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UTILITY WEEK | 18TH - 24TH NOVEMBER 2016 | 5 Leapfrog Finance is funding the acquisition by Communities for Renewables CIC of the UK's largest community solar facility. The 9.3MW solar project near Weston-Super-Mare is expected to generate £1.2 million for local community projects over its 25-year lifetime. Alternative Water Co will not apply for licence The Alternative Water Company has said it will not apply for a water supply and sewerage licence, so that it remains "totally independent". The firm's director, Graham Mann, said he does not believe it is possible for a regulated water retailer to give independent advice, and the company does not want to jeopardise the ethics of its consultancy – H2O Building Services. The Alternative Water Company began trading in March 2016 and claims its business model will be a "game changer" for the industry. WATER "It's a rip-off, pure and simple" The Sun says the big six are making seven times the profit they report, based on a report by PwC carried out for Energy UK. "There are no show- stopping barriers" The Energy Technologies Institute says there is nothing preventing the deployment of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. £14m Amount invested by Northern Powergrid in technology to identify the cause of power cuts and restore supplies more efficiently. £150m Amount spent so far by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks on strengthening its UK networks for winter. New water resilience action group A new resilience action group set up by the water industry has met for the first time, chaired by professor of built environment foresight at University College London Tim Broyd. The group, recommended by Ofwat's independent resilience task and finish group, will consider and provide guidance on best practice and leading thought on resilience across the water sector. Business Stream boosts service staff Business Stream has added to its customer services team in Edinburgh as it ramps up prepara- tions to compete in England's non-domestic water market from April next year. In the first phase of recruitment, 15 new customer contact advisers have joined Business Stream, increasing its team of water and wastewater experts to ensure all its customers continue to receive the specialist support and care they need. APPOINTMENTS Low-carbon generation hit a major milestone in the third quarter of 2016, supplying more than half of the UK's power for the first time, a new report has found. Put together by academics at Imperial College London on behalf of Drax, it shows coal's share of genera- tion dropping to just 3 per cent in the three months to the end of September, compared with 38 per cent during the same period four years ago. Coal generation at an all-time low Generation mix in Q3 2016 compared with the same quarter in previous years Source: Drax Electric Insights, data from National Grid and Elexon -88% -21% 65x +147% +31% +124% 16x +42% Change on 2010 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 TWh