Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 24TH - 30TH JANUARY 2020 | 5 PAN-UTILITY Islington signs up Moixa and Honda in EV initiative Moixa and Honda have launched the first stage of a partnership with Islington Council as it seeks to electrify its fleet of 500 vehicles to meet new emissions standards and achieve its 2030 net zero target. The local authority unveiled the first of five bi-directional smart electric vehicle (EV) chargers, which will be installed at its town hall and partly fed by roo„op solar panels. The chargers were manufac- tured by Swiss firm EVTEC, which developed them in partnership with Honda. Moixa's GridShare so„ware will be used to optimise their charging patterns based on driver behaviour, the price of energy and weather forecasts. The system will charge the EV batteries when the available power is cheapest and cleanest and discharge them when it is most expensive and carbon intensive. ELECTRICITY Eon to broaden 100% renewables offering Eon is aiming to extend its 100 per cent renewable electricity offering to more than 100,000 small busi- nesses this year. The company revealed last July that it was matching the electricity supply of more than three million domestic customers with renew- able sources. Now it says eligible small business customers will receive the offer when they renew or agree a new contract directly with the supplier. Eon has considerable renewa- bles assets of its own, as well as power purchase agreements with independent renewable generators. The tariff also includes electricity sourced externally through initia- tives such as renewable electricity guarantee certificates. Michael Lewis, Eon UK chief executive, described the climate crisis as the "defining issue of our era" and said: "We believe large- scale action can make significant change possible and we're committed to setting an example for others to follow." ELECTRICITY Curtailment could hit 30GW by 2030 By 2030 up to 30GW of wind and solar generation may need to be curtailed on some days, analysis by LCP has suggested. The figure was reached by modelling the energy system described in National Grid's "Two Degrees" future energy scenario, which aligns with the government's net zero target. The 30GW number represents the largest potential surpluses of low-carbon generation over demand identified in the analysts' simulations. In these instances, typically occur- ring during the summer when demand is low, Britain's nuclear plants would remain on due to their inherent inflexibility but all other thermal generation would be switched off. LCP said periods like these present a "big opportunity" for long-duration storage tech- nologies that are able to take advantage of a "free lunch". Outgoing Bank of England governor Mark Carney has been appointed as the prime minister's finance adviser for COP26. In his new role, Carney will be tasked with helping the government "mobilise ambitious action" from investors and businesses ahead of the climate change summit, due to be held in Glasgow in November. Carney said: "All financial decisions need to take into account the risks from climate change and the opportunities from the transition to a net zero economy. The UK has a plan to do just that." Utility Week Investor Summit 2020 This new event, the only pan-utility conference to bring together key speakers and figures from government, regulation, investment and utilities, will assess the impact of Brexit, regulation, M&A activity, infra- structure, legitimacy and climate change on future investment. It takes place on 5 March in London. For more details visit https://event.utilityweek.co.uk/investor £129m Challenger energy supplier Bulb has insisted the £129 million loss it has posted in its latest accounts is "part of the plan" to focus on growth, with an ultimate aim of having 100 million customers worldwide. "As we deploy more and more offshore wind, the best sites on the seabed are going to get used up. We are going to need the geographical diversity of floating wind." Rebecca Williams, head of policy and regulation at RenewableUK, responds to reports that floating wind farms will reach cost parity with fixed-bed turbines by 2030.

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