Utility Week

Community Measure twice, cut once To err is human, to forgive divine. Wind turbine manufac- turer Vestas must be hoping bosses at EDF Renewables adopt that attitude aer the discovery that six huge compo- nents delivered for its Dorenell windfarm don't fit the founda- tions prepared for them. The parts had to be trans- ported in special convoys along the busy A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road and have already annoyed locals with the tailbacks they caused. Now the parts will have to be returned to Inverness to be shipped back to Vestas and new parts shipped in. Industry experts say the bill for extra police and haulage will come in at a cool £180,000. The project has not been without its problems from the get-go: it attracted 640 objec- tions when it was proposed and has survived two court bids from drink giants William Grant & Sons, which owns Duown-based Glenfiddich, to block the scheme. Work began to upgrade roads in the rural Cabrach region nearly two years ago to accommodate the shipments. It must have been a bad day at the office for the engineer who first realised the parts didn't fit – but not as bad as that of the engineer who got his sums wrong in the first place. Bland food is a crime Disconnector was much taken with the story of a 12-year-old boy in Canada who got in trouble for calling the police – twice – to report his parents for making him eat a salad he didn't like. Halifax mounties in Nova Scotia responded to a 911 call (equivalent to our 999) last week in which an unnamed youth made an emergency call about said salad. Before police could arrive, the boy called a second time to outline the urgency of the matter and to reiterate his disdain for salad. Officers took the opportu- nity to teach the boy a lesson about when it is appropriate to call the police. The lad's parents were said to have been "unimpressed" with the boy's behaviour. Something doesn't add up Talking of childish behaviour, the great man is reminded of the latest piece of boast- ful nonsense of one Donald J Trump, one-time reality TV star currently playing president of the United States. Trump took everyone by sur- prise when he met the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, to talk about demilitarising the Korean peninsula. There was inevitable carping from his ene- mies about the lack of detail, but most observers agreed that it was definitely progress, and it won Trump some rare inter- national plaudits. Unable to stop himself from gilding the lily, Trump declared that one of the dividends of his meeting with the Glorious Leader was that he would be able to return to US soil the remains of US servicemen who had fallen in the Korean war, thus enabling him to fulfil the wishes of "thousands and thousands" of parents of dead servicemen who had come up to him at campaign rallies and implored him to do something. At the time, he had had to tell them there was nothing he could do – and it was clearly an experi- ence that affected him. The problem here is that the Korean War ended in 1953, so even if they had had their sons when they were 18, the parents would be at least 101 years old. With a sea of people over 100 years old besieging a presidential candidate trying to get the remains of their sons repatriated, you'd have thought the hordes of assembled press would have noticed… Disconnector Publishing director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Acting content director: Denise Chevin, 01342 332087, denisechevin@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray (maternity leave); Acting editor: Suzanne Heneghan, t: 01342 332106, e: suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; 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. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. 2,500 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2017 Membership subscriptions: UK £669 per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the publishing director, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. 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 | 22ND - 28TH JUNE 2018 | 31 Leo Hickman @LeoHickman ++WE HAVE A WINNER++ After three days of *extremely* close voting, SOLAR has narrowly beaten NUCLEAR FISSION to win the… WORLD CUP OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION. Thanks to everyone who voted. It was a lot of fun. More than 8,000 votes cast! Amazing. David Hess @6point626 Well done solar. Great to see so much good- spirited interest in this event and amazing that nuclear ran such a close race. Seems that public attitudes really have shifted. Now let's band together to overcome the climate and energy challenges of the future. Rose Galloway Green @RoseTweetEnergy Very close! Could have been a different result if done in the winter, with cloudy skies. Match conditions favoured solar? National Grid Media @Grid_Media Well, that was close! (our forecast AND the result) The pick-up at half-time was 600MW. #WorldCup Rachel Fletcher @OfwatChiefExec The #water industry needs to get better at providing reliable resilient water supplies. What some customers experienced during #BeastFromTheEast was not acceptable and we will be pushing for change. #OutInTheCold Holly Lynch MP @HollyLynch5 Considering what their top execs are being paid, government and Ofwat itself must now ask how did "they" let this happen. @LabourDefra Alexandra Jones @alexandraeua Concerning finds in new @ofgem report on vulnerable consumers in the #energy market. Suppliers forcing indebted households onto PPM does nothing to ameliorate their situation. Duncan Carter @Duncan_E_Carter Indebted customers need support, but customers who pay their bills shouldn't subsidise those who won't (rather than can't) pay. It's a difficult balance to strike in practice. A separate question is whether those who can't pay should be subsided by consumers or general taxation. Top Tweets

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