Utility Week

4 | 17TH - 23RD MAY 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Seven days... Hydrogen-powered double-decker bus fleet for London London will have the world's first hydrogen-powered double-decker buses on its streets next year, as the capital steps up attempts to tackle its polluted air. Transport for London (TfL) has ordered 20 of the buses, which cost around £500,000 each and only emit water as exhaust. As well as cutting emissions, the buses will run on green hydrogen produced via North Kent offshore wind farms, according to TfL. The overall cost for the new fleet, including the refuelling infrastruc- ture, will be £12 million, £5 million of which will come from European funding. The transport authority expects the running costs to be comparable for a diesel bus. The Guardian, 10 May Falling green spend stalls progress on Paris climate goals The world is moving in the opposite direction of the Paris climate goals, with investment in renew- able energy falling for the second consecutive year in 2018 and spending on fossil fuel extraction rising, the world's energy watchdog has warned. Spending on renewable power such as wind, solar and biomass projects slipped 1 per cent in real terms to $304 billion in 2018, the lowest level since 2014, according to an International Energy Agency report published on Tuesday. Investment in coal mining rose by 2.6 per cent compared with the previous year – the first uptick since 2012 – to $80 billion, while capital expenditure on oil and gas extrac- tion saw a 3.7 per cent increase to $477 billion. Under the Paris accord, nearly 200 countries pledged to limit global temperature rises to less than 2C above pre-industrial levels. Financial Times, 14 May National media Npower blames price cap for customer exodus and Q1 loss N power saw 103,000 customers depart in the first three months of the year and reported losses before interest and tax of €45 million (£39 million). The company, which is owned by Innogy, blamed the introduction of the price cap in the UK for its poor performance, which compared to a profit of €43 million for the same period last year. The big six supplier said the cap and customer losses "curtailed earnings" along with provisions for severance pay- ments in connection with a new restructuring programme. Revenue fell 5.6 per cent to €2 billion and the company expects Npower's full-year adjusted earnings before inter- est and tax to be a loss of €250 million. The results also showed a rise in the number of staff, with 359 more at the end of March than three months previously. In January, however, the com- pany announced that around 900 jobs would go because of the "extremely tough UK retail energy market conditions". Npower said the actual number of redundancies "will be considerably lower" because around 900 people leave the company annually. Overall Innogy's adjusted net profit was €407 million, down from €610 million at the same time last year. Adjusted earnings were down 22 per cent year on year. Last month, Innogy chief executive Uwe Tigges said the continued difficult market condi- tions for Npower were a reality the company did not want to "ignore". Speaking at Innogy's annual general meeting in Essen, Ger- many, Tigges said that opera- tionally Innogy was "on track" and the business was progress- ing as planned. "The only exception, which unfortunately cast a major shadow over fiscal 2018, is our UK retail business," he said. Npower was given the green light to merge with SSE's retail arm SSE Energy Services, but the two companies called off the deal late last year because of "adverse developments" in the retail market and "regula- tory interventions" such as the price cap. AJ "The government must not deliver a weak strategy that pays only lip service to our recommendations" Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, in a letter to chancellor Philip Hammond regarding the government's infrastructure strategy, set to be published this autumn. STORY BY NUMBERS Public attitudes to energy The latest Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy public attitudes tracker has revealed a host of informa- tion about energy consumers, from smart meter uptake rates to attitudes towards suppliers. 65% of those polled didn't own a smart meter, despite the loom- ing 2020 installa- tion deadline. 80% were either fairly concerned (45 per cent) or very concerned (35 per cent) about climate change. 28% were worried about paying their energy bills. 53% did not trust sup- pliers to inform them about the best tariff.

• Cover