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UTILITY WEEK | 4TH - 10TH DECEMBER 2015 | 11 Policy & Regulation This week Firms must team up for water resilience Group acknowledges work done on resilience, but says that better co-ordination is essential The taskforce for water resilience has made 10 recommendations to help Ofwat better co-ordinate plans to ensure resilience in the water sector. The group, chaired by Water- wise managing director Jacob Tompkins, said that although there has been "a lot of work on resilience in the sector" to make sure plans are "in place", better co-ordination is needed within the sector, and between it and other sectors and the wider public. The recommendations, presented to Ofwat and other sector stakeholders on 1 December, are intended to help meet challenges such as trends in demographics and the impact of climate change. Among the recommendations is that the industry should agree a shared definition of resilience. The group suggests: "Resilience is the ability to cope with, and recover from, disruption, and anticipate trends and variability in order to maintain services for people and protect the natural environment now and in the future." Increasing public engagement and education, creating "clear routes" for funding, coherent planning for national and regional resilience, and establishing wastewater, sewerage and drainage plans are also recommended. The taskforce was created as an arms-length body by Ofwat in response to its new statutory duty for resil- ience in the Water Act. The regulator will publish its initial response to the report in December, along with its approach to resilience and a consultation on Water 2020, Ofwat's regulatory framework for PR19. LV ENERGY National Grid scoops a third of NIC funds National Grid has secured £22.8 million of the £62.8 million awarded by Ofgem to projects in its Network Innovation Competi- tion (NIC). Network operators requested £81.9 million for 11 projects through two annual NIC competi- tions, one for electricity distribu- tion network operators (DNOs) and the other for gas DNOs, out of a possible £99 million. Ofgem has awarded National Grid £12 million to convert an existing substation into an off-grid research facility. A com- mercial demonstration plant that will produce renewable low- carbon methane from household waste has received £6 million, and £4.8 million will be used to minimise the time and cost of connections to the national gas transmission system. Ofgem set up the NIC as part of the networks price control to deliver smarter energy networks at lower costs for consumers. ENERGY CCC urges carbon emission cuts of 57% The Committee on Climate Change has warned government that urgent action is needed to cut UK emissions by 57 per cent by the end of the next decade and meet climate change targets. The UK has a legal require- ment to cut UK emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050 from 1990 levels. It must commit itself to cut emissions by 57 per cent by 2028-32, according to the CCC's fih carbon budget report. The committee warned that "new policies and clear long- term signals to investors are urgently required" to reduce the carbon intensity of electricity by more than three-quarters. Under the 2008 Climate Change Act, the government is legally required to explain if it chooses not to follow the CCC's advice. ELECTRICITY Lynemouth biomass plant gets go-ahead RWE's plans to convert its Lyne- mouth coal-fired power plant to biomass have been awarded EU state aid approval, paving the way for a final investment decision early next year and bol- stering the outlook for biomass generator Drax. The German company said it would now advance its plans to convert the site to a 390MW biomass-fired plant. RWE Supply and Trading chief commercial officer Andree Stracke said the greenlight is a "win-win" for all stakeholders, contributing to decarbonised security of supply, local jobs and the economy of the north east of the UK. Water sector must also engage with public Political Agenda Jillian Ambrose "District heating is proven at scale, unlike CCS" The cancellation of the UK's £1 billion carbon capture and stor- age (CCS) competition was more whimper than bang. Although chancellor George Osborne was happy to talk tough on reducing the deficit in his late November spending review, scrapping CCS was whispered to the stock market later in the day less than a week before the Paris climate talks. And the subsequent newspa- per column inches may explain why. "Devastating." "Moving the million, 200 heat networks and billions in private investment could come forward to promote an area with huge growth poten- tial and benefits. It taps into innovation and decarbonisation while helping customers stay warm and reduce bills. District heating is also proven at scale, unlike CCS. Osborne may have sheep- ishly pushed this spending cut through, but there'll be no complaints here or from the cus- tomers this move will help. goal posts." "Extremely disap- pointing." It's not a move that was well received, but there is no doubt that a quiet stronghold in the market is really quite glad. It's never welcome news when the government pulls the rug out from under private investors who have spent years investigating an innovation. But that's the point. The progress of CCS has been glacial, and for the sums of money required to drive the technology forward count- less cheaper decarbonisation systems could be adopted. A fraction of the money saved will be redirected to district heating, for example. For £300