Renew On Line (UK) 34

Extracts from the November-December 2001 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

2. DTI Security Probe

Following the energy mess in California, security of supply has become a new concern for the UK government, and the Energy Minister, Brian Wilson has set up a new group to look at the risks to Britain’s future gas and electricity supplies. The Energy Security of Supply Working Group will monitor security of supply issues and assess any risks to supplies in the future. The group will be chaired jointly by DTI and Ofgem. Wilson said: “The Government wants to do more to plan for the future. This new group will be looking at least seven years ahead and provide expert advice on assessing the risks to our energy supply and on the adequacy of the UK’s gas and electricity infrastructure. We are currently self sufficient in energy at competitive prices and have diverse sources of supply. However we must not be complacent. In future we expect to become increasingly dependent on imports of fuel and particularly gas”.

In parallel, the House of Commons Select Committee on Trade and Industry has launched its own review of security of supply- looking at CHP in particular.

In addition the DTI has set up a new body focused on small, green and environmentally friendly generation such as wind, micro hydro, PV solar and micro-CHP projects - to help small generators link to local distribution networks rather than the main transmission network. This work will be co-ordinated by a new Embedded Generation Co-ordinating Group, under the joint chairmanship of the DTI and Ofgem, charged with taking forward the recommendations made by the Embedded Generation Working Group into Network Access (see Renew 131). Wilson concluded: “Small environmentally friendly generators have a crucial role in the UK’s green revolution. Failure to address the barriers to small generation could compromise the Government’s renewable and CHP targets for 2010. The new co-ordinating group will be absolutely pivotal in ensuring that the Embedded Generation Working Group report is followed up thoroughly”.

OFGEM’s consultation paper is at www.ofgem.gov.uk