Utility Week

12 | 6TH - 12TH APRIL 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Policy & Regulation This week Onshore wind could bid in CfD auctions Future auctions may be open to established technologies such as onshore wind and solar Claire Perry has signalled that onshore wind and solar projects will be allowed to compete for subsidies in a future contract for difference (CfD) auction. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) excluded established renewable technologies such as onshore wind and solar from the CfD auction last year. However, in an interview with The House magazine, the energy and clean growth minister said an auction including these so-called Pot 1 technologies was in the pipeline. She said: "There isn't a ban, but we will have another auction that brings forward [onshore] wind and solar, we just haven't yet said when." Perry has previously said she wants to enable onshore wind projects to compete for subsidies in areas where they enjoy public support. The Conservative manifesto for last year's general election maintained the government's bar on new onshore windfarms in England but kept the door open for such projects in areas of Scotland and Wales where they enjoy public support. The European Commission told the UK government earlier this year that it will not block moves to allow windfarm projects on the Scottish islands to enter the next CfD auction. The government applied for state aid approval to classify remote island wind as a separate technology in Group 2 of the next round of the CfD auction, which is set to go ahead in the spring of 2019. DB ENERGY Javid rejects open cast mine plan The government has thrown out plans for an open cast coal mine in a Northumberland coastal beauty spot because it could undermine efforts to tackle climate change. Sajid Javid, secretary of state for communities and local government, has rejected mining company's Banks' application to create a mine at Highthorn in rural Northumberland, where there are about three million tonnes of coal. The decision overrules the recommendation of an inde- pendent planning inspector to allow the scheme. Banks said 100 new jobs would be created. Friends of the Earth cam- paigned against the mine on the grounds that it would send the wrong signal to potential energy investors about the govern- ment's commitment to tackling climate change. ENERGY BEIS mulls options for low-carbon heat The top civil servant at the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has pledged that the government will outline its review of the options for decarbonising the UK's heat system by the end of the year. Under cross-examination by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on the renewable heat incentive scheme, permanent secretary Alex Chisholm said BEIS was conducting a strategic review of the "optimum mix of low-carbon heating technologies". Pressed further, he said the results would be published by the end of this year. He also hinted that a review on future support for renewable heat would be announced as part of the wider government- wide spending review. ENERGY Smart appliances will unlock DSR Smart appliance standards are needed to unlock the poten- tial for domestic demand-side response (DSR), according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The department has launched a consultation on its plans to introduce mandatory standards for smart appliances in homes. "A smart appliance enables consumers to participate in DSR and is a key element of the tran- sition to a smart energy system," the consultation said. It sets out four key functions that smart appliances should include: inter- operability; grid stability and cybersecurity; data privacy; and consumer protection. Auction to bring forward onshore wind and solar Political Agenda David Blackman "The ECO rejig re-targets the scheme at fuel poverty" Governments have a habit of storing up announcements, which can be filed under "wor- thy but dull" for Bank Holidays. Under the coalition govern- ment, the pensions minister had a habit of cornering front- page splashes with the kind of announcements that would have struggled to get any attention on faster-paced news days. This probably explains why the government unveiled its shake-up of the Energy Com- pany Obligation (ECO) energy- But an initiative that helps the worst-off households and cuts emissions sounds like a win-win for a Tory party that has to show that it cares about social and environmental issues. Ex-chancellor George Osborne used to try to demon- strate that he cared about infra- structure by being pictured on construction sites dressed in a high-vis jacket. Maybe Perry has to get up in a lo and don a face mask to get across the message that energy efficiency matters. efficiency scheme on Good Friday. The move doesn't seem to have worked. The BEIS depart- ment's consultation paper was ignored by all bar a few hard- ened efficiency enthusiasts. It's a shame because reducing the nation's heating requirement means less long-term demand for controversial extra genera- tion capacity, while helping the most fuel-poor. Energy minister Claire Perry's ECO rejig re-targets the scheme more firmly at fuel poverty. The problem for the energy-efficiency lobby is that fuel poverty is chiefly a problem for the kind of marginalised households that are less likely to vote.

• Cover