The UK is already the world leader in the development of wave and tidal energy technologies, home to seven of the eight full-scale prototype devices installed worldwide. The report notes that this success is in part a result of the abundant natural resources that are specific to the UK, a long history of academic research, world-class testing facilities, and a strong skills base in other maritime industries.

The report suggests that up to 20 percent of the required UK electricity budget could be generated by wave and tidal power.

“Britannia really could rule the waves when it comes to marine renewable energy,” said Tim Yeo MP, Chair of the Committee. “We are extremely well placed to lead the world in wave and tidal technologies, which could potentially bring significant benefits in manufacturing and jobs, as well an abundant supply of reliable low-carbon electricity.

“A more visionary approach from the Department of Energy and Climate Change could help to boost confidence and drive the pace of development.”

The desire to become a world leader is not only based in being good environmental stewards, though. The report states that there could be economic benefits to the UK if it became a true world leader in wave and tidal power. (Of course.) Homegrown companies could export equipment and components for marine devices to other markets, as well as provide specialist skills and expertise.

But the report warns that other countries less afraid of taking risks could leap ahead of the UK if the government takes an overly cautious attitude. The report points to the country’s failure to capitalize on its 80s lead in the wind turbine market. Once the leader in terms of research and testing of wind turbines, the UK failed to establish a domestic manufacturing industry and lost out to Denmark, which now controls the lion’s share of the worldwide industry now.

“In the eighties the UK squandered the lead it had in wind power development and now Denmark has a large share of the worldwide market in turbine manufacturing,” said Yeo. “It should be a priority for the Government to ensure that the UK remains at the cutting edge of developments in this technology and does not allow our lead to slip.”

Source: UK Parliament
Image Source: Luis Argerich

jQuery(‘.nrelate_default’).removeClass(‘nrelate_default’);

At a meeting between the UK Government and the three devolved administrations, Mr Ewing argued that new electricity trading arrangements can only be effective if there is a constructive partnership between Governments.

He stressed that the Scottish Government supports the case for reform of the Electricity Market, and highlighted the benefits that devolved powers have brought to developing electricity sector strengths in Scotland and other parts of the UK. He suggested that the current proposals need careful and detailed consideration on how they can best apply in the different parts of the UK market, including the implementation of a Capacity Mechanism, exemptions in the proposed Carbon Price Floor to encourage Carbon Capture and Storage, and an extension to the current Scottish Renewables Obligation system until new arrangements for supporting renewable energy projects in Scotland can be put in place.

Mr Ewing argued that the current uncertainty about the future of the Electricity Market is already causing projects to be delayed.

To fully address these issues, and further develop close and active working across Governments, the Energy Minister suggested a joint Ministerial Group including representatives from the devolved administrations to oversee implementation of Electricity Market reform.

Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said:

“The Devolved Administrations can play a hugely effective role in the Electricity Market Reform (EMR) process to ensure that it is successful. The reforms are critical to the continued success of Scotland’s electricity sector. Delivering Scotland’s remarkable energy resources is crucial to delivering a sustainable and low carbon future generating mix. The EMR process recognises the contribution that energy from each part of the UK will play in delivering a secure low carbon future energy supply.

“For that reason I today proposed the creation of a Ministerial Group with representatives from the Devolved Administrations and the UK Government to oversee the implementation and operation of EMR.

“Over time, this could evolve into a Ministerial Group to oversee the new arrangements once they are in place.

“I look forward to a constructive response from the UK Government”.

Enlarge image

Scotland, England vie for $52 Billion Offshore-Wind Future

Gamesa Corp.

A Gamesa G97 wind turbine.

A Gamesa G97 wind turbine. Photographer: Gamesa Corp.

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) — Alina Bakhareva, renewable energy research manager at Frost and Sullivan, discusses the outlook for the natural gas and wind power industries in Europe and Asia.
She speaks with Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg Television’s “Last Word.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Enlarge image

Scotland Vies With England for Offshore-Wind Future

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

The U.K. is planning to install hundreds of giant wind turbines in the North Sea, as it looks to raise the country’s offshore generating capacity.

The U.K. is planning to install hundreds of giant wind turbines in the North Sea, as it looks to raise the country’s offshore generating capacity. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Scotland and England, haggling over
the possible breakup of the U.K., are competing to create a hub
for the country’s $52 billion offshore wind industry.

