NEWS


Government spells out plans to shut down UK coal-fired power stations


The UK’s solar output tops any other generation technology as the UK’s heatwave continues


Data from the government and National Grid-backed Sheffield Solar PV_Live project showed that on Saturday 30th June at around lunchtime solar delivered 9.38GW which, while just shy of a new generation record, was equivalent to almost 28% of supply. As the afternoon continued, solar is then thought to have topped gas output, which has only occurred a handful of times since the first reported


One of the UK's eight remaining coal power stations


is expected to cease generating electricity this year, the government has said as it laid out new rules that will force all the plants to close by 2025. The coal phase-out is one of the Conservative party’s flagship green policies. While three plants shut in 2016, and most are expected to halt operations by 2022, the last ones standing will be forced to close in October 2025 because of new pollution standards. The plan reveals the sector will continue to be propped


up by hundreds of millions of pounds in backup power subsidies for several years, paid through consumer energy bills.


Experts said allowing coal operators to continue receiving capacity market subsidies had thrown the sector an unnecessary lifeline. Dr Jonathan Marshall, energy analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a UK-based thinktank, said: “While delivering on the top line of a 2025 closure, the government’s decision to allow coal plants to compete in the capacity market on equal footing until then looks like something of a missed opportunity.” Ministers will also retain emergency powers to suspend


the phase-out in the case of an emergency shortfall in electricity supplies. “We consider it prudent for the secretary of state to retain provisions to act in emergency situations, as a last resort, where there might be a shortfall in electricity generation, or risk of one, and that suspension would wholly or partially mitigate that risk,” the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said. Officials have said it was unlikely those powers would be


called on, because the gap created by the coal plants’ closure would probably be filled by old gas power stations staying open longer. While no coal power stations closed in 2017, the government’s official assessment points out that a carbon tax and relatively low gas prices have hurt the profitability of coal plants. As a result, it foresees one major plant will close this


year, with the loss of up to 250 jobs, followed by a further closure next year. The government predicts coal’s capacity of 13.8GW last year will have plummeted to 1.5GW by 2025 because of unfavourable economics. The government has rejected calls by campaigners and industry groups for the deadline of 2025 to be brought forward, citing cost and energy security grounds. It also rebuffed suggestions of a gradual phase-out before 2025, arguing coal use was low enough to make that unnecessary.


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Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP) has installed a 380kWh Tesla battery alongside a electric vehicle charging points as the science park sets out to turn its flagship building into “an energy island”. Installed by Photon Energy at Manchester Science Park’s Bright Building, the four 95kWh


energy storage units ware part of its advanced energy strategy coasting more than £400,000. This project has received a grant from Innovate UK’s Internet of Things smart city demonstrator project, CityVerve, in which MSP is a lead partner, on top of a three-year finance package with Lloyds Bank in line with the lender’s Commercial Real Estate’s Green Lending Initiative. Under the terms of its loan – said to be the first of its kind to be completed by the bank in the


North West of England - MSP has agreed to a series of ‘green covenants’. This will include a committed spend of more than £600,000 in sustainable improvements to its existing campuses, reducing annual energy intensity of all its assets by 3.5% a year and increasing the amount of energy its buildings use from renewable sources by a further 10%. Tom Renn, MSP managing director, said: “This pilot installation marks a key milestone in our advanced energy strategy. It also makes good on a commitment to invest in sustainable improvements to our campuses, signed up to as part of our green funding package with Lloyds Bank.”


JULY - AUGUST 2018 UK Power NewS


energy sources, well over half (56%) of electricity in Great Britain was being provided at around this time according to National Grid’s Control Room.


alongside a electric vehicle charging points in Manchester


380kWh Tesla battery situated


This was supported by Drax’s Electric Insights platform produced by Imperial College, which showed that for over an hour from 1:46pm, solar generation stayed ahead of gas which only regained the top stop at 3:15pm. Across all low carbon


Solar, 533GWh of electricity was generated from solar, setting a new record for a full week. On Thursday 28th June, National Grid revealed that PV generation in Great Britain has exceeded 8GW for each of the previous eight days. This included a peak of 9.39GW on Friday 22nd June.


The performance of the country’s solar generation assets has capped a record- breaking week for the technology. According to Sheffield


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