Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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Seven days... National media Anger at Richard Drax over solar farm A Tory MP who has opposed public subsidies for green energy has upset neighbours of his Dorset stately home by pushing through plans for Britain's third-largest solar farm. Richard Drax intends to cover 70 hectares of his Charborough estate, near Wimborne, with 120,000 solar panels that will provide e lectricity for up to 7,000 homes. The Times Centrica demands business rates refund Energy giant Centrica is in a legal battle with HM Revenue and Customs over business rates on its power plants and is seeking refunds that could total tens of millions of pounds. It is seeking £6 million for its Peterborough gas plant in a test case that could affect seven other gas power stations owned by Centrica and several more owned by other energy companies. The Telegraph story by NUMBERS Green Deal 'clearly not working' Critics of the Green Deal have slammed the latest figures, with Labour saying "it clearly is not working". Age UK said there was "a profound lack of interest" in the scheme. 1,173 households with Green Deal plans in progress 219 total "live" (installed) Green Deal plans 19% increase in the number of monthly assessments between September and October 70% Leave coal alone Most of the world's coal reserves should be left in the ground to avoid catastrophic global warming, the UN's climate chief said in a speech in Warsaw. The Guardian 6,750 The number of jobs RWE expects to cut across Europe after a fall in profits of older people would not consider using the Green Deal Mixed prospects for CCS development in the UK The future for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects in the UK is mixed, according to industry figures. The two projects that were named as the government's preferred bidders in the £1 billion commercialisation competition earlier in the year are said to be making steady progress behind the scenes. Sources close to the schemes have told Utility Week that announcements on the Peterhead Project in Aberdeenshire and the White Rose project in Yorkshire are expected from the government before the end of the year. A spokesperson for the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA) said that for the two preferred bidders the process "is still going well". For the UK's other CCS "The most regressive energy consumer levies appear to be escaping any form of scrutiny" Peter Smith, chairman of fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, argues for the scrapping of the carbon floor price 4 | 22nd - 28th November 2013 | UTILITY WEEK projects, including the C aptain Clean Energy roject P in cotland, the Teesside S Low arbon Project, and the C Don alley Power Project in V Yorkshire, the CCSA said it was "vital" that contracts for difference were designed with CCS in mind and that there were "some positive signs that the government is turning its attention to this issue". However, progress on the two reserve projects has slowed, and one source said: "Nobody has any belief that they should be doing anything very active in terms of development and it does seem as though the CCS programme has stalled." Shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex has warned that without more support from the government, CCS projects in the UK could fold. MB 10,000 The number of jobs in the insulation and construction industries that are at risk from potential cuts to the Energy Company Obligation, according to the Green Building Council