Leith, the port area of the Scottish capital, Edinburgh,
and the northeast English coastal town of Hartlepool are vying
for a 150 million-pound ($237 million) investment from Spanish
wind-turbine maker Gamesa Corp Tecnologica SA. The local
governments plan to lay the foundations for a concentration of
skills and investment servicing North Sea wind parks just as
Aberdeen transformed its economy with the oil industry.

“The U.K. should be the dominant world market for offshore
wind by 2020,” said Ronan O’Regan, director of energy and
utilities at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London. Ports that
secure the industry’s investment will likely see “a significant
economic uplift,” he said.

Gamesa (GAM)’s decision may end up being a bellwether for the
competing ambitions of Scotland and northeast England to become
the center for the U.K.’s offshore wind energy projects. The
industry may be worth as much as 33 billion pounds over the next
eight years, according to the Carbon Trust, which was founded by
the government to help reduce emissions.

The Spanish company may create as many as 1,200 jobs at a
time when Britain’s unemployment is at the highest rate in 16
years, said Stuart Drummond, the mayor of Hartlepool, located
140 miles (225 kilometers) to the south of Edinburgh.

Big Opportunity

“The U.K. has the skills from offshore drilling,” said
Gerard Reid, a renewable energy analyst at Jefferies
International Ltd. in Frankfurt. “The opportunity for either
England or Scotland is pretty enormous.”

Hanging over the decision is a debate about Scotland’s
constitutional future and whether its economy can afford to go
it alone. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond plans to call a
referendum on independence in 2014, the year Gamesa aims to
produce turbines at its new British plant.

Gamesa, Europe’s third-biggest wind-turbine maker, plans to
establish the factory, maintenance center and logistics
operations in Britain as the nation ramps up wind-power
production to 31,000 megawatts by 2020. More than half of that
capacity, or 18,000 megawatts, is to come from offshore wind, up
from about 1,500 megawatts now.

Gamesa is still analyzing the relative merits of Leith and
Hartlepool and holding talks with officials, a company
spokeswoman said on Feb. 15.

Attracting Jobs

Competition for the Gamesa project underscores the
attraction of jobs in renewable energy on both sides of the
border as U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron pushes through the
deepest budget cuts since World War II.

It’s also a political issue as Salmond, the 57-year-old
leader of the semi-autonomous government in Edinburgh, strives
to make renewable energy a pillar of an independent economy. The
Scottish government aims to get all its electricity from
renewable energy by the end of the decade.

As well as onshore and offshore wind farms, the seas around
Scotland have the potential to provide up to 25 percent of
Europe’s tidal power and 10 percent of its wave power, according
to Scottish Development International. Salmond has said the
industry can generate 130,000 jobs.

About 1 billion pounds has been invested in offshore wind
in Britain since April, U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Davey said on
Feb. 9 after inaugurating the world’s biggest offshore wind
farm, which is in the Irish Sea off Britain’s west coast. The
money includes a Jan. 31 announcement that Samsung Heavy
Industries Co. will base a 100 million-pound offshore wind
project in Scotland, creating more than 500 jobs.

Turbines and Blades

Gamesa, based in Zamudio near Bilbao in northern Spain,
would build and open the plant making turbines and blades by
2014, according Scottish Development International, the agency
responsible for bringing in foreign investment.

“Gamesa is an important player in Scotland’s developing
offshore wind sector and we continue to work closely with the
company,” Tom Lamb, head of renewable energy at the agency,
said in an e-mailed statement.

Hartlepool, an industrial port, is counting on its location
and history. It could also do with the jobs. It has an
unemployment rate of 12.6 percent, the ninth-highest of 408
municipal areas in Britain, according to labor data from the
Office for National Statistics. Middlesbrough, 10 miles to the
south of Hartlepool, has the highest rate, at 15.1 percent.

“We’re ideally placed geographically and we’ve got a
legacy of heavy industry and construction,” Drummond, the
mayor, said in an interview by telephone. Drummond, who lobbied
last year for the Gamesa project in Madrid, said it would create
between 800 and 1,200 jobs.

Independence Question

Gamesa’s decision will be made on purely commercial
criteria and the spokeswoman declined to comment on how the
prospect of Scottish independence would complicate that
analysis. She also declined to be identified because of company
policy.

CBI Scotland, the biggest business lobby group, and
Scottish Financial Enterprise urged Salmond last month to spell
out his positions on taxation, employment laws, public debt and
the currency. Citigroup Inc. analyst Peter Atherton said in
November that power companies should exercise “extreme
caution” investing in Scotland until the political outlook
becomes clearer.

