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Anglesey UK: economy stagnates during the struggle to find finance for Wylfa Newydd New Nuclear

hungry-nukes 1flag-UKWylfa Newydd  NuClear News No 91, Jan 2017 “The Government knows that solar and wind will be cheaper by the time Hinkley is generating” says Stop Hinkley spokesperson Roy Pumfrey. “It is blindingly obvious that solar and wind will win through in the end.” (21)

If the French nuclear industry managed to somehow get through its current difficulties ,EDF and China’s state-backed CGN can always appeal to their respective governments to help fund delivery of Hinkley Point C if things go pear-shaped, but Horizon, which is proposing to build two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors at Wylfa on Anglesey and two at Oldbury in Gloucestershire doesn’t have that luxury. Instead it will need to raise much more of its capital funding through attracting private investors – and proving to them it’s a safe bet. Horizon’s CEO Duncan Hawthorne admits this will be a challenge. “Quite honestly, we can’t point to a large parade of successful (nuclear) projects … We have to have a credible story in order to get financial support for the build costs”. He has got to somehow show that it is possible to construct a plant that will guarantee to investors it can be built on time and budget – and be commercially viable. (22) Given that there were only four ABWRs operating anywhere in the world before Fukushima with an average load factor of only 45%, and all have been closed since 2011, this might be a tall order for Hawthorne. (23)

The Japanese government and Hitachi are reported to be putting together a package worth £6.79bn to finance the Wylfa. The total cost of the project is expected to be around £19bn. There has been talk, according to the Nikkei Asian Review of the UK Government shouldering 25% of the cost. Even if that were the case that still leaves £11.5bn to be found from somewhere. (24)

While Wales and the global climate waits for Horizon to prove something that might well be impossible to prove the local economy on Anglesey has been “allowed to stagnate over decades due to a promise that nuclear power would come and save the day”. Robat Idris from People Against Wylfa B says residents are concerned about nuclear waste from the proposed Wylfa Newydd power plant and were not convinced that any new jobs would be for local people. He says focusing efforts on bringing renewable and community energy schemes to Anglesey would offer more long-term benefits. (25) http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/nuclearnews/NuClearNewsNo91.pdf

December 17, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, UK | Leave a comment

Japanese government planning to subsidise Britain’s new nuclear build

Tax - payersTokyo eyes ¥1 trillion in financial support for Japanese firms pursuing U.K. nuclear plants http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/12/16/business/tokyo-eyes-%C2%A51-trillion-financial-support-japanese-firms-pursuing-u-k-nuclear-plants/#.WFONt9J97Gg The government is considering offering financial assistance through state-affiliated banks for projects won by Japanese companies for nuclear power plant construction in Britain, sources said Thursday.

Under study is a plan for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Development Bank of Japan to invest in and provide loans to local companies that build and operate nuclear power stations, the sources said.

 The Japanese government hopes to establish a framework for financial assistance totaling about ¥1 trillion within 2017 also by asking major Japanese and British private financial institutions to participate in the scheme, according to the sources.

Visiting British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday that Britain is holding talks with the Japanese government, Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. on a financial support framework for nuclear power plant construction projects in his country.

On the same day, Hammond met with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga to exchange opinions about nuclear plant construction.

British Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Greg Clark plans to visit Japan as early as next week and hold meetings with officials of Hitachi, Toshiba and the JBIC.

Under the envisaged scheme, the Japanese government expects to offer financial assistance to Horizon Nuclear Power Ltd., a unit of Hitachi, and NuGeneration Ltd., which is under the wing of Toshiba.

December 17, 2016 Posted by | business and costs, Japan, politics international, UK | Leave a comment

USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission gives 30 yr old Fermi 2 nuclear plant 20-year operating license renewal

safety-symbol-SmFermi 2 nuclear plant gets 20-year operating license renewal http://www.wtol.com/story/34074155/fermi-2-nuclear-plant-gets-20-year-operating-license-renewal  FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – The operating license for the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant in southeastern Michigan has been renewed.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Friday that the renewal is through March 20, 2045.

Fermi 2 is in Frenchtown Township, southwest of Detroit. The power plant’s license was issued in 1985 and was valid through March 20, 2025.

