Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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UTILITY WEEK | 12TH - 18TH FEBRUARY 2016 | 5 The world's largest offshore windfarm is to be built 75 miles off the coast of Yorkshire, after Dong Energy made a final investment decision on Hornsea Project One. The Danish company said the 1.2GW development would provide enough electricity to power more than one million homes. It is expected to be fully operational in 2020 and will have a capacity nearly double that of its nearest rival, the Walney extension. Npower cuts gas tariff Npower has become the latest big six supplier to announce a cut to its standard gas tariff, which will fall by 5.2 per cent, effective from the end of March. Reprieve for Eggborough Eggborough power station has received an eleventh-hour reprieve as its Czech owner, EPH, signed a deal on Monday to enter National Grid's Supplemental Balancing Reserve (SBR). The deal means the plant will stay open for at least 12 months from its planned closure date of March 2016. Some 235 jobs – 85 per cent of the workforce – will be safe until March 2017, as the power station has been contracted to provide 775MW of back-up power for 2016/17. Eggborough had been due to close after failing to win government subsidy for its planned conversion to biomass. EPH recently acquired Lynemouth power station, which is also set to convert to biomass. Under the SBR, National Grid pays power stations to remain open to provide back-up power if needed during a margin squeeze. ELECTRICITY £444m Amount of investment Anglian Water plans to make in the east of England over the coming year. "The cancellation of the projects does not mean the end of CCS in this country" Energy minister Andrea Leadsom dismisses calls for a carbon capture and storage strategy – but MPs say it's vital. News, p23 Bournemouth Water has overtaken Dee Valley Water and Portsmouth Water in the latest water industry league table on service levels to developers, with a 100 per cent score. According to Water UK company perfor- mance data, the scores for both Dee Valley and Portsmouth slipped one percentage point to 99 per cent. Four water companies scored below the industry average: Wessex Water, South Staffordshire Water, Northumbrian Water and Affinity Water. For the third time in a row, Affinity Water was the worst performer, with a score of 74 per cent, but also showed the biggest improve- ment since Q2 (October to December). Bournemouth tops developer service level table 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 Upper quartile Lower quartile % within target Developer services: levels of service performance – percentage within target and activity levels water supply quarter 3 (Oct to Dec 2015/16) Bournemouth Portsmouth Dee Valley Southern Anglian Severn Trent Thames South East Dwr Cymru United Utilities Bristol South West Yorkshire Stn & East Surrey Industry average Wessex South Staffs Northumbrian Affinity 100% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 97% 97% 97% 96% 96% 96% 92% 90% 89% 74% Volumes