The U.K. is meanwhile planning to install hundreds of giant
wind turbines in the North Sea, accessed from both Leith and
Hartlepool, as it looks to raise the country’s offshore
generating capacity.

Drummond, who became mayor in 2002 after campaigning as the
monkey-suited mascot for the local soccer club, said the town is
in talks with Gamesa and “looking at ways of cutting down
costs” to win the project.

Securing the wind-turbine project would help transform
Hartlepool into a hub for renewable energy, he said. “It’s one
piece of the jigsaw if we can get it,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Rodney Jefferson in Edinburgh at
r.jefferson@bloomberg.net;
Ben Sills in Madrid at
bsills@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tim Quinson at tquinson@bloomberg.net

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The revised figure equates to roughly half of the UK’s household electricity use.

Ofgem aims to open up the forward electricity market controlled by the Big Six utilities in a bid to encourage competition and lower retail energy prices.

Its proposals are designed to allow new entrants to guarantee power supplies months and years in advance and to hedge risks.

‘Consumers will get the best deals when suppliers face tough competition and that is what both government and regulator are working to achieve,’ Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey.

Ofgem wants the likes of SSE, Scottish Power , RWE, E.ON, EDF and Centrica to make available 25 percent of their electricity supply in a mix of prompt and long-term power products to new entrants that currently lack generation capacity.

Ofgem wants frequent trading in key forward power products as well as reasonable and transparent terms of access to independent suppliers, it said.

Consultation on the proposals will end this summer, at which point Ofgem expects to publish its final reforms. Any resultant regulation would not come into force before the end of the year.

Two of Britain’s top energy suppliers have already stepped up efforts to trade more short-term electricity generation on the open market, which led to a five-fold increase in traded volumes between September and December last year, Ofgem said.

SSE was the first producer to pledge trading all of its supply on the day-ahead electricity market, while rival E.ON said it would offer more than 30 percent of its production on the spot power exchange.

Ofgem’s proposal to boost liquidity in long-term power trading is part of the regulator’s wider retail market reforms which include asking suppliers for simpler tariffs and improving conduct standards such as preventing aggressive doorstep selling.

The regulator made its first proposals in March 2011.

(Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic and Karolin Schaps; editing by Jason Neely) Keywords: OFGEM UTILITIES/

(Oleg.Vukmanovic@thomsonreuters.com)(44 207 542 0014)(Reuters Messaging: oleg.vukmanovic.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

COPYRIGHT
Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. All rights reserved.
The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

European Electricity and Gas Groups

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0774599/European-Electricity-and-Gas-Groups.html#utm_source=prnewswireutm_medium=prutm_campaign=Electric_power_energy

European Electricity and Gas Groups

Market Analysis – 2011-2016 Trends – Corporate Strategies

Publication date: December 2011

Exclusive extracts from this 220 page-long report:

- What is the business?

EU’s largest power producers are active throughout the entire electricity and gas value chain and their operations involve: purchasing, producing and marketing gas and electricity; storing and distributing gas and transmitting electricity, as well as developing the adequate infrastructure; providing heat and environmental management related services. […]

- Who are the key players?

Most analysed companies have a pan-European and/or international presence, and are leading utility companies in their home markets: GdF Suez and EdF in France, Centrica in the UK, E.ON and RWE in Germany, Enel in Italy, Iberdrola and Gasnatural Fenosa in Spain. However companies such as Vattenfall, CEZ or SSE remain regional players. […]

Companies analysed in the report: CENTRICA, CEZ, EDF, ENEL, E.ON, GAS NATURAL FENOSA, GDF SUEZ, IBERDROLA, RWE, SSE and VATTENFALL.

- How intense is competition?

- What are the main markets?

Germany

France

Spain

Italy

Europe

0. Conclusions1. Market fundamentals1.1. Overview1.2. The industry1.3. Supply and demand1.4. Geographical data2. Market environment and prospects2.1. Market overview2.2. Demand2.3. Supply2.4. International trade2.5. Regional overview3. Corporate strategies and competition3.1. Competitive forces3.2. Structure of competition3.3. Corporate strategies4. Company profiles4.1. E.ON4.2. GDF Suez4.3. Enel4.4. EDF4.5. RWE4.6. SSE4.7. Centrica4.8. Iberdrola4.9. Vattenfall4.10. CEZ Group5. Statistical appendix6. Sources7. Annexes

Companies mentioned

CENTRICA, CEZ, EDF, ENEL, E.ON, GAS NATURAL FENOSA, GDF SUEZ, IBERDROLA, RWE, SSE and VATTENFALL

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The watchdog proposed mandatory sales of power for delivery
from three months to three years ahead to help smaller companies
buy and sell the contracts, Ofgem said today in an e-mailed
statement.

