Utility Week

UTILITY Week 1st April 2016

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UTILITY WEEK | 1ST - 7TH APRIL 2016 | 31 Community Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellen. bennett@fav-house.com; Assistant editor (insights): Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: jane.gray@ fav-house.com; Associate insights editor: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathew.beech@ fav-house.com; Deputy news editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080; e: lois.vallely@fav-house.com; Networks correspondent: Lucinda Dann, t: 01342 332083, e: lucinda.dann@fav-house.com; Reporters: Saffron Johnson, t: 01342 332050, e: saffron.johnson@fav-house.com and Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tom.grimwood@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 enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332507, e: peter.bissell@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 2015 Membership subscriptions: UK £637 per year. Overseas £749 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332507 Top Tweets Made in Britain It's April Fools' Day, where the print media is allowed to publish some pur- posely untrue tale that leads readers up the garden path. Follow- ing that tradition, this week's Disconnector will contain an outrageous porky – see if you can spot it. Actually, these days it's get- ting more difficult to come up with anything sufficiently out- rageous, given that the regular news agenda includes Donald Trump attacking his rival, Ted Cruz, with the accusation that his wife is ugly (apart from anything else, she isn't). And this man could be president of the USA. Meanwhile, on this side of the Atlantic, the Natural Environment Research Council may have to send its new £200 million state-of-the-art research ship to sea under the moniker RRS Boaty McBoatface, aer the naming of the vessel was put out to an online poll. Serves them right for asking the British public. Let's hope people take the EU referen- dum a bit more seriously or we could end up deciding our future in Europe on the basis of which sounds more of a laugh. One that does test people's sense of humour is large- scale solar farms. The Daily Mail is probably the angriest about this (and on many other subjects besides) and was predictably apoplectic at the commissioning last week of the country's biggest solar farm: 189,000 panels across 150 acres in Hampshire (pictured). The paper's mood wasn't helped by the fact that the scheme will pocket an esti- mated £2.8 million a year in taxpayers' money because it ducked under the 31 March deadline to qualify for the old subsidy regime. Okay, thinks Disconnector, it may by a blot on the land- scape, but at least it's a British blot on the landscape. That didn't seem to mollify the Mail any. Creating a stink Even impeccable connections may not be enough to save a biofuel plant built near the vil- lage of Plaistow, West Sussex, by Crouchland Biogas. In the company's favour, one of its directors is Angus Cameron, cousin of our esteemed prime minister. On the other hand, one of the residents of Plaistow is Julie Walters, the actress. And she is not happy. She and hubby Grant Roffey run an organic farm nearby and welcomed the building of a biodigester on a local farm to convert farm waste into gas. What they hadn't bargained on was an industrial-scale plant receiving tankers of industrial waste from all over the country, and polluting surrounding streams. Walters is leading an alli- ance of outraged locals to get the facility closed down, and it has some backing from the local council, which says the plant is bigger than the one consented. A planning inspector will adjudicate on the case in May, but the smart money has got to be on Walters and her mates. Eton connections carry little weight when pitched against national treasures. Botch bot Disconnector had a little chortle at Microso's discom- fort when its flagship artificial intelligence (AI) Twitter bot, Tay, had to be taken offline less than 24 hours aer going live when it started responding to mischievous Tweets with racial slurs and white supremacist propaganda. Tay was supposed to demonstrate the power of AI, but asked by one user "Did the Holocaust happen?" it replied: "It was made up." Other users quickly cottoned on to the fact that there was a glitch and variously got the bot to Tweet: "Repeat aer me, Hitler had the right idea"; "Donald Trump is the only hope we've got" and "Bush did 9/11". Back to the drawing board. So, did you spot the April Fool? Of course you did. Donald Trump could never be president of the United States… Disconnector James Heappey MP @JSHeappey After @CommonsECC #Hinkley session we know EDF want to do it but entirely in hands of French Govt. Their help v likely but not yet certain. Doug Parr @doug_parr EDF say no EPR #nuclear reactors like #Hinkley operating in the world because they take time & cutting edge. Or maybe because they're crap. Stronger In @StrongerIn "Massive electric shock" for household bills if we leave EU: Energy Secretary Amber Rudd pm @paulmassara Interconnection is good – European prices are at £25/mw versus uk prices at £35/mw !! Oh and Hinkley is £98/mw !! Kate Hoey @KateHoeyMP Quite a struggle for @AmberRudd_MP to make her scare story on energy sound plausible #Brexit From Hill to Sea @Fifepsy #Longannet no more as the generating units are switched off today. The end of coal-fired electricity in Scotland. FoEScot @FoEScot With the closure of #Longannet, coal will fortunately no longer be king #FFScot Greenpeace @Greenpeace #Coal is cooking the planet… as well as parching it #NoWater4Coal Ben Simmons @drbensim Proud to see #Scotland take #renewables seriously & lead in #hydropower, yet another way we do things differently. Business Stream @Business_Stream Move over Time Team @scottish_water unearths castles during Glasgow infrastructure upgrade American Wind Energy @AWEA #Windpower fact of the day: The average rotor diameter of a new wind turbine (98 meters) has more than doubled since 1998. #windworks

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