From yesterday’s Observer:
In fact, Sellafield is a classic illustration of the failure of British industry. We were pioneers of nuclear power but in our desire to build our own atomic weapons, failed abysmally when it came to developing and managing our own civil reactors and reprocessing plants.
After years of being shoehorned into BERR and Defra, the BBC is reporting that energy and climate issues are to be tackled by a new ministry led by Ed Miliband. Very sensible move and I’ll be keen to see how effective it will be in tying together the different policy threads.
The Energy White Paper was released today and there must be a lot of interest in it; it took about six hours to actually get a decent connection to the DTI’s website and download a copy. I haven’t had a chance to go through it all yet but a couple things have jumped out from skimming the executive summary and news coverage.
Earlier this week, Ofgem released a decision document on the regulatory implications of microgeneration. Although the report does address some of the specific questions raised by last April’s original consultation, it has a much wider scope. By considering parallel issues such as supply licence proposals and metering innovation, the report is really a big picture assessment of the regulatory situation facing UK microgeneration.
Ken Livingstone yesterday set out plans to double the on-site renewables requirement for new London developments from 10 to 20%. The plans are still at the consultation stage so things may yet change but it’s certainly a promising sign.
I’ve been revising for my viva and was flipping through the DTI microgeneration strategy when I noticed a little mismatch, re: Ofgem’s demand reduction pilot (PDF). The original strategy says:
DTI will be investigating the possibility of a field trial that brings together smart meters and microgeneration to the effectiveness of smart meters combined with microgeneration technologies.
Read more on Can microgeneration and demand reduction be added?…
