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A DECISION BY EDF ENERGY on 7 June to close and defuel its Dungeness B nuclear station--ahead of its recent schedule, but well beyond its initial life expectancy as the [...]

JUST BEFORE THE TURN OF the year, on 18 December, UK energy regulator Ofgem granted an electricity generation licence to BradweU Power Generation Co Ltd. The company is planning to [...]

INVESTING IN A NUCLEAR POWER plant, bulk power generation comes as standard. But in today's power industry more is expected. The system operator needs flexibility to help manage power on [...]

THE UK REMAINS THE FLAGSHIP for nuclear new-build in Europe, with a new fleet planned to replace the elderly plants that currently supply up to a fifth of electricity generation. [...]

Would the USA consider changing its spent nuclear fuel management strategy? Its civil nuclear programme uses a so-called 'once through' strategy, in which the spent fuel is sent largely unaltered [...] more...

Will the UK invest in a new series of nuclear power stations? The energy review published in July was assumed in some quarters to be a foregone conclusion, especially after [...]

THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC and comprehensive study to assess potential hydro power resources in India was undertaken in 1953-1959 by the then Central Water and Power Commission. These studies placed the [...] more...

Bonneville power administration operates a balancing act in the Pacific Northwest that sometimes makes it appear that 'if everyone's complaining, then we are getting it about right'. In her second [...] more...

THE Wivenhoe pumped storage plant is of strategic importance to the electricity network in northeast Australia. Owned and operated by Tarong Energy, it was once part of Queensland's state-owned electricity [...] more...

by Janet Wood Using demand-side response to reduce peak electricity loads by 5-10 per cent could save millions of pounds in system reinforcement and peak electricity costs, an Ofgem analysis [...]

The government must act now if it wants a decarbonised generation industry because the power sector does not have the resources to meet the challenge by itself, says the Royal [...]

by Janet Wood Some provisions in the proposed Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) could raise carbon dioxide emissions instead of lowering them. The warning came from sustainable building company AECB in [...] more...

by Janet Wood Europe's member states can set up their own auction platforms for trading emissions allowances under the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, according to draft legislation from the [...] more...

by Janet Wood New power plants are set to be connected to the grid on a 'connect and manage' basis with the cost shared by all grid users, but generators [...]

by Janet Wood Water regulator Ofwat is to kick off a fundamental review of water sector regulation that could see the end of five-yearly price determinations. Ofwat chief executive Regina [...]

by Janet Wood The RPI-X formula could disappear from energy regulation, if 'emerging thinking' from regulator Ofgem is carried forward. The formula, by which the regulator allows companies to raise [...] more...

When 25-year water resources management plans became statutory they were widely lauded as the key to avoiding short-term thinking in a long-term industry. If we formulate plans for water resources [...] more...

by Janet Wood The government has cut through electricity industry bickering over how to ease access to the transmission network by offering three variants of a 'connect and manage' approach. [...]

Severn Trent Select's success in winning its first customer in the competitive water market is a landmark for the water industry. The switch was made under the Water Supply Licensing [...]

Despite the headline arguments, distribution companies and Ofgem have a lot of common ground in tough price control negotiations. Janet Wood reports In its draft proposals for the fifth distribution [...] more...

by Janet Wood Ofgem has cut 19 per cent from the spending plans proposed by electricity distribution network operators (DNOs) for the five years from April 2010. In its draft [...]

Last week, Ofgem published an open letter asking for views on what its strategy and priorities should be for the five years from 2010. The regulator finished consulting on its [...]

Alongside the expected ramp up in renewables and plans for new nuclear power plants and carbon capture and storage, the government's low-carbon strategy included new duties for Ofgem. Janet Wood [...] more...

by Janet Wood The Renewables Obligation (RO) could be opened to projects sited overseas, under proposals published alongside the government's Low Carbon Transition Plan. The RO is the government's main [...] more...

by Janet Wood National Grid has laid out a future for the electricity system that could accommodate variable renewables by expanding the range of management options, including using demand-side options [...] more...

by Janet Wood Three trade associations have taken the rare step of writing to the cross-party Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change to accuse the industry regulator of misleading [...]

by Janet Wood Ofgem's chief executive has told a cross-party group of MPs that incumbent energy generators are 'filibustering and straight-out blocking' radical reforms for access to the transmission system [...] more...

