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UtILItY WeeK | 3rd - 9th OctOber 2014 | 5 A global survey conducted by BT has shown that 82 per cent of utility companies are concerned about the security of cloud data storage, but few are willing to pay for a more secure application. According to the survey, 54 per cent of those who have adopted cloud-based services for data stor- age opted for the less secure but cheaper mass market "consumer" service over the more secure "enterprise" cloud applications. Fifty-five per cent of respondents said they thought the more secure systems were too expensive. Mark Hughes, president of BT Security, said: "It is an interesting paradox that the survey has exposed – on the one hand decision makers are concerned about the security implications of using public cloud services but on the other, their buying decisions seem to be driven by short-term cost perceptions. We invite these decision makers to weigh up the reputational cost and impact on their brand of a cloud security breach." He added: "I would suggest organisations undertake a thor- ough risk analysis before opting for mass market cloud services. Every organisation has a different appetite for risk and these need to be factored into the buying decision equation." PAn-Utility Cloud security 'is a concern' Ahead of the government's final decision on whether to cut solar subsidy through the Renewables Obligation, the Solar Trade Association (STA) has published research suggesting that photovoltaics could be cheaper than gas generation five years earlier than the government's analysis suggests. The crossover point for PV and the wholesale electricity price is also predicted to be earlier. "Whereas Decc's analysis suggests solar PV will be cheaper than wholesale electricity by around 2028, the STA analysis suggests that solar PV will cross at 2024, four years earlier," the lobby group said. "With the results of this analysis, it is clear that sup- porting large-scale solar PV in the short term will lead to substantial benefits in the longer term," the STA added. Solar 'will be cheaper sooner' "The call from over 1,000 businesses and investors and 73 countries to put a price on carbon is a real step forward" James Cameron, chairman of Climate Change Capital, speaking about the United Nations Climate Change Summit Source: Conergy two weeks Amount by which the end date of the first contracts for difference (CfD) allocation round has been pushed back. More on p19 International solar developer Conergy is to build a one-of-a-kind heart-shaped solar power plant in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, 1,200km east of Australia. The shape of the 2MW project will be visible only from the air once it is completed in the first quarter of next year, and is expected to save an estimated two million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over its 25-year lifetime. Conergy's Australian managing director David McCallum said the project would "probably be the world's first beautiful PV plant, and perhaps the first beautiful power station of any description, anywhere on the planet". LCOE (£/MWh) 130 120 110 100 90 80 70 60 50 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 Solar PV, STA Solar PV, Decc Wholesale electricity price, Decc Gas (CCGT) price, Decc