Utility Week

Community Trump digs in to save coal Political uncertainty over energy policy pushes up risk and therefore the cost of capital. That's the constant refrain in the UK. Well, spare a thought for your peers in the US, where political capricious- ness has become a permanent background noise. Thus Donald Trump last week made good on a cam- paign promise when his administration released a state- ment declaring that it would take "immediate steps" to stop the closure of coal-fired and nuclear power plants. The statement didn't come from the Department of Energy, of course (which was unavail- able for comment), but from White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. There were no details about what these steps would be, but an earlier report doing the rounds in Washing- ton purported to reveal the contents of a dra memo drawn up by the National Security Council that would force grid operators in the States to buy the output of specific power stations earmarked for closure. Trump's campaign narrative was that it was only the policies of the dastardly Barack Obama that decimated an otherwise healthy coal industry – and that he would ride to its rescue. In truth, environmental regulation had little to do with the loss of coal jobs. More efficient gas and renewa- bles are making coal plants outdated, and automation means far fewer miners are needed anyway. Forcing power companies to buy the output of more expensive power plants will simply push up the price of electricity, for consumers and businesses alike. As another celebrity politician, former action hero and governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, wryly tweeted: "I eagerly await the administration's regula- tions protecting pagers, fax machines, and Blockbuster." Who's counting? Our endless quest for knowl- edge is one of the qualities that separates us from the beasts, and it was in the spirit of scientific endeavour that John Switch, a bakery packer from Blackburn in Lancashire, attempted to tackle a ques- tion that has been troubling modern man ever since he first thought about it: does every can of alphabet spaghetti have the same number of letters and are they evenly distributed? While many have wondered, John decided to do something about it. He spent three-and- a-half hours painstakingly emptying out the contents of two cans of Heinz alphabet spaghetti, rinsing the contents, and laying out the letters from A-Z on two chopping boards using his wife's tweezers. The answer to the two questions is "nearly" and "no". One tin had 179 letters and the other 180 (broken bits weren't counted), and the distribution of letters between the two was entirely random. You read it here first. Mushroom apocalypse Most people are aware of the existence of superbugs that are immune to antibiotics. Fewer people will be aware that a similar thing is happen- ing with fungi. The natural world as we know it relies on fungi to break down soil and rotting wood and so on, and some strains are potentially lethal to humans, especially if our immune systems have been weakened in some way. According to a recent article in journal Science, fungal infec- tions already kill more people worldwide than malaria, and the indiscriminate use of fungi- cides could create super-fungi. The great man can't help but think it would be ironic if our ultimate nemesis turned out to be the humble fungus. Disconnector Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: janegray@ fav-house.com; Acting editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@ fav-house.com Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; Deputy news editor: Katey Pigden, t: 01342 332082, e: kateypigden@fav-house.com; Content editor: Alice Cooke, t: 01342 332102, e: alicecooke@fav-house.com; Energy correspondent: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085, e: paulnewton@fav-house.com; Business development manager: Ben Hammond, e: benhammond@fav-house. com. t: 01342 332116; Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e; sophieabbott@ fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amandabarnes@fav-house.com. 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If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH JUNE 2018 | 31 Doug Parr @doug_parr If anyone can explain to me the principles of UK power policy please do. Because apart from a fetish for nuclear there is no set of principles (price, innovation, carbon etc) that are applied. It's a back-door lobbyists charter. Léonie Greene #FBPE @LeonieGreene Market now highly distorted by Govt interventions, not least to resist the natural economic advantage of onshore renewables – also means ducking their rightful role setting CO2 parameters. Absurd. Messy & costly. William Marchant @richonlyinnam In some ways, this rather marks the death of EMR. A core design aim was always perceived to be trying to bring forward private sector nukes. But that isn't possible – or not at a reasonable price. UK government is finally back in the game of owning power stations. Albert Owen MP @AlbertOwenMP I welcome the news that the Hitachi/@ HorizonNuclear Wylfa Newydd project is moving to its next stage. It's about low-carbon energy, about quality jobs and about the biggest investment in Wales. Alan Whitehead @alanwhiteheadmp If the Tories scrap Swansea tidal we lose the opportunity for a British built, first-of-a-kind, precision engineered, exportable technology. Sarah Merrick @SpeakSarahSpeak My very rough calc is Swansea could supply as much electricity as 70 onshore wind turbines or 15 offshore wind turbines, for 5-6 times the upfront cost. How can you justify the cost? It's predictable but still intermittent. Ed Miliband @Ed_Miliband Ten years on from the world-leading Climate Change Act, others are now more ambitious than us. Time we stepped up. Duncan Carter @Duncan_E_Carter Clearly providing software is the way to make money in energy retail right now, @ gentrack (provides billing and CRM software for practically all GB independent suppliers) growth in the UK has continued with revenues up 314% on the same period last year. Top Tweets

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