Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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UtilitY WEEK | 18th - 24th April 2014 | 5 "The extension is a costly mistake for the UK" RenewableUK's Maf Smith on Eric Pickles' extension of his power to block onshore windfarms The awards, which celebrate excellence from teams and individuals in utilities, will be celebrated at the Lancashire Cricket Club in Manchester on 13 June. Utility Week editor Ellen Bennett said: "We've been overwhelmed with the quality of entries for these awards – the judges had some very difficult decisions to make. It's great to celebrate the people on the front line." The shortlist for categories, including team of the year, the above and beyond award and the innovator award, can be seen at www.utilityweekstars.co.uk – where you can also book your place for a summer party to remember! pAN-UtilitY Ministers are to reconsider proposals for a £600 mil- lion gas storage facility in Lancashire after a decision to reject the project was overturned in the High Court. Climate change minister Greg Barker turned down the gas storage application by Halite Energy last April, saying the US company had failed to show the geology of the site was suitable. The project also faced local opposition, such as Protect the Wyre (river). Following a judicial review, Mrs Justice Patterson overruled the refusal in January, saying it was based on an "unfair and flawed assessment of the geological challenges". The government initially lodged an appeal but with- drew it last month. The head of national infrastructure consents last week wrote to the company to ask for more geological information. Halite Energy's plans involve storing up to 900 million cubic metres of gas in 19 salt caverns under Preesall. Plugged in Who has been the best energy secretary at Decc? Mathew Beech Ed Davey Chris Huhne Ed Miliband City of London Research – The future of London's power supply London faces considerable challenges in ensuring that energy demand can be met in a way that is both sustainable and reliable, especially as these demands continue to increase. Demand for energy is strongly linked with economic growth and as the economy in London grows, energy demand typically increases. The same patterns are being repeated globally and, as a result, we are seeing rising fossil fuel costs and more expensive energy prices. Additionally, the UK government has committed to ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, likely to result in significant changes to our energy use. Rob Toal, owner of South East Economics Feedback: Interesting, and good that this is being looked at in a strategic way, but this report seems to leave more questions than it answers. For example, it talks about increases in local generation: this requires space for infrastructure, which is at a premium in the areas with highest demand, so will there be incentives to include this in planning consents? Alex Tyler, head of operations 2014 Utility Week Stars Awards: finalists selected from big field £10m the government loan to UK Coal to manage the closure of two deep-pit coal mines (100%) (0%) (0%)