Energy

Windfarms and solar panels prodded more electricity than the UK’s eight nuclear power stations for the first time last year, official figures show.   Wind and solar generated 18.33 terawatt hours (TWh), with nuclear on 16.69TWh. the figures published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy show.   Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions also continued to fall, dropping 3% in 2017, as coal use fell and the use of renewables climbed.  Energy experienced the biggest drop in emissions of any UK sector, of 8%, ...

Category: Energy

Derby’s Rolls-Royce factory has signed a contract with EDF Energy to provide heat exchangers for nuclear island systems at Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Rolls-Royce was selected in 2016 as preferred bidder for the heat exchangers, along with the primary, liquid and gaseous waste treatment systems and ultimate diesel generators.   A team of 80 Rolls-Royce engineers and supply chain specialists are currently working on the projects at its Barnwood, Derby and Warrington bases.   Hinkley Point C is the first nuclear power plant ...

Category: Energy

Renewable output rose by 27% over 2017 due to windier weather and new capacity coming online, according to the latest Electric Insights report from Imperial College London.   Wind, solar, biomass and hydro together produced 96TWh of electricity during the year – more than enough to power the whole of Great Britain in 1958.   The quarterly report commissioned by Drax shows low-carbon sources, including nuclear, accounted for half of all electricity production, as fossil fuel generation dropped by a tenth. 2017 was a “watershed ...

Category: Energy

One of the UK’s eight remaining coal power stations is expected to cease generating electricity at some point in 2018, the government has said as it laid out new rules that will force all the plants to close by 2025. Ministers will also retain emergency powers to suspend the phase-out in the case of an emergency shortfall in electricity supplies.   While three plants shut in 2016, and most are expected to halt operations by 2022, the last ones standing will be forced ...

Category: Energy

The Nuclear AMRC is leading two new R&D projects to address fundamental challenges in nuclear manufacturing. The ‘Inform’ and ‘Simple’ projects, backed by government funding of almost £2.5m, will investigate two contrasting approaches to producing large-scale nuclear components.   CTO of the Nuclear AMRC, professor Steve Jones explained: “Both projects aim to provide significant improvements to UK productivity, potentially cutting manufacturing time and cost by half for a variety of large nuclear components.   “By developing innovative approaches to the fundamental challenges of manufacturing, these ...

Category: Energy

A new study has claimed that a global electricity network powered exclusively by renewables is possible by 2050, and will be cheaper than today’s system.   The report was carried out by Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and the Energy Watch Group (EWG), an international non-profit that includes scientists and politicians. Presenting their results on the sidelines of the COP23 climate conference in Bonn, the researchers said that existing renewables potential, coupled with storage, could meet global demand by the middle of ...

Category: Energy

The Government’s “outdated” policy on onshore wind could cost the UK around £1bn over the next four or five years, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (EClU).   A new report published from the non-profit claims that 1GW of new onshore wind farms would be £30m cheaper a year than offshore wind and £100m less than new nuclear or biomass plants.   The ECIU does insist the UK’s “effective ban” on support for onshore wind is blocking development of the cheapest new electricity ...

Category: Energy

In a claimed UK first, energy supplier EON has completed the installation of a 10MW energy storage system that will be used to help smooth the flow of power to and from the grid.   The 10 megawatt (MW) Lithium-Ion battery, which is housed in four 40ft long shipping containers, has the same power as roughly 100 family cars and holds the same amount of energy as 500,000 mobile phone batteries. It has been Installed at a 30MW renewable energy plant that converts ...

Category: Energy

Energy from offshore wind in the UK will be cheaper than electricity from new nuclear power for the first time.   The cost of subsidies for new offshore wind farms has halved since the last 2015 auction for clean energy projects.   Two firms said they were willing to build offshore wind farms for a subsidy of £57.50 per megawatt hour for 2022-23.   This compares with the new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant securing subsidies of £92.50 per megawatt hour.   Nuclear firms said the UK still needed ...

Category: Energy

POWER GENERATION The University of Strathclyde and Babcock are to lead an industrial partnership worth £4.2m with the aim of making nuclear assets safer and more reliable. The Programme will develop advanced inspection techniques, biotechnology solutions for infrastructure repair and new products and processes for managing nuclear power facilities and extending their lifetime. The project forms part of a £138m investment in research-business partnerships announced by the UK government and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The project involves Babcock, EDF Energy, ...

Category: Energy