EON AG, Iberdrola SA (IBE), SSE Plc, Electricite de France SA,
Centrica Plc (CNA) and RWE AG (RWE), collectively known as the “big six,”
supply 99 percent of the nation’s power and gas. That makes it
harder for smaller companies such as Intergen NV, Drax Group
Plc (DRX), First Utility Ltd. and Ovo Energy Ltd. to compete. EON,
Iberdrola and SSE have said they will increase power sales in
the day-ahead market operated by the N2EX exchange.

“Ofgem is proposing to introduce mandatory auctions to
force the pace of change and increase transparency,” Andrew
Wright, senior partner for markets at Ofgem in London, said in
the statement. The proposal doesn’t inhibit utilities from
increasing trade on their own accord, Ofgem said.

Trading Volumes Slump

Traders and analysts forecast a 2 percent rise in traded
volumes of U.K. power this year, according to the median of 16
estimates in a Bloomberg News survey last month. That’s after
the amount of electricity bought and sold slumped in the 12
months through July to its lowest in six years, according to
Financial Services Authority data compiled by Bloomberg.
Britain’s power market is vertically integrated, meaning the six
biggest companies generate and supply electricity, so have
little need to trade.

“If they’re trying to encourage liquidity then it’s a very
effective and simple measure to do so,” James Cox, an analyst
at energy consultant Poyry in Oxford said by telephone today.
“There are more deep-seated issues which come back to the
vertically integrated nature of the U.K. market.”

Thatcher’s Legacy

Former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher broke open the
nation’s energy industry more than two decades ago in an effort
to attract investment and drive efficient pricing. While that
allowed the U.K. to enjoy some of the lowest power prices in
Europe, it sapped trading as utilities sought profit.

The proposals, which are open for comment until May 8, are
part of Ofgem’s biggest reform of the industry to help drive
competition since Thatcher’s privatization. The plans aim to
ensure the market delivers enough contracts to help traders
hedge price risks, has trusted reference prices for future
contracts and that the near-term market provides the right
signals to switch on power stations, according to documents
published on the regulators website.

Ofgem Decision

Ofgem plans to publish its final decision later this year,
which may include establishing monthly auctions of electricity
via an approved exchange by 2013, Chris Lock, a spokesman for
the regulator, said by telephone from London. The government is
looking at ways to give Ofgem more authority, Secretary of State
for Energy Edward Davey said in a separate e-mail.

Most of Britain’s power trading is done via brokers
including Spectron Group Ltd., Tullett Prebon Plc and ICAP Plc.
Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and Nord Pool Spot AS’s N2EX exchange
holds a daily auction of electricity. APX-Endex Holding BV
allows trading via a power cable to the Netherlands. ICE Futures
Europe handled 160 percent more power futures last month than a
year earlier, according to a Feb. 14 report.

Ofgem may pick one exchange to handle the volumes or
utilities can propose multiple exchanges, Lock said. The
measures would ensure 49.2 terawatt-hours of generation were
sold for future delivery each year across baseload and peak
contracts, the Ofgem documents show. U.K. power stations
provided 381 terawatt-hours in 2010, according to the Department
of Energy and Climate Change.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie in London at
cairlie@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at
sev@bloomberg.net

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Nuclear power is a cornerstone of the government’s low carbon energy policy, but of the UK’s 19 reactors, only Sizewell B in Suffolk is currently scheduled to keep running beyond the middle of the next decade, leading to plans for 16GW of new plants at eight sites across the country.

FURTHER READING

However, Hendry today told a conference in London that several existing reactors would have to have their lives extended to provide more time for new low carbon energy capacity to be built.

He said the UK’s deregulated electricity market had not produced enough capacity to replace the fossil fuel and nuclear plants that are due to be switched off over the next 10 years while at the same time dealing with a predicted doubling in demand for electricity over the next 30 to 40 years.

Coping with the “capacity challenge” due to bite by the end of the decade while lowering emissions in line with mandatory targets would require twice as much investment in new generation over the coming decade as had been spent over the past 10 years, he added.

