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4 | 26TH JUNE - 2ND JULY 2015 | UTILITY WEEK National media EIC hits its marks The Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) has reported good financial results for 2014/15. It credited an "increasing appetite for inno- vation among the energy networks, the quality of new technologies and products sourced by EIC and the innovation stimu- lus provided by regulator Ofgem". £3.9m investments secured in 2014/15 £600K increase on 2013/14 £3.3m investments secured in 2013/14 £12.5m total investments secured since 2008 50% rise in number of new projects in 2014/15 Carlyle Group puts $500m into India- focused Magna Energy Carlyle Group has committed to invest up to $500 million (£317 million) in Magna Energy, an India-focused upstream oil and gas company, the global private equity firm said. Led by Mike Watts and Jann Brown, who have a combined 60 years of oil industry experience, Magna Energy is seeking to become a full-cycle oil and gas company through acquisitions and securing local licences in the Indian sub-con- tinent. It will have a primary focus on development and production. Reuters, 21 June Mitsubishi Electric to Supply Energy Storage to Kyushu Electric Mitsubishi Electric will supply a 50MW energy storage system to Kyushu Electric Power Company to control the influx of solar power to the utility's grids. The system will be installed at a power station in Fukuoka prefecture, Mitsubishi Electric said in a statement. The batteries will be installed by the end of March 2016, according to the statement. Bloomberg, 22 June Spanish anti- austerity party and US economist launch green energy plan The Spanish anti-austerity party Podemos has teamed up with a US economist to launch a green energy plan they say could create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Robert Pollin, who has worked as an adviser to the US Department of Energy and the UN, said Spain could create 320,000 jobs a year by investing in renewable energy sources and measures to boost energy efficiency. The Guardian, 22 June STORY BY NUMBERS R enewable energy devel- oper Scottish Power is in talks with government to avoid losing almost 1GW of planned onshore wind invest- ment if energy secretary Amber Rudd blocks the technology from the contracts for difference (CfD) regime. The company has 130MW of onshore wind waiting for planning consent and another 800MW in its development pipe- line, almost 1GW of capacity. But its participation in CfD auctions is under threat as Rudd seeks to fulfil the Conservative party manifesto pledge to "halt the spread of onshore wind". Scottish Power Renewables chief executive Keith Anderson told Utility Week the company was engaged with government and intends to prove that allow- ing onshore wind to take part in the CfD process would lower the overall burden on the levy control framework. "We can show that onshore wind should be allowed to carry on with CfDs and that by doing so we will make onshore wind as competitive as any other gen- eration technology in the UK," Anderson said. Rudd has already cut support for onshore wind through the Renewables Obligation scheme a year earlier than planned and could still shut the door on onshore wind by barring sub- sidy through the government's newer CfD mechanism. A spokesman for the Depart- ment of Energy and Climate change said an announcement would be made "in due course". In an exclusive interview with Utility Week, Anderson laid out the importance of investor certainty, competition and long- term thinking. See p6. JA Scot Power in CfD crunch talks to save 1GW of wind Seven days... 2 The number of energy-related questions posed by new Energy and Climate Change Committee chair Angus MacNeil in the previ- ous parliament. More, p11. "These findings will demonstrate that the situation is not problematic" EDF Energy chief executive Vincent De Rivaz comments on the provisional findings of the Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the UK energy market to create a foundation for building trust