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News July 2018

Renewables – offshore wind

Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm started generating power for the first time on 19 July 2018. Following the successful installation of the first 7 MW turbine, Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited has exported power to the National Grid. The windfarm’s first turbine installation heralds the start of the project’s final stage on its journey towards completion in early 2019. Situated 13 km off the Caithness coast, the £2.6Bn (US$3.4Bn) windfarm funded by Scottish energy company SSE, is not only one of the largest private investments in Scottish infrastructure, it is also the largest offshore windfarm in the world built using jacket foundations. The jackets hold the distinction of being the deepest fixed foundations of any offshore windfarm, each weighing in at circa 1,000 tonnes and being installed in water depths of up to 56 m.

Offshore Wind Journal 20th July 2018 read more »

Electric Vehicles

Rapid electric vehicle chargers have been added to a solar and storage hub in Dundee to utilise the clean electricity generation and batteries to charge the city’s fleet of electric vehicles. EVolt has installed six of its Raption 50kW Rapid Chargers, capable of charging two vehicles simultaneously in approximately 30 minutes, and three 22kW eVolve chargers. They will be used alongside other chargers to make use of the generationn from the 36kWp solar canopies at the site and join the 60kW/90kWh E-STOR system from Connected Energy, which uses second life batteries from Renault. Justin Meyer, general manager of eVolt UK, said: “This is the first hub of its kind, combining EV charging, solar canopies and energy storage, we are proud to be supporting Dundee Council’s project to lower emissions and to encourage more people to make the switch to sustainable e-mobility.” The hub, which offers 18 parking bays beneath the solar canopies, is located on Princes Street in Dundee city centre. It is the second of three to be built in Dundee using £5 million awarded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) under the Go Ultra Low programme. Fraser Crichton, transport officer at Dundee City Council, said the hub was a landmark development for the city.

Solar Power Portal 19th July 2018 read more »

CCS

At least two CCS (carbon capture storage) plants should be up and running by the mid-2020s, the government has been told by the force that it established to spur the development of the technology. The CCS taskforce’s report for the government, which is published today (19 July), recommends that the plants should be developed as part of two new clusters that would also include facilities to store the carbon dioxide captured during the process. The taskforce, which was set up following the publication of the Clean Growth Strategy (CGS) in the autumn last year, concludes that the UK is “uniquely placed” to grasp the opportunities presented by carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS). The report by the taskforce, which was chaired by law firm Linklaters energy and infrastructure partner Charlotte Morgan, will feed into the CCS deployment pathway that the government has committed to publish by the end of 2018. It recommends that CCS plants should be established in clusters to maximise potential cost reductions from economies of scale. It says the government should be storing approximately 10 megatonnes of CO2 each year by 2030 to be on track to meet its long-term carbon reduction goals.

Edie 19th July 2018 read more »

A UK Government taskforce has highlighted Peterhead as a key region to deploy Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, less than three years after Westminster cut a £1billion fund to develop it.

Energy Voice 20th July 2018 read more »

A government-backed Taskforce appointed to analyse the best ways to bring down the cost of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) technology has urged the government to act now to ensure the approach can be deployed at scale in the most cost effective manner.

Business Green 19th July 2018 read more »

Fuel Poverty

ECO, the UK’s flagship £6bn domestic energy efficiency scheme, is being refocused on upgrading more than one million fuel poor homes over the next three and a half years, the government confirmed today. The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme requires larger energy companies to supply heating and energy efficiency measures to domestic properties. BEIS today confirmed the scheme will be expanded to include more energy firms when the next phase kicks off this autumn and runs through until March 2022. And the government also confirmed that as previously mooted the ECO requirement for energy suppliers to promote carbon saving measures has been axed in favour of a refocus on delivering “affordable warmth”. As such energy efficiency improvements will have to be targeted at households that officially qualify as fuel poor.

Business Green 19th July 2018 read more »

Energy Policy

Britain’s largest companies will need to lay bare the size of their carbon footprint alongside their statutory financial results in their annual reports from next year. Under new rules, the Government will force large private companies and those quoted on the London Stock Exchange to account for their energy use, carbon emissions and their energy efficiency measures in the drive towards a zero carbon economy. The new rules take effect for the financial years from April 2019 and replace a defunct carbon reporting regime which was heavily criticised by business for needlessly adding layers of bureaucracy at a cost of around £20m.

Telegraph 18th July 2018 read more »

The rhetoric of GB Energy Policy is now firmly set on an energy policy path which is ‘smart and flexible’. This is set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, the Industrial Strategy and Ofgem’s Smart Systems and Flexible Plan. In August 2017, Ofgem set out their Strategy for Regulating the Future Energy Systems – which is an overview of the issues that energy systems are facing, and their plan for dealing with them and delivering a smart and flexible energy system through regulation. At the same time, Ofgem released parallel documents which set out future regulatory options related to network charging (residual and future), electricity settlement and RIIO-2 issues; and in December 2017 sought views on a post supplier hub model. These documents make clear that GB energy policy is to move towards a smart and flexible energy system. However, the details of what a smart and flexible system actually means – for energy system stakeholders – is surprisingly opaque, as is the process, and necessary coordination to get there.

