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News August 2021

Radwaste

A fortnight is a long time in politics, to slightly misquote former Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Allerdale Working Group came out of the shadows to meet a Stakeholder group on 17 August. That was the beginning of a chaotic fortnight. At that meeting, Andy Ross, the individual who volunteered the whole of Allerdale excluding the Lake District (where he lives) as a site to bury the nation’s nuclear waste, was questioned. He was asked why he had chosen to exclude the Lake District National Park (LDNP), but not to exclude the Solway Coast AONB. He said that he had chosen to exclude the LDNP as Copeland had done the same, but that it may become part of the search area again in the next stage of the process, known as the Community Partnership. This was a hugely controversial statement. It went against everything said previously, but the rest of Allerdale Working Group did not seek to correct it, they all listened and accepted the statement without comment. The next week, members of Cumbria Trust questioned the Chair of Allerdale Working Group, Jocelyn Manners-Armstrong about the possible re-inclusion of the LDNP. Rather than seek to correct this, she complained that Cumbria Trust were not respecting the privacy of that earlier meeting, which in itself was an absurd comment. You cannot announce a major change in policy – the re-inclusion of the LDNP as a potential site to bury nuclear waste, and expect that to remain a secret. RWM set about fabricating an excuse for what was said. RWM’s response was entirely disingenuous and intentionally misleading. Eddie Martin, former Leader of Cumbria County Council has written to RWM to challenge their behaviour. Here is the text of that letter: “We were frequently promised an ’open and transparent’ process by RWM and I’m afraid your email to me on 27 August falls a long way short of that goal, as do the responses from others in your organisation to Colin Wales and your emails to the Allerdale Stakeholder Group … This may be a 20 year search process. For it to succeed, the public has to develop and maintain a high level of trust and yet RWM have fallen at the first hurdle.”

Cumbria Trust 31st Aug 2021 read more »

Climate Policy

Great Britain’s energy regulator has launched a £450m fund aimed at innovative projects that will help the country meet its net zero climate targets. Ofgem will make the money available to energy network companies that are trying to ensure homes and business are going green. The £450m fund will be available over the next five years but could be extended if strong plans are presented, Ofgem said. It is expected to play into the UK’s wider ambitions to slash 68% of emissions by 2030, and 78% by 2035. Its goal is for net zero emissions by 2050. Ofgem said the ideas would need to be “bold and ambitious”, have the potential to be rolled out at scale across the UK, and could range from heat pump installations to developing battery storage technology. The government announced separately that it will start offering carbon reduction workshops and “practical net zero advice” to thousands of businesses across the UK from Tuesday. Charlie Kronick, Greenpeace UK’s senior climate adviser, said: “It’s not just the half-hearted gimmicky bus tour which will end in November before the hard work of decarbonising the British economy will really start. It is the transparent hucksterism, the blatant hypocrisy and the almost criminally limited ambition that stands out.”

Guardian 31st Aug 2021 read more »

UK launches £450m fund for energy network innovation.

FT 30th Aug 2021 read more »

Small businesses have warned ministers that business rates are an “indefensible” block to investment and hurt green spending as the Government draws up plans to overhaul the tax. FSB chairman Mike Cherry said the levy, which is based on the rateable value of a property, “hurts small firms trying to do the right thing”. He said: “If you put solar panels on the roof to aid your transition to net zero, or install ventilation to support the wellbeing of your staff, the Valuation Office Agency will advise your local authority that you should be paying more in business rates.

Telegraph 30th Aug 2021 read more »

Climate Policy – Scotland

Ahead of the COP26 conference in Glasgow in November, Ms Thunberg added that some politicians were “less worse” than others when commenting on the Scottish Greens’ deal to enter government. The Swedish campaigner told BBC Scotland she recognised some countries “do a bit more than others” but that none were coming close to what is necessary to properly tackle the climate crisis. Ms Thunberg also said she was “not 100% sure” that she would attend the COP26 talks later this year, adding that her decision would be based on whether the event was “safe and democratic”.

Scotsman 31st Aug 2021 read more »

Herald 31st Aug 2021 read more »

The First Minister on Monday announced her intention to appoint co-conveners Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater as ministers, meaning two Green party members are set to enter government for the first time in the UK. The appointment would be the first time since devolution that a formal co-operation agreement will be in place in Scotland between two parties following an agreement made at Bute House on Edinburgh. But the Scottish Conservatives accused Ms Sturgeon of “taking a nationalist gamble with people’s jobs” by bringing the “extremist Greens” into the Scottish Government. Mr Harvie will be minister for zero carbon buildings, active travel and tenants’ rights, working with the housing secretary and net zero secretary. His party co-convenor, Ms Slater, will take on the role of minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity, working with the finance and economy secretary and net zero secretary. Shadow Covid recovery secretary Murdo Fraser said the SNP’s move was “economic vandalism”. He said: “In the middle of the biggest economic crisis in our lifetime, it’s deeply worrying that Nicola Sturgeon is turning to anti-jobs, anti-business extremists.

