First Update of January 2021 – An overview of last week’s Energy news

Below is this week’s summary. It should be a one minute read relevant to UK energy with links to documents for those who wish to read more.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Wednesday- 6th January

• With government funding, two UK cities (Coventry and Oxford) are planning to become the first to have an entire public transport bus fleet powered by electric batteries.

Thursday – 7th January

• The UK government has rejected a request to ‘call in’ the NW England (Cumbria) local government decision to approve plans for a new coal mine in the area.

• 6.6% of new car sales in the UK in 2020 were electric vehicles.

• A local newspaper from SW England (Bristol) reports on increasing levels of fuel poverty during the pandemic as time at home increases and income decreases.

Friday – 8th January

• UK Government will provide £10 million in funding to distilleries in the UK so they can switch to lower carbon fuels such as hydrogen.

• FT article and GMB trade union suggest that growth in UK offshore wind electricity generation has not translated into UK jobs. UK has the most offshore wind power generation in the world.