Opus Energy managing director Charlie Crossley Cooke tells Janet Wood that success is a matter of getting the basics right - accuracy and price Charlie Crossley Cooke says companies want [...]

Speaking at the Parliamentary Renewables and Sustainable Energy Group's annual meeting last week, energy minister Mike O'Brien dismissed any urgent need to build a 'supergrid' in the North Sea. It [...] more...

by Janet Wood Ofgem has expressed its surprise at the size of estimates submitted by distribution network operators (DNOs) for the amount of revenue they will need for the next [...]

by Janet Wood Power companies fear the UK could run short of backup and peaking power capacity because the market does not provide enough incentives to invest. Giving evidence to [...]

According to consumer watchdog Consumer Focus, energy regulator Ofgem's regulatory approach has been limited by 'an over-reliance on market mechanisms, in particular consumer switching, to regulate markets'. Ofgem is not [...] more...

by Janet Wood Ofgem is set to allow transmission companies to invest millions of pounds in networks in the coming year to meet the needs of new renewables projects. The [...]

by Janet Wood New guidelines on green energy tariffs for small businesses and domestic users, published by regulator Ofgem, have prompted a war of words between green energy suppliers. Juliet [...]

by Janet Wood Plans to build new low-carbon generation are being hit by a collapse in the price of emissions allowances in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, industry figures have [...]

by Janet Wood Nine potential sites for nuclear new-build were identified in the first day of an eight-week 'window' for nominations to the government's Strategic Siting Assessment (SSA), which opened [...] more...

by Janet Wood Ofgem has decided not to pursue an investigation into the trading behaviour of two Scottish utilities in the wholesale market, even though it had 'concerns with the [...]

by Janet Wood The European Commission's unbundling directive could demand structural changes in two Scottish power companies, Ofgem has acknowledged. The unbundling proposals are part of the Commission's so-called third [...] more...

by Janet Wood Proposals that would see generators' rights to export power to the electricity network time-limited would likely face legal challenges, generating companies have confirmed. The Association of Electricity [...] more...

Smartest Energy tells Janet Wood why it is happy to launch its new retail business in the teeth of a recession Smartest Energy's retail arm went live on 16 September [...]

by Janet Wood Nuclear new-build carries more financial risk than other forms of power generation and would require much higher power prices to be profitable, according to a report from [...]

by Janet Wood Meeting government targets to generate one-third of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 could increase electricity prices by 38 per cent, a Lords committee has concluded. The [...] more...

by Janet Wood Two of the UK's big six energy suppliers, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and Eon, have reported sharply lower profits from their UK businesses. SSE blamed volatile [...]

by Janet Wood The government's competition to build a demonstration carbon capture and storage (CCS) project faces delays because a rejected applicant has called for a judicial review into its [...] more...

by Janet Wood Ofgem has extended until the end of February the deadline for distribution network operators to submit forecast business plan questionnaires for the next five years, but has [...]

by Keith Nuttall and Janet Wood A deal has been struck at the European Union Council of Ministers over unbundling major energy companies. The agreement has been blessed by the [...]

by Janet Wood Ofgem has proposed licence modifications for electricity distribution network operators (DNOs) that would force them to implement a common charging methodology by April 2010. The regulator believes [...] more...

by Janet Wood Up to one-third of domestic gas demand could be met by biomethane produced from waste and energy crops, according to the National Grid. The network company revealed [...]

by Janet Wood Vattenfall has celebrated the startup of a pilot plant using a new process that burns coal in oxygen instead of air. The so-called 'oxyfuel' process produces relatively [...]

by Janet Wood National Grid has flagged up plans to add two or more interconnections between the UK grid and its continental neighbours. The UK currently has just one interconnector, [...]