industrialised nation to set the pace.
Zero Carbon Britain 9th April 2014 read more »
Climate
The world needs a Plan B on climate change because politicians are failing to reduce carbon emissions, according to a UN report. It warns governments if they overshoot their short-term carbon targets they will have to cut CO2 even faster in the second half of the century to keep climate change manageable. If they fail again, they will have to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere. This could be achieved by burning wood and capturing the CO2 emissions. The gas could then be stored in rocks underground. But a leaked draft of the UN report also says that the technology for carbon dioxide removal is untested at such a scale.
BBC 8th April 2014 read more »
