Utility Week

4 | 16TH - 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... Sudan seeks to attract western oil groups Sudan is launching a bid to entice US and European companies back to its struggling oil industry as once-hostile relations between the former pariah state and western governments thaw, according to the country's oil minister. "We are open, without any discrimination at all," said Azhari Abdalla, minister of petroleum and minerals, in an interview in the capital Khartoum. "Whoever wants to come, we will receive them with open minds, with open arms and with policies that will facilitate their investments." Financial Times, 12 November Australia cancels failed emissions contracts Australia's Clean Energy Regulator has cancelled six contracts from the government's emissions reduction fund because they did not deliver the necessary cuts to carbon emissions. Labour and the Greens say the move is a sign the policy should be abandoned. The projects, worth $24 million, were cancelled at the end of October and should have delivered two million carbon credits. Under the emissions reduc- tion fund, bidders nominate how cheaply they think they can deliver emissions reductions. The Guardian, 13 November Cape Town braced for another drought As Cape Town prepares for another summer on the brink of an environmental disaster, with fresh restrictions on water usage already in place, the head of South African tourism has called on the city to become a blueprint for water-scarce cities around the world. The city narrowly avoided run- ning out of water earlier this year, thanks to stringent rules governing water consumption and a major campaign encouraging tourists to "save like a local". The Telegraph, 8 November STORY BY NUMBERS National media Toshiba pulls the plug on Cumbria nuclear power plant T oshiba has pulled the plug on plans to build a new nuclear plant in Cumbria, resulting in the loss of 30 jobs. The Japanese multinational announced this week that it was liquidating its UK nuclear new- build arm NuGen. The decision followed the company's failure to find a buyer for NuGen, which was set up to deliver a 3GW nuclear power station at Moorside. The plant was designed to supply approxi- mately 7 per cent of the UK's electricity needs. Negotiations with South Korean utility Kepco, which was identified as Toshiba's preferred bidder for NuGen last December, stalled last summer. In a statement, the company said there was little propsect of selling NuGen soon and it was uneconomic to keep the company operating. A spokesperson told Utility Week that 30 staff still working at the Moorside site, located immediately to the north of the decommissioned nuclear plant at Sellafield, would be made redundant. Former energy and climate change select committee chair Tim Yeo slammed the govern- ment for dithering over new- build nuclear. Yeo, who is chair of the New Nuclear Watch Institute, said: "This is a huge disappointment and a crushing blow to hopes of a revival of the UK nuclear energy industry. "Although the government has been in talks with Kepco over the NuGen project for more than a year it has still not decided what financial package will be offered to enable con- struction of new nuclear reactors to take place at Moorside. "It is hardly surprising that Toshiba finally lost patience and pulled the plug." Justin Bowden, national sec- retary of the GMB union, called for government intervention and said: "Relying in this way on foreign companies for our coun- try's essential energy needs was always irresponsible." DB Euro oil majors lead on green investment Oil and gas compa- nies in Europe are spending the most on low-carbon energy compared with those in the US and Asia, according to a report by environ- mental non-profit company CDP. 24 Number of oil and gas firms ranked on readiness for a low-carbon transition. $22bn Amount these companies have invested in alter- native energies since 2010. 3.3% Amount of their natural gas production the companies are losing through flaring, venting and methane leakage. 1.3% Percentage of total 2018 capex spent on low-carbon assets by the whole oil and gas sector. "Approving this new gas capacity risks either throwing the UK's decarbonisation off course or locking in redundant infrastructure" Sam Hunter-Jones, climate accountability lawyer for Client Earth, explains why the green law group has submitted an objection to Drax's planning application to replace two coal units with gas.

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