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UTILITY WEEK | 13TH - 19TH FEBRUARY 2015 | 5 WATER SSE's Drumderg windfarm community fund has reached £500,000 of investment in community projects in East Perthshire, a milestone hailed as a "major achievement" by SSE head of community investment Graeme Keddie. The community fund, now entering its seventh year, was set up during the construction of the Drumderg windfarm, near Alyth, to benefit community groups and residents in the area. The fund is expected to provide a further £2 million during the lifetime of the windfarm. Thames and Network Rail agree leakage partnership Thames Water and Network Rail have agreed to work together to identify and tackle any leaks which could affect the rail network. An agreement – similar to the "seepage protocol" between Thames Water and London Underground – has been reached whereby any sign of water leakage on to the rail network is immediately highlighted and investigated. It is hoped the agreement will prevent a repeat of the flooded tunnel near Farringdon station in January, which saw trains cancelled and left Thames Water facing a "multimillion pound bill". "We are going to have a seepage protocol, or something using the same principle, with Network Rail as we clearly need it," said Thames Water's external affairs and sustainability director Richard Aylard. "We do good work with London Underground and we need to mirror this with equally good work with Network Rail." Aylard added that during operation incidents, such as the flooded tracks that occurred at the end of January, Thames Water and Network Rail would work closer together to avoid delays in finding the causes of the problem. The UK is the most energy independent of the five European Union member states that consume the most energy, according to Eurostat. The statistical office of the EU released its data on energy production and consumption for 2013 on 9 February, and revealed that the UK is the least dependent on energy imports, with just 46.4 per cent of its energy imported. The UK stands just above France (47.9 per cent), and Germany (62.7 per cent), Spain (70.5 per cent) and Italy (76.9 per cent). France held the position of the EU's largest energy producer, with its output making up 17 per cent of total energy production in the EU, ahead of Germany (15 per cent), the UK (14 per cent), Poland and the Nether- lands (both at 9 per cent). While using different types of fuel, the energy production of these five member states together accounted for nearly two-thirds of EU total primary production of energy in 2013. Energy dependency in the EU © EuroGeographics © UNFAO © Turksat "We can learn much from the energy sector" Green Alliance policy director Sue Armstrong-Brown on the need for greater efficiency of water use negative Bristol Water's outlook has been downgraded from stable to negative by ratings agency Moody's. The outlook downgrade follows the water company's decision to reject Ofwat's final determination. More on page 12 ➟