Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/582268
UTILITY WEEK | 9TH - 15TH OCTOBER 2015 | 29 Community Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen. bennett@fav-house.com; News editor: Jillian Ambrose, t: 01342 332061, e: jillian.ambrose@ fav-house.com; Associate news editor: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@ fav-house.com; Assistant editor (insights): Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: jane.gray@fav-house. com; Research analyst: Vidhu Dutt, t: 01342 332026, e: vidhu.dutt@fav-house.com; Reporters: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080; e: lois.vallely@fav-house.com and Lucinda Dann, t: 01342 332083; e: lucinda.dann@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Richard Powell, t: 01342 332062, e: richard.powell@fav-house.com; Business development executive: Sarah Wood, t: 01342 332077, e: sarah.wood@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amanda.barnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership subscriptions: UK £577 per year, overseas £689 per year, t: 020 8955 7045 or email membership sales manager Paul Tweedale: paultweedale@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham House Ltd, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1UZ 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2014 Membership subscriptions: UK £577 per year. Overseas £689 per year. Email: paultweedale@fav-house.com Top Tweets Disconnector Mirror, mirror When we think of storage solutions, we in the UK are thinking of pumped storage or grid-scale batteries, but you can store power simply by heating stuff up – as long as you have the right type of power plant built to the right scale. Such a plant is the second- largest solar plant in the world – Spain's 150MW Andasol facility – which uses 620 huge curved mirrors to generate enough power to keep 500,000 people happy. It doesn't work on photovolta- ics, but harnesses the sun to produce heat, which is used to drive a turbine. A heatsink dropped into a cavern containing molten salt means the plant's output is consistent, even on rainy days. The heated salt can generate power for 7.5 hours, meaning the solar plant can keep gen- erating at night. The plant has a huge footprint (laid flat, the mirrors would cover 1.5km 2 ) and in the day there is a con- stant whine from the motors pointing the mirrors at the sun, so it probably wouldn't be greeted warmly by many communities in the UK, but in Spain it is situated in a desert 45 miles from the nearest town. Mars mission It is difficult to think of anywhere more suitable for a large, ugly solar thermal plant than Mars. There's no pesky atmosphere to block the sun's rays, or any pesky people to complain about the noise. Why, then, you might won- der, has Tesla founder Elon Musk proposed using nuclear bombs to provide Mars with a "second sun"? Early press reports had it that Musk proposed dropping nuclear bombs on Mars, but the serial entrepreneur was forced to dismiss such silly journalism and clarify that his plan was to fire off nuclear fusion bombs at each pole to melt the carbon dioxide ice caps, release greenhouse gases and give the planet an atmosphere that would trap the sun's heat and make the surface warm enough for human beings. Sounds simple when you spell it out like that. There are some practical difficulties to be overcome before the plan is put into action, of course. You'd have to get the fusion bombs to Mars in the first place. Plus you'd have to design, build and transport the delivery system. And at some stage you'd have to invent fusion bombs, because they don't exist either. But, if you managed to do all that, think of the prize that awaits! A planet with an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and bathed in radioac- tivity. Snow joke "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow," sang Ol' Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra, that is, not Disconnec- tor). He might not have been quite so jolly about the prospect if he lived in Bangalore in India. The scene pictured is in fact not snow at all, but toxic foam blown over the city from the nearby Bellandur lake. The 9,000-acre lake has had decades-worth of industrial effluent and human sewage poured into it. In the heat, a noxious foam several feet deep forms over its surface and in the rainy season the winds blow the stuff over the city. Local IT professional and keen photographer Debasish Ghosh says the foam gives off an "unbearable smell" and although pressure groups have being trying for years to force the authorities to act, nothing much has happened. In the UK we may grumble about jobsworths and their 'elf and safety nitpicking, but be careful what you wish for. Disconnector Edward Davey @EdwardJDavey "Mark Carney is the outstanding central banker of his generation"– George Osborne Nov 2012 – does he agree with Carney on climate change? Lisa Nandy @lisanandy What was a British industrial success story is being destroyed by this govt's failure to maintain a stable regulatory regime for renewables. Energy Networks @energynetworks Tony Glover just told #cpc15 w/Liz Truss&Chris Grayling 50% real term cost reduction of networks cld be repeated in state owned sectors. Leonie Greene @LeonieGreene This @Andrew_Adonis Commission seems akin to Armitt review. Could be good if it takes a genuine longterm & objective perspective on energy. William Marchant @richonlyinname Stormont's "position has changed following discussion with DECC". I'm imagining Chinese burns & a threat to make them watch Navy Seals. EUA @energyutilities Is the incentive to save money enough to encourage consumers to be more energy efficient? #energyhour Laurah Hutchinson-St @TheGingerGenie I'm warming to the 'It's time to get Gaz and Leccy under control' campaign @energyutilities #energyhour Caroline Lucas @CarolineLucas The Government might be abandoning renewables – but communities embrace them. An enormous victory in #Balcombe for local community & @1010 Alan Simpson @AlanSimpson01 Elon Musk says he can inc solar efficiency by 20% & cut cost to 55 US cents/W. US/UK: the difference between a mass market and a hobbled one