Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 13TH - 19TH JULY 2018 | 5 ENERGY MPs back Cave as new chair of Ofgem MPs have backed the appointment of price cap champion, professor Martin Cave as the chair of Ofgem. Following a pre-appointment hearing this week, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee endorsed Cave, who is the government's preferred candidate to head the energy regulator. The committee's chair, Rachel Reeves, wished him "every success" and said she looked forward to the academic being a "visible, effective" chair of Ofgem. She said: "The energy market needs a tough regulator. I hope professor Cave will do all he can to ensure Ofgem is a champion for energy consumers, including for vulnerable customers and those on low incomes, and also for small businesses who often bear the brunt of higher energy costs." ENERGY Former National Grid CEO chosen as next Energy Institute president Steve Holliday, who was at the helm of National Grid for almost ten years, is to be the next Energy Institute (EI) president. He will take over from Malcolm Brinded at the end of his term in July 2019. Holliday has been vice-president of the EI for two years and was nominated as president-elect by the organisation's council and appointed by its members at the annual general meeting at the beginning of the month (3 July). He joined National Grid Group as the board director responsible for the UK and Europe in March 2001, going on to become its chief execu- tive in January 2007 and remaining in the role until March 2016 when he was replaced by John Pettigrew. Prior to joining National Grid, Holliday was on the board of Brit- ish Borneo Oil and Gas and was responsible for the development of its international businesses in Brazil, Australia and West Africa. 116 Number of amendments assessed by Ofgem for capacity market rule changes – four sug- gested by itself and the rest by stakeholders. 43% Greg Clark has set a target to slash greenhouse gas emis- sions from the central government estate by the end of the decade to 43 per cent of 2009/10 levels by 2019/20. British Solar Renewables (BSR) has completed the construction of a 49.99MW battery storage project near Bishop's Stortford in Hertfordshire, which the company claims is the largest such facility to be built in the UK. The Stocking Pelham site is owned and operated by developer Statera Energy. "If further policies are brought forward to encourage the production of low carbon gases, a decision will need to be made about how low carbon these gases are required to be" The Producing Low Carbon Gas report, the second in the "Future Gas" series of studies published by Carbon Connect with backing from a cross-party group of MPs, says hydrogen could help to reduce emissions from heat, industry and transport. Government 'distorted figures', says Tidal Lagoon Power The developer behind a propsal to build a £1.3 billion tidal lagoon plant in Swansea Bay has accused the government of distorting the figures used to justify its decision not to back the scheme. Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP) has carried out an audit of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department's value-for-money assessment of the project, which has been reviewed by the Centre for Economics & Business Research economics consultancy. According to the audit, the BEIS assessment did not take account of the longer life span of the Swansea Bay project, which would be expected to keep generating power for 120 years, twice the estimated life span of nuclear power plants. Spreading out the cost of building the tidal lagoon over this longer period would lower the capital cost per unit of power generated to 1.5 more than Hinkley Point C. The BEIS assessment was that the capital cost per unit of power produced would be three times higher. And the larger tidal lagoons that TLP plans to build after Swansea would cost about the same as new-build nuclear plants using the same methodology, TLP's audit concludes. The overall programme of six lagoons planned by TLP would cost 1.2 times more than the nuclear capacity required to produce the same amount of electricity as opposed to the 2.5 ratio stated in the BEIS assessment. BEIS did not respond to a request for comment.

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