Utility Week

4 | 25TH -31ST JANUARY 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... China financed 25% of coal plants worldwide China financed more than a quarter of all coal plants announced outside the country last year, according to a new report, putting its clean energy image at risk as Chinese institutions fund coal-fired projects in emerg- ing markets. Chinese institutions last year provided $36 billion of financing for coal plants outside the country, 26 per cent of the 399GW of such plants planned or commit- ted last year, according to a report published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a US-based non-profit. Financial Times, 22 January Oil and gas capex expected to rise The majority of senior energy indus- try executives expect to maintain or increase spending this year to meet demand for oil and gas aer years of austerity, a survey by DNV GL shows. DNV, a technical adviser to the energy industry, surveyed 791 senior professionals from firms with annual revenue ranging from $500 million or less to those earning $5 billion and more. BP (BP.L), Shell (RDSa.L) and many other compa- nies cut capital spending and costs in 2016 aer the price of benchmark Brent crude fell to a 12-year low of below $30 a barrel. Helped by output cuts by Opec and its allies, Brent climbed to an average price of $70 last year compared to $50 for 2015 to 2017. Reuters, 21 January Cocaine in Thames makes eels hyper Londoners are taking so much cocaine that the class A drug can be found in the Thames – and it is being taken throughout the week, not just at weekends, according to scientists. It is feared the high level of cocaine is hurting the river's wild- life, with separate research showing that it makes eels hyperactive. The Sunday Times, 20 January STORY BY NUMBERS National media Hitachi shelves nuclear plans for Wylfa and Oldbury H itachi has suspended plans to build new nuclear plants at Wylfa and Oldbury, sparking fears about the UK's future energy security and its ability to achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets. The company announced last week that its UK subsidiary, Horizon Nuclear Power, would stop work at Wylfa, on Anglesey, and Oldbury in south Glouces- tershire, both of which sites pre- viously housed nuclear plants. The Wylfa project was the furthest advanced in the UK's nuclear new-build planning pipeline aer EDF's Hinkley Point C power station, currently under construction in Somerset. The announcement is the second blow to the UK's nuclear programme in three months. Toshiba axed plans for a power station at Moorside, in Cumbria, in November. Duncan Hawthorne, chief executive of Horizon, said: "We have been in close discussions with the UK government, in co- operation with the government of Japan, on the financing and associated commercial arrange- ments for our project for some years now. "I am very sorry to say that despite the best efforts of every- one involved we've not been able to reach an agreement to the satisfaction of all concerned." Energy secretary Greg Clark told the House of Commons that while nuclear power still had an "important role" to play in the UK's future energy mix, it must provide good value for money. He said the government had offered to take an equity stake and furnish all the debt financ- ing for the Wylfa project, which would have enabled the project's contract for difference strike price to be set at £75/MWh. Former energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey commented: "The UK will face an energy crunch in the next decade and fall behind on climate change targets if the government just continues to sit on its hands." Tim Yeo, former chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, said the suspension of work by Hitachi posed an "existential threat" to the UK's nuclear industry. DB 'Myths' about energy revealed Auto-switching service Weflip says research it commissioned revealed a number of "myths and mis- understandings" about the energy retail sector. 81% of people say they want to reduce their energy bills, but only one-fifth of households switch each year. 83% of those who did switch in the past 12 months say they found the process "easy". 11% of the public think having a smart meter installed will automatically reduce their energy bills. 9% of people wrongly believe they cannot switch energy provider if they have a prepayment meter. "Energy sector is more 'Flinstones' than 'Jetsons' when it comes to enagement" Will Hodson, joint founder of Look After My Bills website, tells an Ofgem conference the energy sector has a lot of work to do on customer engagement. See analysis, p12

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