DTE Energy submitted the renewal application in 2014.

The extension approval was put on hold late last month after an activist group encouraged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to look more closely into how potassium iodide pills would be given to area residents if the plant ever has a major release of radioactive steam.

December 17, 2016 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

Cheap energy storage will change the renewable energy debate

Diagram-energy-storage-1Storage – the missing link NuClear News No 91, Jan 2017  Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) predicts a six-fold increase in investment in energy storage to $8.2bn (£6.7bn) by 2024, and to $250bn (£197bn) by 2040. This massive growth in energy storage will create a “fundamentally different” global power system. This energy storage ‘megashift’ is already beginning to gather pace. The battery market has seen breath-taking levels of growth from utilities over the past 12 months, while non-utilities are increasingly realising that lithium-ion or flow storage systems can act as the perfect accompaniment to onsite renewable energy installation. (11)

Paul Massara, former CEO of RWE nPower, is now CEO of North Star Solar, a new solar PV + battery home energy system start-up. He says that lithium ion batteries for electrical storage are getting cheaper and cheaper, and PV + battery packages are now cost effective in the UK with the right financing package. Cheap, ubiquitous electrical energy storage will lead to a very different world and may change the focus of many of today’s energy policy debates. It is likely to help reduce peak demand, and allow renewables to provide a much higher percentage of electricity demand, especially if they are cheaper than alternative forms of low carbon electricity such as nuclear or fossil fuel with carbon capture and storage. (12)

North Star Solar has set up a joint scheme with the former colliery town of Stanley in Co Durham to offer in-home batteries and solar panels for free to all the town’s 35,000 households. Paul Massara says the combination of rooftop panels, a lithium battery and energy-efficient LED light bulbs will immediately cut power bills by 20%. (13)

The £19m ‘Big Battery’ installed at a sub-station in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire has completed a two-year trial and successfully shown that power storage has the potential to be both technically and commercially viable. (14)

Camden Council has teamed up with Islington and Waltham Forest Councils to deliver a pilot programme to test the potential benefits of solar panels and energy storage systems for residents at risk of fuel poverty. The ’24/7 Solar’ initiative is being part-funded by national fuel poverty charity National Energy Action. The aim of the trial is to see if there is evidence that integrated solar and storage technologies can effectively reduce the energy bills of fuel poor households. (15) Meanwhile in Edinburgh and surrounding towns several housing associations have been working with Sunamp to install solar PV and heat storage ‘batteries’. Surplus solar generated electricity can be diverted to the heat battery and used for hot water or central heating when required later. (16) And in Orkney where renewable energy generators are often curtailed due to the constraints on the distribution of electricity around the Orkney grid, yet fuel poverty levels are at 63%, a new project, launched by Heat Smart Orkney Ltd, is aiming to divert unused renewable energy into affordable heat. (17) The Scottish Government has given a new 400-MW pumped-storage hydro power plant in Dumfriesshire permission to go ahead. (18)

Solar power is expected to be the cheapest form of energy (not just electricity) everywhere in the world by around 2030. Cheap solar panels and advances in storage technology are transforming the world. By 2030 or 2040 solar will be the cheapest way to generate electricity, indeed any form of energy EVERYWHERE. The proportion of global electricity provided by solar is likely to grow from 2% now to at least 50% by 2030. We can see the cost of batteries coming down in price dramatically, but turning surplus solar electricity generating during the summer into something we can put into natural gas networks will probably come soon. Generating hydrogen from water and, using microbes, combining it with carbon dioxide to form methane is the simplest way to do this. (19)

Even offshore wind costs are falling. Swedish utility Vattenfall has agreed to build a giant offshore wind farm in Denmark that would sell power for €49.50 per MWh. Vattenfall has broken its own previous record of €60 per MWh. Once the cost of transmission is included this works out at around £75.50/MWh compared with £100.50/MWh for Hinkley Point C (once inflation has been added to the £92.50 at 2012 prices). (20) http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/nuclearnews/NuClearNewsNo91.pdf

December 17, 2016 Posted by | energy storage, UK | Leave a comment

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