British Gas owner Centrica to buy Grain LNG terminal for £1.66bn
National Grid's chief executive John Pettigrew said this deal is part of the company's plan to focus more on electricity and gas networks, after already selling its renewable energy business, NG Renewables, earlier this year.Mr Pettigrew said the sale "marks another successful step in delivering National Grid's previously communicated strategy to streamline our business and focus on networks."National Grid is moving away from owning energy production sites and instead wants to concentrate on building and maintaining the pipes and wires that carry electricity and gas.The sale of Grain LNG would add to Centrica's infrastructure portfolio which already includes assets such as the Rough gas storage facility - the largest gas storage facility in the UK.Owning facilities like Grain LNG gives Centrica more control over gas supplies, which could help protect against global price shocks like the ones seen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. ECP, meanwhile, has experience in investing in energy-related projects that support the shift to cleaner energy.Centrica and ECP are both part of private investment firm Brigepoint Group.The UK government is aiming for a significant increase in green energy, particularly aiming for a clean power system by 2030.Energy sources considered to be clean include solar and wind.
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Scotsman
20 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Is it a Bank Holiday today?
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Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
South Korea's nuclear power output surges as coal use plunges
SINGAPORE/SEOUL, August 18 (Reuters) - South Korea's nuclear power output is racing ahead of official targets due to fewer maintenance outages, a new plant coming online and reactors running at full tilt, helping to rein in generation costs and pushing down coal usage. Generation from nuclear plants grew 8.7% year-over-year in the six months through June - three times official plans for 2.9% annual growth - while coal-fired output plunged 16%, data from state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) showed. "The basic principle of generator operation in the power market is minimization of generation costs. Nuclear power generally has lower fuel costs than other generation sources such as coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG)," a Korea Power Exchange (KPX) spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. "If nuclear and renewable facilities continue to be additionally expanded in the future, generation from gas and coal is likely to continue to decrease," the spokesperson said. A 29% annual decline in maintenance outage times and a 6% increase in installed nuclear capacity in the first half of 2025 also boosted output, KPX said. The 1.4 GW Shin Hanul #2 plant southeast of Seoul came online in April 2024. South Korea is Asia's No.2 nuclear power generator after China. It is ramping up nuclear generation as policy resistance to the technology is waning, with Japan restarting idled plants and new reactors beginning commercial operations in India. The country of 51 million people operates 26 nuclear reactors with 26.05 GW of capacity and is building four more, including two units totalling 2.8 GW expected online in 2026. Tighter safety checks and maintenance shutdowns after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan curbed nuclear output in South Korea last decade, lifting coal and LNG use. However, nuclear output has risen 6.1% annually since power consumption stabilised in 2022, and President Lee Jae Myung, who took office in June, has pledged continued support. Nuclear's share of power generation rose to 31.7% in 2024 from 25.9% in 2019, KEPCO data showed, offsetting most of coal's decline to 28.1% from 40.4% across the same years. That helped South Korea cut its energy import costs, with overseas coal volumes falling 8% annually on average from 2022 levels, according to customs data, and the coal import bill falling 23% over that period to $15.4 billion last year. The growth in nuclear power is crowding out coal-fired power on transmission lines in South Korea. "Plenty of coal plants are sitting idle not by choice, but because there's no spare capacity on the transmission lines to carry more power," said Seunghoon Yoo, professor in the energy department in the Seoul National University of Science and Technology. Transmission constraints have also capped renewables, which along with hydropower provide just over a tenth of annual power generation, compared with a global average of 30%, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA, opens new tab). Power demand has mainly been driven by higher cooling requirements since 2022, KEPCO data showed, as industrial demand declines. Slow power demand growth has also discouraged operation of expensive gas-fired plants through the day despite the proximity of most of those facilities to Seoul. Gas is increasingly used to manage volatility, KPX said. "There has been an increasing pattern of gas plants operating during the morning peak hours, stopping around midday when demand is at its minimum, and restarting for the evening peak," the power exchange said. Electricity use by semiconductor manufacturers and data centres is rising but has not impacted fuel procurement, South Korea's energy ministry said.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Rachel Reeves to cut ‘bats and newts' in boost to developers
