Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/541481
4 | 17TH - 23RD JULY 2015 | UTILITY WEEK National media Funding for community renewable energy The Scottish government has allocated funding for demonstrator projects all over Scotland. 23 number of projects allocated funding £500k total funding allocated to renewable energy projects <£25k amount of funding each project will receive 100k number of homes for which community energy capacity in Scotland could generate power Feb 2016 deadline for projects to complete development work University of Warwick divests from fossil fuels The University of Warwick in Coventry has committed to divest from fossil fuels, saying it will move £1 million of its investments in coal, oil and gas from its £14 million endowment as soon as possible. Dan Goss, one of more than 100 student campaigners who have spent two years calling on the university to divest, said: "We're overjoyed by this victory – but it's just the beginning. Divestment is the springboard for a united front against the fossil fuel industry globally and on campuses." The Guardian, 8 July Thousands without water in Kosovo Tens of thousands of people in Kosovo's capital were without water aer the authorities shut off supplies over fears that Isis had poisoned a reservoir. Water authorities in Pristina con- firmed that the water was stopped "because of security issues" and that five men had been arrested. Al Jazeera reported that initial tests did not show poison present. This came aer Kosovan Isis members appeared in propaganda videos claiming they would target water supplies in imminent future attacks, Reuters reported. The Independent, 12 July IEA: fossil fuel firms risk wasting billions The world's fossil fuel companies risk wasting billions of dollars of investment by not taking global action to fight climate change seriously, according to the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Fatih Birol, who will take the top job at the IEA in September, warned that companies making this mistake would also miss out on investment opportunities in clean energy. The Guardian, 9 July STORY BY NUMBERS U K interconnector capacity could more than double to 10.8GW by 2020 and reach 17.7GW by 2030, according to National Grid. The estimate comes from National Grid's 2015 Future Energy Scenarios (FES) report, published on Wednesday, in which its projections for inter- connector capacity levels have increased dramatically since last year's prediction of 6GW by 2020 and 11.8GW by 2030. Britain's electricity market currently has 3.8GW of intercon- nection capacity with Europe; with a European Union non- binding target of at least 10 per cent – approximately 10.2GW – by 2020. Under its Gone Green scenario, this target would easily be met, National Grid said. However, the EU is now look- ing to raise this target to 15 per cent – approximately 22.6GW – for which the Gone Green sce- nario falls short. National Grid puts this down to a shortage of projects in the pipeline and high- lights opportunities for addi- tional interconnector projects. FES sets out four possible future energy scenarios, taking into account different policy and economic landscapes. Under the Gone Green scenario, National Grid predicts that the amount of additional wind generation installed by 2020 would total 10GW and solar capacity would reach 13.8GW. The number of heat pumps installed by 2020 would reach more than 900,000 and power generation would focus heavily on decarbonisation, meaning a proliferation of new technolo- gies such as marine power and carbon capture and storage. The report also sets out a Consumer Power scenario, where innovation would focus solely on meeting the needs of consumers, with little regard for environmental goals. The two other scenarios considered are No Progression and Slow Pro- gression, both of which focus on worlds of slow economic growth where traditional sources of gas and electricity dominate and carbon targets are either not met or are met late. LV UK interconnector capacity could reach 17.7GW by 2030 Seven days... £5 million Amount Eon has paid out in benefits to members of its Eon Rewards scheme "…good news for Bristol Water customers…" CCWater chief executive Tony Smith on the CMA's provisional findings on Bristol Water's final determination. See page 11