Scrap metal firm fined £3,000 over chemical pollution

A metal recycling company has been fined £3,000 after polluting the air with chemical fumes. J&J Stanley, based in Tyne and Wear, was sentenced by Newcastle Magistrates for pollution from its site on Longrigg Road in Swalwell two years ago. The fumes – which came from a pile of aluminium waste dumped at the company’s […]

Water bill drops get thumbs up from Ofwat

Two water companies have been given an effective ‘thumbs up’ from the regulator Ofwat for their business plans – which both include a drop in water prices. South West Water and Affinity Water are the only ones to win draft approval so far because they handed in plans which didn’t need extra evidence to back […]

Gas shoulders 40% of UK power as coal drops

Gas power plants are shouldering more than two fifths of the UK’s electricity demands today, picking up the slack from coal, according to a daily market report. Coal often makes up as much as 40% of the UK’s power but this isn’t the case at the moment. Gemma Bruce, Client Portfolio Manager on the Optimisation […]

Shell boss touts “robust” profits despite drop

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell touted “robust” profits for the first three months of 2014 today, despite a nearly halving in size compared with the start of last year. First quarter earnings in 2014 were $4.5 billion (£2.7bn) compared with $8 billion (£4.7bn) for the first quarter of 2013. Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said: “Our […]

Energy consultancy quizzed 10% more on cutting carbon

Energy consultancy group Inenco today reported a 10% boost in the number of companies asking for advice on cutting carbon emissions and getting green energy. It said this rising interest is one reason for moving to a new office to expand its business. The North West company manages more than £3.2billion of electricity, gas and […]

Green energy to attract £64bn to UK by 2020

The UK’s growing green energy sector could attract £64.4 billion to the UK by 2020, doubling the amount it has pulled into the country since 2010. That’s according to figures by PwC published today by the Renewable Energy Association in its “REview – Renewable Energy View: 2014” paper. Renewable electricity generation has grown steadily, increasing […]

Profs scold Government for energy confusion

Professors and academics behind a new report have taken the Government to task for trying to sway public opinion on energy sources and creating political uncertainty which could stop the UK from hitting its carbon budgets. The report called “UK Energy Strategies Under Uncertainty” suggests confusion has been made worse by controversies over energy prices […]

The Daily Market Report – 30th April 2014

Find out what’s influencing gas supply, power prices and what you should watch out for in the new daily market report on the energy market from Gemma Bruce, Client Portfolio Manager on the Optimisation desk at npower.

Russian oil boss put on US sanctions list

Russian oil chief Igor Sechin was slapped with sanctions by the United States yesterday in the latest move to pressurise Russia for its military action on its border with Ukraine. The country’s former Deputy Prime Minister and current Executive Chairman of state oil producer Rosneft, Mr Sechin is believed to be in President Vladimir Putin’s […]

£3m farm waste-to-energy fund open

Farmers in England looking to set up small-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) plants are now able to apply for funding as part of a new £3 million initiative. The On Farm Anaerobic Digestion Loan Fund is offering farmers commercial loans of between £50,000 and £40,000 to help construct AD plants that generate less than 250KW of […]