Moorside
The consortium behind plans for a nuclear power station near Sellafield is stepping up site investigations. NuGen, a partnership between Toshiba of Japan and GDF Suez of France, has an option on 500 acres earmarked for three reactors at Moorside. It re-started site assessment work last week. This involves geophysical surveys, archaeological age-dating and borehole drilling work – carried out well into next year – to provide feedback’s to NuGen’s technical team. The findings will allow NuGen to draw-up site plans for the Westinghouse AP1000 reactors. If all goes to plan, the three reactors will be up and running in 2026. The £10bn project will create up to 21,000 jobs including peak on-site employment of 6,000.
Cumberland News 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Decommissioning
As groaning nuclear decommissioning budget continues to balloon, NFLA calls on all parties to get a grip of costs and to abandon new nuclear build.
NFLA 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Energy Markets
Tackling the policy trilemma of achieving an affordable, decarbonised and secure electricity supply is extremely challenging. The UK’s electricity system, and the policy framework underpinning it, is holding back innovation and cost-reduction because it is propping up a large-scale, centralised utility business model that is fast becoming obsolete. Rapid cost reductions and innovation are occurring in ‘smart’, distributed electricity technologies that disrupt how electricity systems traditionally operate. These technologies – including solar photovoltaics, onshore wind power, batteries, smart thermostats and appliances, and highly efficient lights – hold the key to a cheaper, cleaner, more competitive and secure electricity system that works better for consumers. A fundamental change in direction is required to ensure that the government backs the innovative businesses and entrepreneurs that are developing these new technological solutions to the UK’s energy challenges, rather than the incumbent utilities. This requires major reforms to energy regulation and policy, and to the fundamental structures of the energy market, particularly to enable the rapid development of a ‘smart grid’. If the right reforms are implemented, there is a bright future ahead for the UK’s electricity sector.
IPPR 8th Sept 2014 read more »
The Government should change policies propping up the “dying” system of electricity generation by large-scale utilities such as the Big Six and help new greener forms of energy take off, a new study has suggested. Technology such as solar panels and high-tech batteries could give the UK cheaper, cleaner and more secure electricity, the report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says. It urges Government backing for new technologies and innovative businesses which are changing the face of power supplies.
Herald 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Reg Platt: When the iPod and iTunes were launched in 2001, they changed the music industry forever. Imagine sitting on the board of HMV in 2000, laying down plans for a major investment in new, high-street megastores which – unbeknown to you – will shortly have their revenue base pulled from under their feet. That boardroom is where we are with the UK government’s energy policy. The iTunes of the energy sector is solar power and batteries. The costs of solar panels are tumbling and solar-generated electricity is already the same price as electricity bought from the grid in most sunny countries in the world. Citibank has projected that solar will reach so-called grid parity in the UK as soon as 2020. The Wall Street analyst Sanford Bernstein predicts that within a decade solar will have fundamentally transformed the nature of energy markets across the globe as its costs continue to fall. Cost reductions in batteries support rapid advances in solar because batteries can store solar-generated electricity and enable it to be used when the sun isn’t shining. Barclays predicts that solar and battery combinations will reach grid parity for 20% of US consumers in four years.
Guardian 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Energy Security
Europe’s glaring exposure to Russian gas supply disruptions deep dependency on Russian gas could be slashed by a third if EU leaders place a higher priority on energy efficiency savings, according to the Institute for Public and Policy Research. Europe imports about a third of its gas from Moscow and half of that flows through Ukraine. While only 15% of the UK’s gas comes from Russia, six of the states closest to the Russian border are completely reliant on it, raising fears of a “gas crunch” this winter, if the crisis in Ukraine is not resolved. On Monday the EU was preparing to impose new sanctions focused on the fundraising capabilities of Russian oil companies Rosneft and Transneft, and the petroleum unit of the gas company Gazprom, diplomatic sources said.
Guardian 9th Sept 2014 read more »
Moscow is seeking to prevent its European customers re-exporting Russian gas to Ukraine, threatening to choke off a crucial lifeline for Kiev and deepen the energy crunch it faces this winter. The threats come as EU ambassadors finally approved new sanctions against Russia on Monday night that are expected to target the country’s largest state-owned energy companies. But following concerns raised by new Finnish prime minister Alex Stubb, the sanctions will not become official for a “few days” giving Brussels time to assess whether last week’s ceasefire can take hold.
FT 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Scotland
The build up to the 18 September Scottish independence referendum has now officially reached fever pitch. With polling suggesting a vote for independence is a real possibility, the question of how the union might be divided has taken on a new significance. Scotland and the rest of the UK are closely interdependent for energy infrastructure and fossil fuel resource. So how would the UK divide up its oil, wind and gas resources with an independent Scotland, and what would it mean for each of the new nations’ efforts to decarbonise?
