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UTILITY WEEK | 20TH - 26TH MAY 2016 | 5 More than 50 climate activists were arrested on 15 May for their part in a two-day anti-oil protest in Washington state. The activists were trespassing on a railroad track near two refineries in a bid to halt production, with some protesters taking to canoes. Protest spokeswoman Emily Johnston said the main goal of the protest was to inspire people to speak out against climate change. 1.5GW National Grid issued a Notification of Inad- equate System Margin on 9 May, requesting additional capacity after supplies fell below its target margin due to unplanned outages. "It's a Europe-wide failure" Bloomberg New Energy Finance chairman Michael Liebreich said at a panel discussion in London that a lack of financial support for clean energy projects was not specific to the UK. Decc names CMA chief executive as new permanent secretary The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has appointed the chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Alex Chisholm, as its new permanent secretary. Chisholm will take up his post on 4 July, replacing current perma- nent secretary Stephen Lovegrove. The appointment was made by the prime minister, in agreement with the cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood and energy secretary Amber Rudd. Commenting on his appoint- ment, Chisholm said: "It has been a great personal and professional privilege to lead the CMA in its formative period… [but] I am delighted to be joining Decc at this important time for energy and cli- mate change policy. I look forward to working with the department's ministers and officials, and getting to grips with the many different challenges involved in ensuring the UK has secure, affordable and clean energy supplies." PEOPLE MOVE The graph shows the consumption profile of a customer buying energy through Piclo – the UK's first online peer-to-peer marketplace for renewable electricity – during one week in February. Technology firm Open Utility and renewable energy supplier Good Energy teamed up for a six-month trial of the service, the results of which were published last week. The service enables users to see where their energy is coming from, or to whom it is going. Open Utility has called on Ofgem to change the charging methodology for distribution network operators to encourage consumers to buy locally. Coal-fired capacity shows steady decline Hydro Wind Solar Top-up kWh Good Energy in hydrogen tie-up Good Energy is looking into the possibility of supplying low-carbon power for the production of hydro- gen, after signing a memorandum of understanding with clean fuel company ITM Power. The two firms will explore the po- tential for either the direct coupling of ITM's facilities to renewable gen- eration or the provision of green energy contracts. In March, Good Energy announced plans to launch a carbon neutral gas tariff partly made up of biomethane. ELECTRICITY 8-14 February 2016