IGov 18th July 2018 read more »

Energy Costs

Energy watchdog Ofgem is set to be handed new statutory powers – dubbed a “nuclear deterrent” – to end inflated prices. The new legislation to free people from “rip off” energy tariffs should be operating next winter, a move which would protect 11 million customers. The law will allow energy regulator Ofgem to limit how much companies can charge customers for their standard variable tariffs. Tory former minister John Penrose, who welcomed the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill’s departure from the Commons for Royal Assent, said he hoped the new powers would “never need be used”.

ITV 18th July 2018 read more »

Politics

The MP for Barrow and Furness, John Woodcock has resigned from the Labour party to sit as an independent MP, The Telegraph understands. In his resignation letter the MP, who is under investigation over allegations of sexual harassment, said Jeremy Corbyn’s decision not to appoint an independent investigation for his case led him to leave the party. He also warned Mr Corbyn would be a “risk to UK national security as Prime Minister”. Mr Woodcock, a fierce critic of Mr Corbyn, was suspended in April amid claims he sent inappropriate messages to a member of staff. The MP has consistently said he “does not accept” the allegation against him.

Telegraph 18th July 2018 read more »

SMRs

There is growing UK and international interest in using ‘small modular nuclear reactors’ (SMRs) to generate electricity, and the UK Government announced a number of measures to support SMR development in the 2018 Nuclear Sector Deal. Stakeholders suggest that, compared with conventional nuclear reactors, SMRs could offer cost savings to operators and consumers, more flexible energy production and a greater choice of potential sites. This note examines key aspects of SMR technology, their economics and regulation.

Parliament 18th July 2018 read more »

New funding measures for advanced reactor research and manufacturing will help the UK retain and grow its nuclear expertise and signals support for a widening range of SMR applications, industry experts told Nuclear Energy Insider. The UK nuclear industry has broadly welcomed the UK government’s new 200 million-pound ($263.8-million) Nuclear Sector Deal which aims to cut the cost of nuclear power and bolster the UK skills base. The deal, announced June 27, includes 56 million pounds towards the development and licensing of advanced modular reactor designs—already set by the government last December– and 32 million pounds towards advanced manufacturing research. In addition, the UK and Welsh governments will jointly invest $40 million in new thermal hydraulics testing. The development funding will initially allocate a total 4 million pounds to eight non-light water reactor (non-LWR) vendors, to perform detailed technical and commercial feasibility studies. The eight vendors are: • Advanced Reactor Concepts • DBD • LeadCold • Moltex Energy • Tokamak Energy • U-Battery Developments • Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation • Westinghouse Electric Company UK. In April 2019, three or four of these companies will be selected to receive a total of 40 million to accelerate the development of the design over two years. UK nuclear regulators will receive 5 million pounds to support this process and a further 7 million pounds to build regulatory resources to assess and license new designs. The latest funding announcements could, for now, prevent an exodus of UK expertise to other countries supporting SMR development. Several advanced reactor developers are simultaneously pursuing SMR programs in North America, where government support programs are larger. In addition to baseload supply, SMR developers are targeting applications such as renewable energy load following, industrial power and heat, district heating, and hydrogen production.

Nuclear Energy Insider 18th July 2018 read more »

The US Department of Energy (US DOE) has selected GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) to lead an advanced nuclear technology development project for BWRX-300. The project will bring together Exelon Generation, Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy (HGNE), Bechtel and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As part of the project, the team will identify various methods to simplify the reactor design, reduce plant construction costs, and minimise operations and maintenance costs for the GEH BWRX-300, a 300 MWe small modular reactor.

Power Technology 18th July 2018 read more »

AP1000

Michael Shellenberger: You might have heard about a new kind of nuclear reactor that promises far greater safety at a much lower cost. How? It is much simpler and thus requires “half as many safety-related valves, 83 percent less safety-related pipe and one-third fewer pumps;” Its components can be manufactured in a factory and assembled on-site at lower cost rather than built from scratch; Its cooling and passive safety features rely on “natural forces, like gravity… rather than relying on mechanical pumps powered by electricity.” These features mean it will have a very low cost. How low? “Somewhere between $1.4 billion and $1.9 billion” per reactor. Does such an advanced nuclear reactor actually exist? It does. It is the Westinghouse “Advanced Pressurized 1000”, or AP1000. But instead of taking four years to build it will take nine — and instead of costing the mere $1.4 to $1.9 billion Westinghouse promised, it will cost five to ten times more. What went wrong? The “source of the biggest delays can be traced to the AP1000’s innovative design,” concluded investigative reporters with the St. Louis Dispatch, “and the challenges created by the untested approach to manufacturing and building reactors.” (Research I conducted last year, and by other journalists, came to the same conclusion.) In the end, Westinghouse went bankrupt, and the building of two AP1000s in South Carolina was cancelled. It’s not clear any more of the reactors will ever be built.

Forbes 18th July 2018 read more »

Chernobyl

Wild animals have free range around northern Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, which spread radiation throughout the region in 1986. Studies have hinted that significant populations of European gray wolves and other large creatures live in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the roughly Rhode Island-sized, 1,000-square-mile section from which people were evacuated and can no longer live. While clear of humans, animals are not free from radiation and its health effects, an active and at times controversial area of research. Many questions remain about the extent to which radiation causes mutations in various species, and whether these could be spread outside the zone.

National Geographic 16th July 2018 read more »

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