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4 | 6TH - 12TH OCTOBER 2017 | UTILITY WEEK STORY BY NUMBERS Seven days... National media China keeps mum on nuclear security The Chinese state-owned company planning to build a nuclear power station in Essex refused to share the security arrangements for a Chinese nuclear plant with the British authorities, it has been revealed. Inspectors from the UK nuclear regulator visited the China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) in Shenzhen earlier this year, as part of the four-year approval process for the reactor the company wants to build at Bradwell. Guardian, 1 October Dyson plans to build electric car Dyson is working on a premium electric car to go on sale in 2020. The company behind the epony- mous vacuum cleaner and hand dryers has been working on electric battery technology for almost two decades. Over the past two years it has built an automotive team of 400 engineers, drawn from manufactur- ers including BMW, Aston Martin and Tesla, and is preparing to use its research to give it the edge in a ferociously competitive sector. Financial Times, 26 September BP looking at block- chain trading BP is experimenting with block- chain to make oil and gas trading more efficient in the latest sign of big companies bringing the data- base technology into mainstream use. The UK group said it was investing in pilot programmes to explore the "practical and ethical" implications of using blockchain in the energy sector. Financial Times, 3 October Clark: 'Standard variable tariffs near the end of the road' T he political pressure for action on standard varia- ble tariffs (SVTs) ratcheted up another notch this week, with one-third of MPs signing a letter urging prime minister The- resa May to cap all such tariffs, and energy secretary Greg Clark telling the Conservative party conference the "end of the road" is near for SVTs. A total of 192 MPs have signed a cross-party letter to May and Clark calling for an extension of Ofgem's proposed cap on the two million most vulnerable households' bills to all 17 million customers on SVTs. The letter was signed by 76 Conservative MPs, 83 Labour MPs and 32 Scottish Nationalist Party MPs, as well as sole Green MP Caroline Lucas. It was organised by Conserv- ative ex-minister John Penrose, former shadow energy and cli- mate change secretary Caroline Flint, and SNP backbencher Patricia Gibson. Meanwhile, Clark told a fringe meeting at the Conserva- tive party conference that a cap on SVTs could be achieved more rapidly by Ofgem using its exist- ing powers rather than fresh legislation in parliament. Clark, who warned in a news- paper interview this weekend that Ofgem faced its "last chance" to introduce a price cap on SVTs, said: "Of course we are prepared to act through parlia- ment but everyone knows that taking things through parlia- ment takes much longer and we want to bring relief to consum- ers. I hope we are reaching the end of the road for standard default tariffs. "There is no question of a stalemate: we will act whatever they say." Citizens Advice joined the debate, calling for suppliers to be set annual targets to force them to shi all their customers off "expensive" default tariffs by 2020. The charity repeated its demand that a price cap be implemented for the poorest households but said a target was also needed to help the millions of less vulnerable customers who are also stuck on an SVT. DB "Conservatives want to stop abuses in business. Labour just wants to abuse business and business people" First secretary Damian Green tells the Conservative party conference that a price cap would encourage, not thwart, a competitive energy market. Community energy Lesley Griffiths, the Welsh cabinet secretary for the environment, announced ambi- tious targets for energy generation in Wales on 28 September at the Welsh Assembly. 1GW Amount of renew- able energy she called for to be locally owned by 2030. 70% Percentage of electricity Wales should generate from renewables by the same date. 32% of electricity was generated from renewables in Wales last year. 3x Amount of electric- ity generated from renewables in Wales has trebled since 2010. 2020 When she expects all new renewable energy projects to have "at least an element of local ownership". Photo: PA Images