Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 7TH - 13TH JUNE 2019 | 5 Local diver Martin Gill captured this stunning image of a killer whale surfacing near the newly completed Beatrice offshore windfarm around 13km off the coast of Scotland in the Outer Moray Firth. With a capacity of 588MW, Beatrice is Scotland's largest offshore windfarm and has the deepest fixed foundations of any offshore windfarm in the world, stretching more than 56m from the seabed to sea level. ELECTRICITY Coal-free Britain: two weeks and counting For the first time in its history, Great Britain's power grid has operated for a fortnight without any domestic coal generation, the electricity sys- tem operator (ESO) has announced. The latest coal-free run passed the two-week mark at 3.12pm on 31 May. It is little more than a year since the electricity system saw its first coal-free day and less than a month since its first coal-free week. The previous record, set on 9 May, eventually topped out at more than 193 hours. "As more and more renewa- bles come onto the system, we're seeing things progress at an astonishing rate," said ESO direc- tor Fintan Slye. "We also broke our solar record for Great Britain last month – with one day seeing over a quarter of the country powered by the sun." He added: "As we predicted when we first broke the record for a week of no coal generation at the start of May, events such as [this] will become the new normal. As we move towards 2025, we believe that we will be able to operate Great Britain's electricity system with zero carbon generation." ENERGY RWE and Eon agree terms for asset swap A collective bargaining agreement for "future and job security" has been reached in Germany ahead of the planned asset swap between Eon and RWE. Under the swap, RWE will exchange its 76.8 per cent stake in Innogy for a 16.7 per cent stake in Eon, as well as Eon's renewable portfolio and €1.5 billion in cash. Innogy's renewable division will be returned to RWE. The agreement, which, Utility Week understands, affects only employees in Germany, was agreed with employers' associations and trade unions Ver.di and IG BCE. It includes provisions on "attractive severance payments" for employees who leave voluntar- ily, early retirement arrangements and the possibility of switching to a holding company for further employment and qualifications. The agreement is subject to the antitrust approval of Eon's acquisi- tion of Innogy and will become effec- tive when the transaction is closed. Arno Hahn, chief human resources officer and labour direc- tor of Innogy SE, said: "This is a key milestone to pave the way into the future of both companies. The col- lective bargaining agreement pro- vides concrete terms for job security to Innogy colleagues when it comes to a transfer into the new Eon." Johannes Teyssen, chief execu- tive of Eon, said: "We are consist- ently implementing what we agreed with Ver.di and IGBCE in May last year with the participation of the Group Works Councils." 350MW German company BayWa's acquisition of the UK renewable energy business of Forsa Energy includes Forsa's 350MW pipeline of onshore wind projects in Scotland. "Recently the whole of the UK water industry agreed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. This experience has convinced us that more ambitious national targets are not only essential but are also good for business" Anglian Water chief executive Peter Simpson commenting on a joint letter from 130 business leaders urging the government to set a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, as recommended by the Committee on Climate Change. Martin Gill ENERGY BES Utilities acquires metering company Business energy supplier BES Utili- ties has acquired metering, asset and management company Access Install. As a result BES has now launched its own specialist meter- ing service division, BES Metering Services, with all 80 employees of Access transferring to the Lancashire-based BES Group. Access was acquired for an undisclosed sum and, BES says, a further seven-figure investment in the operation is planned. The company also plans to cre- ate "at least" 20 jobs by expanding its team of metering engineers.

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