COMPLETE UK ENERGY TRENDS

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Monday – 11th March

• Another one bites the dust (UK energy provider). This time it is Brilliant Energy. FT counts 11 UK utility companies have gone under since January 2018. 1 million customers have been displaced.

• Hydro-electric schemes in Scottish Highlands face local opposition.

• Report from onshore trade association shows potential for UK domestic natural gas.

Tuesday – 12th March

• 4.5 million households in China switched from coal to natural gas during 2018. Chinese imports of LNG are growing accordingly. BP predicts China will use 22% of global energy by 2040.

• North Sea production long-term decline predicted by UK government regulator Oil and Gas Authority.

• Bloomberg report, covered by Forbes, predicts global LNG demand will double in the next 15 years; half of exported gas will come from the US which exported 3 billion cubic feet per day during 2018 (roughly 1/3 of UK annual gas consumption).

• First UK offshore wind farm to be decommissioned. Commissioned in 2000.

• Environmental groups including Friends of the Earth raise concerns over importing LNG to Ireland.

Wednesday – 13th March

• UK Chancellor announces new homes will not be connected to the gas grid in six years’ time.

 Thursday – 14th March

• Institute of Welsh Affairs lays out 10-point plan to generate 100% of electricity for Wales by 2035.

• A UK roadshow begins to demonstrate potential of hydrogen as a transport fuel.

Saturday – 16th March

• UK Government announces that waste heat from new High-Speed railway link (HS2) will be used to heat homes.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

Monday – 4th March

• Article makes the case for combination of demand-side response, gas power and European interconnectors meaning we can rely on power supply during periods of high demand and low output from renewable sources.

• In the Netherlands, an auction to provide offshore wind has been opened with no subsidy on offer.

• Another article on the continuing drop in UK CO2 emissions since 2008. This one in the Guardian quoting Carbon Brief as the move away from coal being the cause.

Wednesday – 6th March

• A legal challenge to UK treatment of forest biomass at Drax as a renewable energy source.

Thursday – 7th March

• The UK has launched the new joint government-industry Offshore Wind Sector Deal which will see offshore wind reach the connected capacity of 30GW and deliver one-third of the UK’s electricity by 2030.

• As some western nations aim to move away from natural gas in homes, International Energy Agency predicts almost doubling of global demand between 2010 and 2050.

Friday – 8th March

• On international Women’s Day, first female head of UK Coal Authority speaks and introduces a team of women working with her.

• After 12 months off-line, Hunterston B is seeking permission to restart in the near future after inspection of cracks in reactor.

• Norway partially divests Sovereign Wealth Fund oil and gas investments in order to reduce national exposure to commodity price changes.

(Click a bullet point to open the relevant article)

I thought the below chart was well worth including (kindly permitted for inclusion by its owner, Dr Grant Wilson from Birmingham University Energy Institute). It captures 4 years of UK energy in the same unit (GWh) showing gas, electricity and transport demand.

Tuesday – 26th February

• Study based on activity in Germany and US activities suggests cost of generating hydrogen from hydrolysis using renewable energy is falling compared with generation from methane.

Wednesday – 27th February

• Ineos investing a billion pounds in North Sea pipelines and refineries including an ‘energy plant’ at Grangemouth in central Scotland.

Thursday – 28th February

• ExxonMobil announces discovery of 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet of gas in Mediterranean.

• A concise release from BEIS showing UK energy numbers for 2018. Oil and gas continue to dominate production at 73% combined. Nuclear dropped due to outages. Coal is vanishing from production and consumption. Wind rose significantly. Report shows 5 graphs covering 2008 to 2018.

• The same day, a local row is going on near Newcastle where permission to open surface mining of coal is being considered. Opponents argue based on local environmental and climate change concerns. Company quotes increase in imports from Russia of 730,000 tons in 1 year and jobs.

• February 2019: Russia was biggest supplier of LNG to Europe for the first time.

Friday – 1st March

• UK Government Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee is seeking input to a report into future investment to fill emerging energy gap in the wake of cancellation of new nuclear power stations.