Rachel Reeves is preparing to strip back environmental protections in an effort to boost the economy by speeding up infrastructure projects. The chancellor is considering reforms that would make it far harder for concerns about nature to stop development, which she insists is crucial to restoring growth and improving living standards. The Treasury has begun preparing for another planning reform bill and is thinking about tearing up key parts of European environmental rules that developers say are making it harder to build key projects. Labour ministers have repeatedly insisted that their current planning overhaul will not come at the expense of nature, promising a 'win-win' system where developers will pay to offset environmental damage. But Reeves is understood to believe that the government must go significantly further, after expressing frustration that the interests of 'bats and newts' are being allowed to stymie critical infrastructure. She has tasked officials with looking at much more contentious reforms, which are likely to provoke a furious backlash from environmentalists and cause unease for some Labour MPs. A smaller, UK-only list of protected species is being planned, which would place less weight on wildlife — including types of newt — that is rare elsewhere in Europe but more common in Britain. Developers would also no longer have to prove that projects would have no impact on protected natural sites, under plans that would abolish the 'precautionary principle' enshrined in European rules. Instead, a new test would look at risks and benefits of potential projects. Further curbs to judicial review are also being considered by Reeves to stop key projects being delayed by legal challenges from environmentalists. No decisions have been made, but work is underway and Treasury sources acknowledged there was a growing belief that the government needed to go further, as Reeves says she wants to make boosting Britain's sluggish productivity the centrepiece of her autumn budget. She argued this week that building more infrastructure such as roads and railways were crucial to this aim. A Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently going through parliament attempts to encourage development through a 'nature restoration fund' through which developers will be allowed to press ahead with projects by setting up schemes elsewhere to offset their environmental impact. • The grid is struggling — and our green future hangs in the balance But the plan has been criticised by environmental groups while also attracting scepticism from some developers, who fear it will not work in practice and do little to speed up building. Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, who stood down as energy minister in May, is urging his former colleagues to go further to achieve Labour's promise of 150 major infrastructure projects. 'While I think the planning bill will work for housing, I don't think it is sufficiently focused on the major infrastructure projects, so it is encouraging that the Treasury is going to have another look at whether we've really got this right,' he said. 'The government has to face up to the tensions in the Habitat Regulations which are making it hard to build essential infrastructure and the reality is that at some point someone needs to make a hard decision and say 'on some things, you just have to press ahead'.' The rules, which incorporate the EU Habitats Directive into British law, ban killing of hundreds of species, including types of bats, news, voles, snails, spiders, insects and woodlice. Developers must prove there is no risk to protected sites and species before being allowed to go ahead with projects, under rules which critics say impose an 'impossibly high standard' on vital projects. Reeves is increasingly sympathetic to such criticism, after repeatedly hitting out at 'ridiculous' environmental protections. She said last month that she cared 'more about the young family getting on the housing ladder than I do about protecting some snails', after a speech in January in which she said developers should be able to 'focus on getting things built, and stop worrying about bats and newts'. Sir Keir Starmer has also expressed frustration with the ability of campaigners to delay projects through legal challenges, and is already introducing rules which limit judicial review to override the 'whims of nimbys'. Campaign groups and residents, who currently have three opportunities to apply for judicial review, which will be reduced to two, or one in cases deemed by a judge 'totally without merit'. Reeves is now considering allowing only one opportunity to bring any challenge. Some Labour MPs and peers want her to go further by using dedicated acts of parliament to prevent any legal challenge to specific named projects. The plans are at an early stage and are likely to cause tension with ministers in other departments who have pledged to protect the environment. Paul Miner, of the countryside charity CPRE, said targeting habitats regulations would 'take us backwards rather than forwards on nature recovery', adding: 'We urge the government to drop the worn-out 'builders versus blockers' narrative which wrongly frames climate and nature as being in conflict with economic growth.' Becky Pullinger, of the Wildlife Trusts, said maintaining environmental standards was 'essential if we are to achieve targets to protect and restore the natural world which is suffering huge declines, saying Reeves should abandon 'the myth that deregulation will lead to economic growth'. But Robbie Owen, head of infrastructure planning at Pinsent Masons, said: 'Ministers are finally realising that their rhetoric about reform doesn't match up up the reality of their bill. We have been saying to ministers and officials all year that the bill needs to go further and it seems that message has finally been heard.'
