Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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4 | 13TH - 19TH FEBRUARY 2015 | UTILITY WEEK National media Record wind installations last year Preliminary figures gathered by the World Wind Energy Association show that 2014 saw record wind power installations. 50GW Total amount of new wind capacity deployed globally 44.6GW Previous annual record set in 2012 40% Last year's figure was 40 per cent higher than seen in 2013 370GW The new global total for installed wind power generation 12GW UK total installed wind power capacity, according to trade group Renewable UK Climate talks 'crucial for world security' At UN climate talks in Geneva, France's foreign minister Laurent Fabius said: "The survival of the planet itself is at stake." The week-long meeting is the first in a series that is meant to culminate in a globally binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Paris in December. Commitments by countries and companies, backed by a financing mechanism, must be enough to hit the target of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial times. The Guardian, 9 February UK faces £200 billion oil loss without change In a stark warning to the government, a leading oil industry figure has warned that six billion barrels of oil reserves – a third of what remains under the North Sea – worth £200 billion may be abandoned unless radical steps are taken to reform the tax regime for offshore drilling. Billionaire Scottish oil expert Sir Ian Wood said: "The danger is that if we lose momentum now and lose recourses and assets, and don't get the fiscal regime fit for a quite highly mature area, we will come down to 10-11bn [oil reserves]. That's a huge economic loss and jobs loss for the UK." The Sunday Telegraph, 7 February Near-boiling water floods Swedish streets A man died and seven people were injured when a bus crashed in a deluge of near-boiling water in the streets of Lund in Sweden. Thick steam shrouded Lund on Friday evening, aer gallons of 88C water flooded the city centre. The emergency services believe the source of the leak was a fractured district heating pipe. Daily Mail, 8 February STORY BY NUMBERS M ost water companies have accepted the "chal- lenging" final determi- nations set by Ofwat in its first price review using its principles and outcomes-based approach. Thames Water and United Utilities were "significant outli- ers" at the dra determination stage in July and were ordered to cut £331 million and £769 million, respectively, from their business plans. Both companies have agreed to do so. South East Water was one of the last water companies to accept the price control, and said that "on balance we have decided it is in our customers' best interests to focus on deliver- ing the required performance for the period 2015-20". Yorkshire Water and Wessex Water also confirmed to Utility Week their acceptance. At the time of going to press, Southern Water and Dee Valley Water had not formally accepted the price control, but both were expected to do so. Severn Trent also accepted the final determination, announcing at the same time that it was slashing its dividend by 5 per cent. Bristol Water rejected the final determination, saying the price control was based on "flawed modelling" and that it "makes it very difficult for us to maintain our levels of service and make sufficient investment" (see analysis, p12). Affinity Water and South West Water were fast-tracked through PR14 and received their final determinations last April, while Northumbrian Water and Welsh Water received their dra determinations in May. MB All but one water firm bows to tough PR14 deal "We're putting our money where our heart is" Ecotricity founder Dale Vince on the company's decision to support the UK's green economy by backing the Labour party in the forthcoming general election. More on p10 Seven days... 66% Dong Energy has bought out its Hornsea Project One partner, taking the remaining 66 per cent share and full control of the development