Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 23RD FEBRUARY - 1ST MARCH 2018 | 5 £2,500 The Department for Transport has rolled out a nationwide scheme under which utilities have to pay up to £2,500 per day to carry out street works on busy roads. WATER Affinity Water's new CEO to join from National Grid Affinity Water has appointed Paul- ine Walsh, currently director of gas transmission at National Grid, as its new chief executive to replace Simon Cocks who will step down later this year. Walsh is expected to take up the role by the end of April. Cocks will step down as chief executive but will remain as a non-executive director of Affinity Water. In her role at National Grid, Walsh is responsible for building and maintaining the assets of UK's national gas transmission system. Prior to joining National Grid in 2015, she held senior leadership roles at Havells Sylvania, Fred. Olsen, Philips Electronics and Ford Motor Company. The news follows the appointment of Tony Cocker, former chief executive and chairman of Eon UK, who took over as Affinity Water's chairman from Philip Nolan last month. Cocker, said: "I am pleased to announce that Pauline is joining Affinity Water as chief executive. The board is very much looking forward to working with her. She has extensive cross-sector experience and a strong track record in leadership roles which will help us make the most of the opportunities ahead." £124k Arrow Environmental Services has been fined £43,750 and ordered to pay £80,000 in costs for illegally dumping waste, including chemicals, into Severn Trent's sewer system. "You can't have innovation and create a culture of innovation without supporting the people doing it. That starts with leadership" Sophie McPhillips, alliance innovation manager at Tideway, says innovation must start at the top. Engineers at Yorkshire Water are turning to virtual reality technology developed by the University of Sheffield to help design and visualise new treatment works. The move could help save the company £1 million in design costs by 2020. So far it has saved Yorkshire Water £180,000 by not having to build real-life prototypes. Instead engineers enter a virtual reality world where they can walk around and check design plans. Onshore wind installations reached a record high in 2017 as developers rushed to complete projects in time to grab disappearing subsidies. Data published by trade association Wind Europe show the UK added 2.6GW of onshore capacity over the year – double the previous record of 1.3GW in 2013. The flurry of installations was prompted by looming deadlines to secure subsidies through the Renewables Obligation scheme, which began closing to new onshore projects in May 2016. RUSH TO SECURE SUBSIDIES LEADS TO RECORD ONSHORE WIND GROWTH IN EUROPE Germany UK France Finland Belgium Ireland Denmark Greece Italy Sweden Austria Croatia Spain Netherlands Poland Czech Rep Romania 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 2017 installed winid energy capacity onshroe and offshore. 6,581 4,270 Source: Wind Europe 1,694 577 467 426 342 282 252 197 196 147 96 81 41 26 5 Onshore Offshore Total: 15,680MW

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