Utility Week

4 | 22ND - 28TH MARCH 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... BP chief: 'engage with Green New Deal' The oil industry should engage with proponents of the "Green New Deal", a Democratic initia- tive seeking to radically reduce US dependence on fossil fuels, BP chief executive Bob Dudley has said. Dudley made the rare foray into US politics in a keynote speech at the largest US annual gathering of the oil and natural gas sector in Houston, urging peers to engage with young people or lose the trust of society. New York Times, 12 March Japan is moving away from coal Major Japanese investors, including those most indebted to coal, are seeking to back large-scale renewa- bles projects across Asia, marking a "monumental" shi„ that energy market analysts say is "the start of the end for thermal coal". At the same time, Japanese banks and trading houses are walk- ing away from coal investments, selling out of Australian mines and scrapping plans to build coal-fired power. Japan is Australia's largest export customer for thermal coal. The Guardian, 18 March Romanian energy needs €30bn of funds Romania's energy sector needs as much as €30 billion ($34 billion) of investment in power, oil and gas production, mining and related infrastructure by 2030 to replace outdated plants and meet rising demand, a dra„ energy strategy has said. The country is one of the EU's most energy-independent coun- tries as a net exporter of power, although it has to import oil and about 10 per cent of its gas needs. The 2019- 30 energy strategy dra„ looks at investment in gas and power networks, interconnections and energy. Reuters, 14 March National media Gas heating to be banned in new-build homes from 2025 G as heating systems will no longer be allowed in new homes from 2025 under new regulations unveiled by Philip Hammond. The chancellor announced in his spring statement on 13 March that the government would introduce a Future Homes Standard for new dwellings from the middle of this decade. Under the standard, new houses will have to have "world leading" levels of energy effi- ciency and low-carbon heating, such as heat pumps, rather than gas-fired central heating. Hammond said: "We will introduce a Future Homes Stand- ard, mandating the end of fossil fuel heating systems in all new houses from 2025." The new standard is designed to help to deliver prime minister Theresa May's pledge last year to at least halve the energy use of new-build properties by 2030. The move to ban fossil fuel heating from new-builds by 2025 is in line with a recommendation in a report on housing issued last month by the Committee on Climate Change [CCC], which advises government. It had recommended that new homes should not be connected to the gas grid, which would make them unable to use gas cook- ing hobs. However, the Future Homes Standard appears to stop short of that proposal. The statement also saw a commitment by the government to accelerate the decarbonisa- tion of the gas grid by injecting more green gas into the network. Justin Bowden, national secretary of the GMB union, called on MPs to block the new standard, saying it had not been "thought through". However, there was a warmer reception from James Court, policy and external affairs direc- tor at the Renewable Energy Association, who said it would "help remove some of the uncer- tainty surrounding the path to decarbonising heat". Lawrence Slade, chief execu- tive of Energy UK, welcomed the chancellor's endorsement of green gas and increased energy efficiency in new homes. DB "It is evident that more needs to be done to increase SME awareness" MOSL responds to research by the Consumer Council for Water that revealed only two in five SMEs are aware they can change their water supplier. STORY BY NUMBERS Wind generates 1/3 of UK power over one week in March More than one- third of electricity in Great Britain was powered by wind over the period 8-14 March, data col- lected by Aurora Energy Research has revealed. 35.6% The total propor- tion of electricity generated by wind. 31.2% was provided by gas. 21.3% was nuclear power. 6.7% was biomass. 2.6% was coal. 1.8% of electricity generation was provided by hydro plants.

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