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UTILITY WEEK | 11Th - 17Th JULY 2014 | 19 Finance & Investment This week Good Energy: 70% of our new solar is at risk The government's changes to the Renewables Obligation reduce support for large solar farms Up to 70 per cent of Good Ener- gy's planned solar farms are at risk because of the government's proposed subsidy changes, according to the company's chief executive. Juliet Davenport said plans being consulted on by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) to take large-scale solar farms out of the Renewables Obligation support mechanism could result in 60-70 per cent of her company's portfolio, and hun- dreds of other solar farms, being cancelled or delayed. Decc has proposed closing the Renewables Obligation for solar farms of more than 5MW from 1 April next year. A grace period will allow developments that have made a "significant financial commitment" prior to 13 May this year, when Decc published its consultation, to still be eligible for support, provided they are con- nected to the grid before 13 May 2016. Davenport said: "Under the current criteria [our projects] wouldn't qualify and would therefore be at risk – but that doesn't mean I won't build them." She added that six of Good Energy's sites, totalling up to 100MW, could be delayed by 12 months if the government presses ahead with its plans. Davenport said the government should make "tweaks" to its proposals to allow more sites to qualify for the grace period, such as allowing sites with arranged lease agreements and connection agreements to be eligible for the Renewables Obligation support. MB See analysis, p14 ELEcTRIcITY £300m spent on independent green projects in 2013 Last year £300 million was invested in commercial-scale independent renewable energy projects by businesses, commu- nities, farmers and landowners, new figures reveal. A report by Smartest Energy showed that 843 new projects, at an average cost of £353,000, came on supply during 2013. There are now 2,930 projects of over 50kW capacity in the UK, capable of generating almost 20TWh of electricity a year. That is a 40.4 per cent increase in the number of new projects, and a 31.9 per cent increase in capacity, on 2012. The report also revealed that onshore wind accounted for 45 per cent of all independent generation and that solar capa- city had grown by almost 150 per cent. WaTER Anglian opens £44m waterworks Anglian Water's new £44 million treatment works in Lincolnshire has started operation. Hall Water Treatment Works is aimed at supporting city growth and combating future droughts across the county. Close to Newton-on-Trent, the facility will take water from the River Trent, allowing previously untreatable water to be purified. River water will then be pumped into a newly con- structed 20-acre reservoir, which can hold 300 million litres of water. Up to 20 million litres a day will be treated before it is supplied to homes and busi- nesses in south Lincolnshire. ELEcTRIcITY RWE acts to reduce Aberthaw emissions RWE has said it will spend £12 million on a low- emissions boiler at Aberthaw power station in south Wales to reduce its greenhouse gas footprint. The installation is due to begin in the middle of next year. RWE is considering the installa- tion of two further boilers within the next four years. The boilers are designed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from the station by more than 60 per cent, and their instal- lation is the first step towards meeting the Industrial Emissions Directive, which comes into force in January 2016. The power station has been entered into the limited life derogation to the directive. This allows participating plants to operate for a maximum of 17,500 hours or until the end of 2023 before either closing or re- permitting to operate at new plant standards. Subsidy cut will mean cancellation and delay Stock watch 350 340 330 320 310 300 290 IntellIgent energy holdIng plc share prIce, 4 - 8 July 4 July 7 July 8 July Shares in fuel-cell company Intelligent Energy nosedived in the days after its high-profile listing, down 48p to 292p a share at the time of going to press on Tuesday. The company, which was behind London's zero-emission taxis developed for the 2012 Olympics, raised £71 million from the listing of 10 per cent of its shares. Chief executive Henri Winand said half the funds would be used to expand Intelligent Energy's mobile phone mast business in India. The rest of the proceeds would be used to develop Upp, a wireless charging device for smart phones. Intelligent Energy claimed to be the largest pure play technology company listing on the London Stock Exchange in the past five years, based on its opening 340p-a-share offer price, giving it a market capitalisation of £639 million at the time of flotation.