Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 19TH - 25TH JANUARY 2018 | 17 This week Wales offers to help pay for tidal lagoon First minister accuses Westminster of 'dragging its heels' on proposed Swansea Bay project Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones has urged the UK government to stop "dragging its heels" and give the go-ahead to the proposed Swansea Bay tidal lagoon. Writing to prime minister Theresa May, Jones said the Welsh government would help pay for the £1.3 billion project if Westminster agreed to provide subsidies through a contract for difference. "This would be the world's first tidal lagoon power plant, which would create thousands of high quality jobs, supply a significant proportion of the UK's energy needs and position Britain as a world leader in a new global industry," Jones said separately. In his letter to May, Jones wrote that the project enjoyed cross-party support, both among Welsh Assem- bly members and local MPs. "The key to enabling the Swansea Bay project to proceed lies, of course, with the UK government agree- ing an appropriate contract for difference arrangement. However, I want to make clear that I am prepared to consider a substantial equity and/or loan investment by the Welsh government if that would enable the project to move forward… Any investment would be conditional on the UK government agreeing to an appropriate contract for difference arrangement and the project securing any necessary licenses and consents." Mark Shorrock, chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Power, said: "This is the breakthrough our project has needed. We thank the first minister and his team for their leadership." TG ENERGY Strong winds drive earnings at Orsted Orsted has reported prelimi- nary earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of DKK22.5 billion (£2.67 billion) for 2017. The unaudited figure exceeds the company's most recent out- look of about DKK21 billion (£2.5 billion) and represents a nearly 18 per cent rise on the previous year's result of DKK 19.1 billion (£2.27 billion). The increase was mainly attributed to healthy earnings from its offshore windfarms as a result of strong winds and the ramp-up of generation at its Race Bank and Walney Exten- sion windfarms. Profits from its gas portfolio activities in its distribution and customer solutions division were also better than expected. WATER UU to pump £60m into Ellesmere Port United Utilities plans to carry out a £60 million upgrade to increase the capacity of Elles- mere Port's wastewater treat- ment works. The company will install new machinery to connect with exist- ing equipment at the works near the M53 in Cheshire. If approved, the project will involve land on two sides of the site, which is in a green belt and dates back to 1973, as well as taking in grazing land "partly to allow landscaping". Planners said permission is not needed for new plants and equipment up to 15m in height and the application only covers development that exceeds the size limits or new land. One of the larger pieces that needs approval is an anaerobic digester, which is more than 18m in diameter and nearly 25m high. ELECTRICITY BESS secures £28.5m for battery portfolio Battery Energy Storage Solutions (BESS) has secured £28.5 million from Santander to realise its aim of becoming one of the UK's largest owners and operators of battery storage. The company, which was established in March last year, plans to build a 100MW portfolio of operational grid-scale batter- ies by the end of 2018. At the start of the year, BESS already owned and operated 14MW of grid-scale batteries, either co-located with solar sites or connected directly to the dis- tribution grid. The firm intends to increase the tally to 63MW by the end of this month. Earlier this month, VLC Energy completed the installa- tion of the UK's largest utility- scale battery portfolio to date with a total capacity of 50MW. The Swansea Bay tidal lagoon is a £1.3bn project Stock watch 26.5 26.0 25.5 25.0 24.5 UNIPER SHARE PRICE, FIVE DAY 19 Dec 27 Dec 2 Jan 9 Jan 16 Jan UNIPER SHARE PRICE, ONE MONTH Uniper's stock price dipped slightly last week in the wake of news that Eon had accepted an offer from Finnish utility Fortum to buy its 46.65 per cent stake in the company for €22 per share. Before the announcement shares were trading at almost €26 but at the time of publication were changing hands for just over €25. Uniper was spun-off from the rest of Eon in 2016. 25.8 25.6 25.4 25.2 25.0 24.8 11 Jan 12 Jan 15 Jan 16 Jan Finance & Investment

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