Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/514326
UTILITY WEEK | 22ND - 28TH MAY 2015 | 5 This week, Scotia Gas Networks will deploy cast iron joint sealing robot (CISBOT) systems to repair live gas mains in Edinburgh city centre, after successfully trialling the technology on the outskirts of the city. The robot collapses to a small size and is inserted into a small hole in the gas main, where it uses an on-board camera and controls to position itself over the joint in need of repair and inject it with sealant. "Any blocking based on the views of a vociferous minority will ring alarm bells for all infrastructure investors" Renewable UK hits back at government's plans to halt the spread of new onshore wind from May 2016. A YouGov poll for The Sunday Times has revealed that more than half of Conservative voters disagree with the party's headline energy policy to halt the spread of onshore wind. Fiy-three per cent feel the government should either en- courage or allow the building of more onshore windfarms. Sixteen per cent felt onshore wind should be discour- aged but not banned completely, while only 18 per cent supported an outright ban. Among the general public, support rose to 61 per cent, while 14 per cent called for a ban. Renewable UK chief executive Maria McCaffery said: "Recent comments suggest that the government is looking to restrict onshore wind because it is concerned about the technology's popularity. These poll results, and the many like them that have gone before, should provide reassur- ance that the majority of people, however they vote, want to see more onshore wind." Poll reveals lack of support for Conservative onshore wind policy China should 'use UK gas expertise' to decarbonise China must learn from the UK's natural gas market and use UK expertise to expand its gas network in order to reach its decarbonisa- tion targets, according to Chinese gas tycoon Alfred Chan. Speaking to Utility Week, Chan, managing director of The Hong Kong and China Gas Company (Towngas), said there were opportunities for people in the UK gas industry for "lots of things", including investment in Chinese gas infrastructure. "Opportunities are there in China, and the UK has got so much expertise because of the five or six decades of natural gas develop- ment," he said. He added that UK gas experts would also have the opportunity to "supply training and solve specific gas-related problems" in China. "China as a country has got a smog problem, which the UK doesn't have today. Only six per cent of the energy use in China comes from natural gas, and in the UK this is 35 per cent," he said. "The infrastructure in the UK has been well-developed; China has got a lot of infrastructure expansion." The only way for China to fulfil its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets is to use natural gas, he said. China is the largest consumer of coal in the world, and Chan stressed the importance of replacing coal with natural gas in order to reach its ambitious targets. ELECTRICITY 14% Changes to the EU's bathing water directive could mean that up to 60 more of the UK's 417 bathing water areas are at risk of failure. ➟ The government should encourage the building of more onshore windfarms The government should allow the building of more onshore windfarms, but not encourage them The government should try to discourage the building of onshore windfarms, but not ban them completely The government should ban the building of any more onshore windfarms Don't know Source: YouGov for The Sunday Times Thinking about onshore windfarms, which of the following best reflects your view? (All voters)