A fight to build a third nuclear power station at Dungerness in Kent is back on following the formation of the coalition government. Dungerness already has one active and one decommissioned power plant, Dungerness A and B. In April 2009, EDF Energy added Dungeness C to a list of potential new nuclear sites submitted to […]

Mike Hogg discusses energy scenarios to 2050

Yesterday’s Queen’s Speech at the opening of Parliament offered an extremely broad-brush approach to energy. In the speech, the only mention of energy was one sentence: “Legislation will be introduced to improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses, to promote low-carbon energy production and secure energy supplies.” Outside Parliament following the speech, Energy secretary ChrisHuhne […]

Energy secretary Chris Huhne has vowed to talk to “all the key players in the industry” to secure security of supply and in turn “unlock the enormous flood of investment” needed to keep the UK’s energy ambitions on track. In an interview with ELN at Westminster following the Queen’s Speech, Mr Huhne also said that […]

Chris Huhne, Minsister of State, DECC gives ELN the lowdown on what the Government will do for Energy

A Dublin energy firm is to go head-to-head with NIE Energy to sell electricity in Northern Ireland. Airtricity, owned by Scottish and Southern Energy, is to enter the Northern Irish electricity market hot on the heels of its announcement this month that it is to become a player in the Republic of Ireland’s gas market. […]

The first full economic valuation of the UK’s offshore renewable resources has made some startling conclusions. The Offshore Valuation states that using just one third of the UK’s wind, wave and tidal resources could unlock the electricity equivalent of 1bn barrels of oil a year, give CO2 reductions of 1.1bn tonnes by 2050 and create […]

Oxfordshire County Council has become one of the first local authorities in the UK to establish a purpose-built anaerobic digestion plant. The 30,000-tonne food waste treatment centre at Cassington is the inaugural stage of the council’s plans to generate electricity for 5,000 homes. The facility will be built by Oxfordshire organic waste management specialist Agrivert, […]

The Co-operative Bank has signed off on £200m in loans to renewable energy companies this year. The £200m is half of £400m that the bank ringfenced for renewable operations in 2007. It believes that financing of smaller projects is essential to the UK achieving a low carbon economy and looks favourably on small-to-medium investments of […]

David Hunter of McKinnon & Clarke believes the plans outlined in last week’s coalition document could be derailed. “The idea of an offshore grid and other major renewable projects sound good, but who will put money in without huge public subsidy?” he said. “And so the next question is: can we really afford to put […]