Scotsman 30th Aug 2021 read more »

The National 30th Aug 2021 read more »

ONE of the architects of the SNP-Green joint government deal has expressed her delight that it has “unionists frothing at the mouth”. Maggie Chapman said it was a “high accolade” for her party to be dubbed “anti-monarchy, anti-Britain, anti-wealth, eco-zealot Marxists” by one commentator.

Herald 31st Aug 2021 read more »

THE SNP have called for work to be undertaken towards a “fairer, greener and independent” Scotland as MSPs return today after the summer recess. The First Minister normally unveils her programme for government on the first Tuesday following the break, but her announcement on forthcoming legislative plans will take place next week instead.

The National 31st Aug 2021 read more »

Advanced Reactors

An Italian physicist and entrepreneur has raised $118 million to develop a new type of nuclear power technology that he claims will be safer, cleaner and cheaper than existing reactors. Stefano Buono’s new company Newcleo, which is incorporated in London, aims initially to develop small 20MW reactors that could be used to power ships or islands. Within a decade it aims to develop 200MW versions that could supply national power grids. Buono, who worked at Cern, the European nuclear research organisation, made his name as the founder of Advanced Accelerator Applications, a nuclear medicine company that listed on Nasdaq and was sold to Novartis for $3.9 billion in 2018, netting him a $200 million fortune. Buono aims to develop a type of advanced modular reactor (AMR). Compared with conventional reactors, such as those being built at Hinkley Point in Somerset, AMRs tend to be smaller and to use different fuels and coolants. While Hinkley’s reactor will be cooled by pressurised water, Newcleo will use lead, which it says is safer as it does not need to be pressurised and can operate at higher temperatures for better efficiency. The reactor also has the potential to use thorium rather than uranium fuel. Buono said the reactor could be shut down more easily and would create less radioactive waste.

Times 31st Aug 2021 read more »

Utilities

ESB Energy has taken a 75% stake in challenger energy supplier So Energy, with the two businesses to merge under the latter’s brand. ESB Energy’s domestic customers are to be added to So Energy’s existing portfolio, taking the supplier to over 300,000 domestic customers and growing its customer base by 35%. The partnership is set to benefit from both companies’ customer-centric values and green credentials and ESB’s resources and expertise, ESB said, while retaining So Energy’s brand will give the new entity a strong platform to grow and roll out new systems, services and products. Both companies supply exclusively 100% renewable electricity, with So Energy having also recently launched solar and battery storage solution for customers.

Current 27th Aug 2021 read more »

US

240 organizations ask Congress to eliminate nuclear subsidies from the budget. Beyond Nuclear was among 240 organizations who have signed a letter sent to the House and Senate Majority and Minority leaders urging them to omit nuclear bailouts from the federal budget and instead direct funds toward investment in carbon-free, nuclear-free clean energy. This moment is our opportunity to launch a wholesale transformation of our economy and our energy systems to save our country and the world from the rapidly advancing climate crisis. Yet, legislation now before Congress would provide billions of dollars in subsidies to aging and uneconomical nuclear power plants, an effort that will cause us to miss the narrow window of opportunity we have left to act effectively on climate.

Beyond Nuclear 29th Aug 2021 read more »

Climate Emergency

The City of London Corporation has awarded a contract to Vital Energi to carry out energy-related retrofits of iconic buildings such as the Barbican Centre and Guildhall School of Music and Drama that will save almost £500,000 each year. The contract will see Vital Energi carry out retrofits within five well-known London buildings including the Barbican Centre, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the City Corporation’s Guildhall headquarters. The contract will deliver energy savings of £480,000 and carbon savings of more than 1,000 tonnes each year. The project will be delivered through the Greater London Authority’s Retrofit Accelerator framework designed to help make London’s non-domestic public buildings and assets more energy efficient, and the works will be funded via the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS).

Edie 27th Aug 2021 read more »

Floating Wind

Although Scotland was the first country in the world to install floating wind farms back in 2017, its floating projects have remained modest in size, 25x smaller than the 1,300MW Hornsea Two wind farm, which will be the world’s largest traditional offshore wind farm when it comes online next year. Through the ScotWind leasing round, the Scottish Government is now offering a great opportunity to begin developing large-scale floating offshore wind projects. In response to this Ørsted has committed to developing floating wind projects in Scotland through the ScotWind leasing round submitting bids both for sites which include a mix of bottom-fixed and floating wind farms, as well as floating-wind only bids in partnership with Falck Renewables and BlueFloat Energy. These projects are being developed on an accelerated timeline in order to deliver green power for Scotland by the end of this decade, creating a pipeline of floating projects that would help position Scotland as a global hub for floating wind manufacturing and technology.

Herald 30th Aug 2021 read more »

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