Utility Week

The Month in Review UTILITY WEEK | JANUARY 2023 | 7 South West Water to build 'multiple' desalination plants South West Water is charging ahead with adding water resources across its region, with a new reservoir coming online and multiple desalination plants planned for as early as 2023. The company will commit £75 mil- lion of new investment towards securing water resilience over the next two years, including the transformation of a disused clay pit into a reservoir at Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. The company bought the Hawks Tor site earlier last year and was sched- uled to start abstracting up to eight mil- lion litres daily in December. The reservoir will be used to increase water supply to customers and also to refill the Collingford Reservoir, which remained at just 24% of capacity as of the start of December. Other sources will include re-purpos- ing ex-quarries and mines as well as a sec- ond reservoir in the Bristol region as part of longer-term plans. Chief executive Susan Davy told Utility Week eight or nine locations were being assessed in Cornwall to house desalina- tion plants and the company anticipated several would be included in its plans to expand water sources for the South West of England. Davy pointed out that the company has had a desalination plant within its asset estate since adding the Isles of Scilly to its group. A plant has operated on St Mary's since the 1990s as Britain's first mains supply from seawater. "They are small scale reverse osmosis plants we are putting on sites. We have experience of this as we have one on the Isles of Scilly, so it's not new technology for us," Davy said. "We think these will be useful and we have eight or nine sites we are looking at across Cornwall where we will be able to plug and play these plants for use next year." Retailers will pick up the £120m tab for RO shortfall A total of 27 failed energy retailers le• the market in 2021 owing almost £120 million in Renewables Obligation (RO) payments, which will be mutualised across the sector. Among the suppliers that failed to meet their obligation in full by the 31 October late payment deadline were high-profile market failure Avro Energy, to date the largest retailer to enter the Supplier of Last Resort process. It owed more than £27 mil- lion – more than any other supplier. People's Energy owed almost £17 million, Pure Planet £12.6 million, and Together Energy £12.4 million. Only one supplier, Delta Gas and Power, is continuing to operate and owed almost £531,000. Ofgem confirmed, how- ever, that it received full payments from Delta on 25 November. The total shortfall means that this is the fi•h consecutive year in which mutualisa- tion has been triggered and although it is a sizeable amount, it is still a long way from the record £218 million mutualised in 2020. The news followed the publication in November of a statutory consultation on measures to improve financial resilience in the energy supply market. Ofgem confirmed that it is pressing ahead with plans to ring-fence RO funds and introduce a minimum capital requirement for all suppliers. Furthermore, a High Court judge recently ordered failed energy retailers to hand over unpaid RO payments to Ofgem in what the regulator labelled a "signifi- cant outcome". The Month in Review 72% of bathing waters classed as excellent by the Environment Agency in 2022, up from 70% the year before. 151% Hike in energy costs expected by business next year if the government ends support for firms in April, according to a CBI poll. Offshore wind developers face 12-year wait for connections National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) told Orsted it would have to wait 12 years for a grid connection for an offshore wind farm site, the renewables giant has revealed. In its submission to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) select commit- tee's ongoing inquiry into the decarbonisation of power system, the Danish-owned company warned that grid capacity was a key challenge for the offshore wind industry. It said that when an Orsted project recently applied for a grid connection, the company was provided with connection dates in 12 years' time due to network capacity constraints. And it said that "many" projects applying to ESO for a grid connection in 2021 were only given a firm connection date in 2033. "Providing grid connections on this decade- long time scale will mean we will not hit the 2030 target and we will not provide the UK with the secure energy it needs. "If we are to deliver anywhere close to the 2030 targets and accelerate deployment beyond this date, this issue is going to have to be addressed," it said. Orsted is backed up by RenewableUK, which states in its submission to the inquiry that new offshore wind sites leased in the past two years are being offered grid connection dates from 2032 onwards. A "key part" to solving grid constraints is to enable National Grid to make anticipatory invest- ment in the grid, Orsted said. This would allow grid upgrades where there is not yet a "100% cast-iron guarantee" all of the investment will be necessary but with the knowl- edge that offshore wind is developing at such a rapid rate almost all of it will be required. RenewableUK said the UK's current system of grid development risked delaying investment, which would prevent the UK from delivering its target of 50GW of offshore wind by 2050. The renewable generation umbrella body also said that since 2017 "every single" wind farm in English and Welsh waters applying for planning permission had experienced delays in the process, which "cannot continue if we are to meet our 2030 target". 780 Number of megawatt-hours of real and projected demand reduction achieved in the first five tests of National Grid's ESO's demand flexibility service.

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