Carbon Brief 8th Sept 2014 read more »
SSE was one of the leading fallers in the FTSE 100 yesterday as investors saw the Scottish-based power group’s profits taking a hit should the UK Government withdraw support for its wind farms in the event of the Yes campaign winning the Scottish referendum.
Telegraph 9th Sept 2014 read more »
Companies
Atkins has acquired US-based engineering and technical services firm Nuclear Safety Associates (NSA). NSA provides nuclear safety, design engineering, and professional security services. Atkins chief executive officer Dr Uwe Krueger said: “This acquisition is another step towards our strategy to be one of the world’s leading energy consultancies. “NSA will enhance our presence in North America, the world’s largest nuclear market, and its safety and security skills will strengthen our international nuclear offering.”
Energy Business Review 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Professional Engineer 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Construction Index 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Japan – Fukushima
The legal net has started to tighten around the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as victims of the accident, and those responsible for clearing it up, take their grievances to the courts. Last week, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said it would not contend a court ruling ordering it to pay almost $500,000 in compensation to the family of a woman who killed herself two months after being forced to flee her home near the plant. That claim, which could pave the way for similar suits, has been followed by a unprecedented attempt by four Fukushima Daiichi workers to sue the utility for unpaid wages. The two former and two current workers, aged in their 30s to 60s, claim that Tepco and its contractors failed to ensure they were paid mandatory hazard allowances, on top of their regular wages.
Guardian 9th Sept 2014 read more »
Saudi Arabia
Last Tuesday, energy officials in Saudi Arabia announced plans to become a major nuclear energy state, assuring the reactors would be used only for peaceful purposes. They intend to move fast, beginning construction by year’s end. The Saudi Royal Family hopes that nuclear will provide 15% of the Kingdom’s power (18 GWe) within 20 years, together with a similar 15% (40 GWe) from solar. They are planning to invest $80 billion to build over a dozen nuclear power plants as fast as possible, intending for the first reactor to come online in only eight years.
Forbes 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Canada
Ten months after supposedly wrapping up hearings into a nuclear waste disposal site near Kincardine, a federal review panel is getting set for Round Two. Starting Tuesday, the panel will spend two weeks examining Ontario Power Generation’s proposal to bury 200,000 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste beside the Bruce nuclear station, on the shore of Lake Huron. The hearings pick up from a series of public sessions spread over six weeks last fall.
Toronto Star 8th Sept 2014 read more »
An independent expert group has dismissed fears that Ontario Power Generation’s plan to bury nuclear waste near Lake Huron would threaten the Great Lakes, despite warnings from another scientist that the proposed site would have the potential for calamity. Facing opposition from some local residents, the provincial Crown corporation will appear before a federal review panel in Kincardine, Ont., this week for final hearings on its plan to bury up to 20,000 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste at the bottom of a deep shaft at the Bruce nuclear plant on the shores of Lake Huron.
Globe and Mail 8th Sept 2014 read more »
South Africa
Areva has been secured a contract from South-African utility Eskom to replace steam generators at the Koeberg nuclear power plant in South Africa. Under the €300m contract, Areva will design, manufacture and install six steam generators in the plant’s two reactors. Areva will also provide associated engineering services and will increase the plant’s power yield by 10% while optimizing its output.
Energy Business Review 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Iran
With a little more than a week to go before the referendum on Scottish separation from the United Kingdom, a “yes” vote by the Scottish people would see major institutional and political changes to the United Kingdom, not least of which would be sweeping changes to the country’s military, one of the world’s biggest and one of only eight officially known to be armed with nuclear weapons. If Scotland votes for “yes,” it wants, according to the Scottish National Party, which has led the Yes campaign, 8 percent of the U.K.’s military assets, primarily naval ones, a share based on population. Crucially, however, Scotland no longer wants to host Britain’s fleet of nuclear submarines and weapons, a long-term SNP policy goal. The British government has already called the split of U.K. military assets laughable.
Reuters 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Renewables – AD
Marks & Spencer (M&S) has agreed a landmark deal with a major biogas plant operator for the purchase of biomethane certificates which will reduce the retailer’s carbon footprint by more than 6,400 tonnes. The deal, struck today (8 September) with Future Biogas, sees M&S purchase 35,000 Mega-Watt hours (Mwh) of certificates, which represent the ‘bio’ element of biomethane produced at anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. The certificates will help to generate the equivalent amount of energy to heat 15 M&S Simply Food stores all year round.
