Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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utILItY WeeK | 6th - 12th June 2014 | 5 The use of gas-fired power within the UK's electricity mix fell last year to lows not seen since 1996, government data shows. A report on 2013 electricity generation showed gas-fired power slumped 4.3 per cent compared with the previous year, from 100.1TWh to 95.7TWh, causing its share of the electricity mix to decrease from 27.5 per cent in 2012 to 26.8 per cent in 2013. The 17-year low came amid lower overall power production and a healthy increase in the amount of renewable energy generated over the year. In 2013, wind and solar generation rose 41.7 per cent, from 20.8TWh in 2012 to 29.4TWh in 2013, in large part due to the increase in installed capacity, although the report notes that higher wind speeds would also have contributed. Also cutting into the share of gas-fired power was slightly higher nuclear power generation. Nuclear power use touched a seven-year high in 2013 at 70.6TWh, just 0.3 per cent higher on the year, while net imports rose 19.8 per cent to 14.4TWh, the highest level seen in the past 13 years, due mainly to increased imports from France. Coal-fired power generation also saw its output fall, but retained the lion's share of the mix at 36.3 per cent in 2013 from the previous year's 39.4 per cent as outright generation dropped 9.6 per cent from 143.2TWh in 2012 to 129.4TWh. eLectrIcItY Yorkshire Water's Toll House pumping station in Scarborough became operational at the end of April in a bid to meet more stringent EU bathing water quality targets, which will be introduced in 2015. The annual bathing season began at the end of May with the Environment Agency warning that dozens of English beaches are at risk of failing the new standards. To help meet the rigorous standards, Yorkshire Water invested some £10 million in the storm water storage tank as part of the £110 million of investment the water company has made in its coastline. The treatment facility can hold four million litres of untreated water during heavy rainfall, ensuring this doesn't end up in the sea. Gas-fired power use hits 17-year low 11 the number of proposed onshore windfarms that have so far been blocked by communities' secretary eric Pickles £750,000 the penalty SSe Power Distribution (SSePD) has agreed to pay after admitting to the regulator it was too slow to provide some customers with an offer to connect to the electricity network £3.2bn the amount Scottish Power is expected to invest in the uK in the next two years. chairman Ignacio Galan has been awarded a cBe for services to uK-Spanish trade, following £4 billion of investment by Spanish parent Iberdrola since 2007 "It's good to be warm, but let's all be wary" Energy UK chief executive Angela Knight warns the public to be on their guard against rogue traders dealing in Green Deal scams "On energy security, Europe must speak and act as one" European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on launching a strategy to boost energy security within Europe "We've got to shepherd this energy transformation through its birth and deal with the teething problems that it will no doubt have" The commercial secretary to the Treasury, Lord Deighton, on Electricity Market Reform