Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 30TH NOVEMBER - 6TH DECEMBER 2018 | 5 "The energy landscape is rapidly changing and we know that community energy is going to play a vital role in facilitating the transition to a low-carbon future for the North West" Electricity North West's community energy manager, Helen Seagrave, on the company's launch of a £75,000 community energy fund. "If you could do onshore wind in a CfD, a price of £45/MWh is not unreasonable" Emma Pinchbeck, executive director of Renewable UK, told a Westminster Forum conference on the future of the electricity market reform that the sector is approaching no requirement for subsidy. Water companies are warning the public to prepare their homes and businesses for winter to avoid frozen pipes. When pipes burst it can cause flooding and put a "massive strain on the distribution network". Des Nevin, head of customer service centre for Northern Ireland Water, said: "The devastation caused by burst pipes cannot be underestimated." The company is using its character "Flo" for the second year to promote its message and offer advice to customers. WATER Gove gets tough on leakage Michael Gove has set the water industry a new target to halve leakage by 2050, while signalling backing for new reservoirs and inter-regional transfers. In a wide-ranging speech this week, the environment secretary set out a twin-track approach to captur- ing and storing more rainwater while reducing demand through more effective conservation. Gove said a new draft National Policy Statement, due to be laid before parliament this week, would pave the way for the construction of new infrastructure to facilitate water transfers and the first reservoirs to be built in England since the privati- sation of the water industry. But while blaming companies and regulatory barriers for the fail- ure to build new reservoirs, he said relying solely on new water infra- structure would prove expensive for bill payers and create pressures on the natural environment. Gove said he was setting water companies a "stretching" new target to halve leakage, which still stands at 3 billion litres a day. ELECTRICITY Drax: 'negative emissions' drive Drax has kicked off a six-month pilot scheme to trial carbon capture and storage (CCS) on one of the four biomass units at its power station in Yorkshire. The company has invested £400,000 in the project, which aims to demonstrate the potential for bioenergy with CCS to deliver "negative emissions" by effectively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Drax Group chief executive Will Gardiner said: "The project is the UK's first step to delivering a key technology in the fight against cli- mate change. If successful, it could enable Drax to become the world's first carbon negative power station." He continued: "To create a low- carbon future we have to test the technologies that could allow us, as well as the UK and the world, to deliver negative emissions." 633,238 The number of customers who moved to a new electricity supplier in October, according to the latest figures from Energy UK. £16,500 Amount Northern Ireland Water was fined on 23 November after it pleaded guilty to polluting the Ballygawley Water River in County Tyrone.

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