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The Topic: Funding decarbonisation UTILITY WEEK | 16TH - 22ND SEPTEMBER 2016 | 13 FIFTH CARBON BUDGET The fifth carbon budget deals with the period 2028-32 and its key points are: • Sets a target for the UK to reduce emissions by an average of 5 per cent on 1990 levels. • Sets a limit of emissions during the period to the equivalent of 1.725 billion tonnes of CO 2 . • The Committee on Climate Change said reaching the target will require power generation to reach an average carbon intensity of less than 100g CO 2 /kWh in 2030. • The UK is on course to meet the target of reducing emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050. • The fourth carbon budget for 2023-27 has previously been set at 1.95 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. • So far the UK has already reduced emissions by 38 per cent on 1990 levels. supplies are "resilient and efficient". The company currently produces around 88GWh of renewable energy from these CHP sites. Additionally, five new solar sites will go into operation this year, which, along with the firm's existing wind turbines, will help towards its target of a 7 per cent reduction in gross operational carbon by 2020. Severn Trent Water Severn Trent has made a commitment to invest £190 million in renewable energy pro- jects during AMP6, to help protect it against energy market risk through greater efficiency savings. The company says it will prioritise invest- ment in anaerobic digestion and solar gener- ation, with the aim of meeting 50 per cent of its electricity needs from its own renewable sources by 2020. Of this, anaerobic digestion will make up 55 per cent, and the company is considering developing solar farms to help contribute 15 per cent of its total renewable energy generation by 2020. Thames Water In May last year, Thames Water inked a five- year, £520 million supply deal with Drax's business retail subsidiary, Haven Power, to supply the water firm with 100 per cent renewable energy. Thames currently sources about 20 per cent of its electricity through self-generated renewables. It has a target to self-generate 30 per cent of its own electricity by 2020. United Utilities In October last year, United Utilities announced it was investing £3.5 million in Europe's largest floating solar power devel- opment. The 12,000 solar panels that make up the 3MW plant were installed on the surface of the Godley reservoir in greater Manchester. The farm went into operation in early 2016 and is expected to meet a third of the energy needs of the water treatment works. In 2015/16, United Utilities produced 138GWh of renewable energy, representing 17 per cent of its electricity consumption in the year. The company has plans to increase this to around 35 per cent by 2020. "The main lesson that I took with me from the private sector is that success comes from differentiation – from adding value that others either cannot or have not yet thought to do. We should be seeking to differentiate our industrial products – while also developing new ones – rather than trying to compete in low-margin commoditised markets where substitutes abound for what we are trying to sell." • Matthew Bell, chief executive, Committee on Climate Change 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 MtCO 2 e Note: Chart shows temperature-adjusted emissions in power, residential and non-residential buildings. This smooths out the large changes in heating emissions between years with mild and cold winters to give a clearer impression of genuine progress. Source: Decc 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Power Industry Transport Residential buildings Agriculture and LULUCF Non-residential buildings Waste F-gases PROGRESS REDUCING EMISSIONS SINCE 2012 HAS BEEN ALMOST ENTIRELY DUE TO THE POWER SECTOR United Utilities' 3MW solar farm on the Godley reservoir has 12,000 panels and is the largest floating solar farm in Europe ©United Utilities