Edie 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Business Green 9th Sept 2014 read more »
Renewables – Hydro
Hydroelectric specialist Green Highland Renewables has this week commenced work on its latest project, confirming the development near Achnacarry will provide enough power for nearly 2,000 homes. The project on the north shore of Loch Arkaig features three hydro schemes with 750kW, 500kW and 1,250kW of capacity, which will be linked by a 9.5km private grid network.
Business Green 9th Sept 2014 read more »
Scotsman 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Renewables – solar
The campaign to install solar arrays on the nations schools steps up a gear today with the launch of a new competition offering primary schools the chance to win a solar installation. As part of the Run on Sun campaign, primary schools are being invited to submit creative applications demonstrating why they want to see a solar array on their school.
Business Green 9th Sept 2014 read more »
Renewables – Good Energy
Good Energy has launched its first crowdfunding offer, announcing late last week that it is hoping to raise £1m through renewable energy crowdfunding platform Trillion Fund. The announcement was made at a solar-powered launch party in London last week hosted by Trillion Fund and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who has reportedly invested £1m through the crowdfunding specialist.
Business Green 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Renewables
A group of renewable energy trade associations have laid out six “key tests” for the next government to meet. The coalition – which includes the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA), the British Photovoltaic Association, the Renewable Energy Association, Renewable UK, Scottish Renewables, and the Solar Trade Association – is calling on the next government to establish a renewables target of 30 per cent of UK energy by 2030. The other “key tests” include: supporting the Climate Change Act; the setting of a binding target for low and no carbon electricity by 2030; a reformation of the EU Emissions Trading System; for the Renewable Heat Incentive to be extended for new applications beyond 2016, and for the UK’s renewable transport fuel obligation to reach 10 per cent renewable energy target for transport by 2020.
Utility Week 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Energy Efficiency
Labour’s Alan Whitehead warns rules to improve the efficiency of rented accomodation include a worrying loophole that will leave many tenants living in cold and draughty homes. Legislation requiring landlords to uprate the energy efficiency of their properties to a specified level by 2018 or face being unable to let them out, providing that the cost of the improvements would not be disproportionately burdensome. Some of us at the time thought that the 2018 date was a bit far in the future, but generally, the proposal had strong all party support and passed into law. But, and there always are buts, the proposals required some secondary legislation to come to pass. Not least a specification of what energy band those landlords would need to attain, and what limitations on landlords’ expenditure would be regarded as ‘reasonable’.
Business Green 8th Sept 2014 read more »
Climate
Green NGOs call on world leaders preparing to travel to New York summit to target full decarbonisation, as UN climate chief makes case for ‘climate neutrality’ and campaigners prepare People’s Climate March.
Business Green 8th Sept 2014 read more »
The world remains on track to see a potentially catastrophic 4C of warming this century, even if the past year has provided some “glimmer of hope” in the form of rapid renewable energy deployment and the falling carbon intensity of some emerging economies. That is the conclusion of a major new report from consultancy giant PwC to be published today, which provides an annual analysis of the carbon intensity of the G20 economies and concludes that despite encouraging progress in a number of countries, including the UK and China, a step change in decarbonisation efforts is required if the international community is to meet its stated goal of limiting temperature rises to 2C above pre-industrial levels.
Business Green 8th Sept 2014 read more »
A surge in atmospheric CO2 saw levels of greenhouse gases reach record levels in 2013, according to new figures. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere between 2012 and 2013 grew at their fastest rate since 1984. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) says that it highlights the need for a global climate treaty. But the UK’s energy secretary Ed Davey said that any such agreement might not contain legally binding emissions cuts, as has been previously envisaged.
BBC 9th Sept 2014 read more »
World governments are facing a “pivotal moment” on dealing with climate change, the UK’s energy secretary will say on Tuesday, before a meeting of heads of state and government in New York this month. The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has called the meeting of world leaders on the back of the UN’s annual general assembly as a prelude to crunch talks in Paris next year at which a new global agreement on the climate is supposed to be signed. Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate change secretary, will unveil the UK government’s strategy for the negotiations. Although the current talks are “not the last hope” of tackling climate change, he will say: “While the negotiations will undoubtedly be challenging, I judge the prospects of a comprehensive climate change deal to be the best since we first began this journey many decades ago.”
Guardian 9th Sept 2014 read more »
Poorer countries will be allowed to continue increasing their greenhouse gas emissions for at least the next 15 years under the government’s proposals for a global climate change deal. Britain has already committed to halving its 1990 level of emissions by 2025 but is arguing that the deal due to be signed in Paris next year should allow some countries “to grow [emissions] before they fall”. A government report published today setting out Britain’s “vision for the 2015 agreement” says that all major economies should state by the end of March by how much they are willing to cut emissions.
Times 9th Sept 2014 read more »
