Utility Week

4 | 1ST - 7TH MARCH 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... Two top executives depart from Gazprom Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom saw the departure of two top executives and the reshuffling of a third on Monday. Deputy chair- men of the management committee Alexander Medvedev and Valery Golubev will leave the company, while Vsevolod Cherepanov, head of the production department, will move to another role. Chief executive Alexei Miller looks like he will keep his job, said analysts. The changes follow several lay-offs among regional management over accusations of money laundering. Financial Times, 25 February Glencore vows to cap coal output Glencore has vowed to limit its coal output in a bid to address mounting investor unease over the fossil fuel's contribution to climate change. The Switzerland-based FTSE 100 mining giant has long been bullish on the outlook for the commodity. Coal contributed to around 39 per cent of its earnings in 2018. But chief executive Ivan Glasenberg said it would curb output at 150 million tonnes a year and shiŽ investment towards metals such as cobalt and copper, which will be in demand for electric vehicles and batteries. The Telegraph, 20 February School closed after lead found in water A school in southern Scotland has been shut aŽer raised lead levels were discovered in its water supply. Pupils from Cummertrees Primary will go to another school five miles away for about three weeks while it is investigated. Dumfries and Galloway council said a test taken at a weekend when water had been standing in pipes for two days had found the raised lead content. Further water samples showed reduced levels but they were still "higher than expected". The Times, 26 February National media European Commission starts capacity market investigation T he European Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into the capacity market to determine whether it is compliant with European Union state aid rules. The probe will mainly focus on the participation of demand- side response (DSR). The capacity market was sus- pended in November a•er the European Court of Justice (ECJ) upheld an appeal by Tempus Energy against the commission's previous decision to approve the scheme. Judges said the commission had failed to properly address concerns the capacity market discriminated against DSR pro- viders. They said it should have held a full investigation before granting approval. The commission has now launched such an investigation as part of a reassessment of the capacity market. Jonathan Marshall, head of analysis at the Energy and Cli- mate Intelligence Unit, said: "By kicking off its investigation, the European Commission should give investors clarity on whether pre-agreed payments will be made, and how the scheme will look going into the future. "Allowing demand-side response to compete on an equal footing with other technologies is the minimum we can expect from a supposedly technology- neutral system. It will light the fire under a nascent industry, one that will be vital for the new generation of power systems that we will see around the world. "As one of the tools for bal- ancing variable power sources, boosting demand-side response – alongside new interconnectors and storage – will ensure that we can install more renewable energy sources. This will both reduce household bills and cut carbon emissions, a win-win situation." Last month, the European Commission filed an appeal against the ECJ's ruling. TG "If suppliers want to price below costs and make a loss, that's their choice. Time will tell how sustainable these business models are" Stephen Forbes, chief commercial officer at SSE, responding to claims large energy suppliers are "running a cartel" by raising their standard variable tariffs in line with the summer price cap. STORY BY NUMBERS Scottish Power's profits soar Scottish Power has reported a near tripling of profits from its supply and conventional gen- eration businesses in 2018. £271.8m Scottish Power's earnings before interest, tax, depre- ciation and amor- tisation (Ebitda) shot up from £94.7 million to £271.8 million. 3.01m electricity custom- ers were listed at the end of the year, as well as 2.01 mil- lion gas customers. 1.2m smart meters were installed. 33% rise in Ebidta from Scottish Power Renewables, to £457.8 million. 5% increase in Ebidta from SP Energy Networks, to £813.4 million.

• Cover