Are Tories anti 'bourgeois left' or just anti-green?
John Hayes comment that he does not take any notice of 'bourgeois left wing academics' (surely not referring to people like me!) may be a superficial, amusing quip, but it obscures a deeper truth -...
View ArticleSuperstorm Sandy deals another blow to nuclear power 'reliability'
US news wires are humming with stories about the biggest nuclear shutdown since Fukushima as over 32 GWe of nuclear power was shut down during 'Superstorm Sandy'. This is another blow to what is the...
View ArticleHow gas manipulation scandal could spread to electricity with Electricity...
Media reports about price opacity in gas trading markets sets a context in which price manipulation can occur. The Government is about to introduce an Energy Bill implementing Electricity Market Reform...
View ArticleMore Government hot air on green energy spending
Today's announcement by the UK Government that it may allow several billion of pounds spending on green energy by 2020 is little more than hot air. There will be practically no new renewable energy...
View ArticleThe Energy Bill is an Improvement
It has been a mildly pleasant surprise for me to read the details of the Energy Bill proposals that were finally published last week and to realise that this effort represents, for the renewables...
View ArticleEnergy Bill proposals could still freeze out independents, warn Friends of...
Despite improvements to the Energy Bill, the proposals could still make it virtually impossible for community groups to set up renewable energy projects and could hand the ‘Big Six’ electricity...
View ArticleBritish increase in coal generation is much bigger than Germany's
The latest energy statistics suggests that Germany is doing much better in restraining coal used to generate electricity compared to the UK. Yet, to read the British press you would automatically...
View ArticleGreen energy conference to discuss Government plans for renewables
Feeding Renewable Policy A Conference presented by The University of Birmingham and the Claverton Group of Energy Experts, Friday January 18thFind copies of some of the documents and powerpoint...
View ArticleEuropean Commission threatens feed-in tariffs for renewables
The European Commission has launched a thinly veiled attack on feed-in tariffs and the latest Energy Communication from the Commission threatens to change state-aid rules that currently favour...
View ArticleGet your MP to support motion against nuclear subsidies!
On February 7th a motion tabled by a cross party group of MPs questioning subsidies for new nuclear power stations is to be debated in the House of Commons. Please send an urgent message to your MP to...
View ArticleEDF demands double subsidy from Government including 'underwriting' as price...
EDF is now demanding a double subsidy of a high 'strike price' for electricity generated and 'underwriting' of at least some of the costs of building Hinkley C nuclear power station. EDF is edging...
View ArticleHinkley C could cost consumers £50 billion under proposed deal
Electricity consumers are likely to pay around £50 billion extra under the deal proposed by EDF in their negotiations with the Government for a contract to build Hinkley C. EDF has revealed that it is...
View ArticleScottish renewable energy targets may be politically unachievable under...
Just published by the Political Quarterly is a paper (with myself as lead author) which discusses how independence would make it unlikely that the Westminster Government would continue to pay the...
View ArticleRenewables face delays as nuclear costs are hidden
The debacle over funding nuclear power is increasingly likely to delay the renewable energy programme. If so-called 'negotiations' drag on between EDF and the Government the Government may be delayed...
View ArticleMPs want to give priority to nuclear power over renewables and energy efficiency
In an especially brazen piece of pro-nuclear pleading the DECC Select Committee has effectively said that nuclear power should be given cost priority over all green energy options. They say that EDF...
View ArticleHow the electricity balancing mechanism is undermining renewables future
Recent press coverage about allegedly high payments to windfarms to stop generating (to avoid electricity grid bottlelnecks) should be drawing attention to the cock-eyed way that electricity balancing...
View ArticleWhy we should boycott stately homes to defend renewable energy
Green energy activists should now be considering boycotting stately homes now that the National Trust and English Heritage appear to have launched a campaign to defeat large numbers of windfarm...
View ArticleGovernment set to pay EDF more than twice as much in subsidies as onshore wind?
Stories in the press would have us believe that EDF are about to clinch a deal under which they are paid about £96 per MWh for a 35 year contract for Hinkley C nuclear power station. If so they would...
View ArticlePressure builds on government to deny EDF demands
Perhaps EDF's latest media offensive in favour of their 35 year contract for nearly £100 per MWh is a sign of desperation rather than strength. Certainly the Government is under great pressure not to...
View ArticleHinkley C given consent for second time in 23 years
Today's 'second coming' for planning consent for a third nuclear power station at Hinkley Point probably means no more than the first consent for 'Hinkley C' given in 1990. The main difference is that...
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