A diverse portfolio of renewables, new nuclear, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and energy efficiency measures would be needed, Hendry said, but even if this programme is delivered current nuclear plants might also be required for several more years.

“By the early 2020s [almost the] whole nuclear fleet will be closed down,” he said. “Some may get a lifetime extension – that is entirely possible.”

A spokeswoman for the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) told BusinessGreen plants would apply for an extension when they reach the end of their scheduled lifetime. But she added that ideally the government should not rely on extensions and should accelerate the construction of new plants instead.

French company EDF, which runs eight of the 10 UK plants, extended by five years the working life of the Heysham 1 and Hartlepool reactors to 2019 last year. Last month it estimated prolonging the lifespan of France’s 58 reactors would cost up to €860m per reactor compared to €5bn for building a new, next generation reactors.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) says it will cost £50bn to build the UK’s new nuclear fleet, but insists a policy is in place that prevents it from providing specific subsidies for new nuclear power. Instead, it plans to rely on reforms of the electricity market in favour of low carbon energy and a new capacity mechanism to attract developers into the sector.

“We want to ensure our electricity portfolio is diverse and not rely on a single technology – we think new nuclear should be part of the mix,” Hendry told delegates, adding that a deal signed with France last week demonstrated the UK’s role as a “serious nuclear nation”.

“We can only deliver what we need to do if we get people to invest [and] we can only do that if people see this is a good market in which to operate,” he added. “We’ve shown investors we are very serious indeed about new nuclear.”

Many campaign groups remain fiercely opposed to nuclear, however, arguing that the government does not have adequate plans in place to deal with resulting radioactive waste and that the technology can not be deployed without significant subsidies.

Enlarge image

Scotland, England vie for $52 Billion Offshore-Wind Future

Gamesa Corp.

A Gamesa G97 wind turbine.

A Gamesa G97 wind turbine. Photographer: Gamesa Corp.

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) — Alina Bakhareva, renewable energy research manager at Frost and Sullivan, discusses the outlook for the natural gas and wind power industries in Europe and Asia.
She speaks with Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg Television’s “Last Word.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Enlarge image

Scotland Vies With England for Offshore-Wind Future

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

The U.K. is planning to install hundreds of giant wind turbines in the North Sea, as it looks to raise the country’s offshore generating capacity.

The U.K. is planning to install hundreds of giant wind turbines in the North Sea, as it looks to raise the country’s offshore generating capacity. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Scotland and England, haggling over
the possible breakup of the U.K., are competing to create a hub
for the country’s $52 billion offshore wind industry.

Leith, the port area of the Scottish capital, Edinburgh,
and the northeast English coastal town of Hartlepool are vying
for a 150 million-pound ($237 million) investment from Spanish
wind-turbine maker Gamesa Corp Tecnologica SA. The local
governments plan to lay the foundations for a concentration of
skills and investment servicing North Sea wind parks just as
Aberdeen transformed its economy with the oil industry.

“The U.K. should be the dominant world market for offshore
wind by 2020,” said Ronan O’Regan, director of energy and
utilities at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London. Ports that
secure the industry’s investment will likely see “a significant
economic uplift,” he said.

Gamesa (GAM)’s decision may end up being a bellwether for the
competing ambitions of Scotland and northeast England to become
the center for the U.K.’s offshore wind energy projects. The
industry may be worth as much as 33 billion pounds over the next
eight years, according to the Carbon Trust, which was founded by
the government to help reduce emissions.

The Spanish company may create as many as 1,200 jobs at a
time when Britain’s unemployment is at the highest rate in 16
years, said Stuart Drummond, the mayor of Hartlepool, located
140 miles (225 kilometers) to the south of Edinburgh.

Big Opportunity

“The U.K. has the skills from offshore drilling,” said
Gerard Reid, a renewable energy analyst at Jefferies
International Ltd. in Frankfurt. “The opportunity for either
England or Scotland is pretty enormous.”

Hanging over the decision is a debate about Scotland’s
constitutional future and whether its economy can afford to go
it alone. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond plans to call a
referendum on independence in 2014, the year Gamesa aims to
produce turbines at its new British plant.

Gamesa, Europe’s third-biggest wind-turbine maker, plans to
establish the factory, maintenance center and logistics
operations in Britain as the nation ramps up wind-power
production to 31,000 megawatts by 2020. More than half of that
capacity, or 18,000 megawatts, is to come from offshore wind, up
from about 1,500 megawatts now.

Gamesa is still analyzing the relative merits of Leith and
Hartlepool and holding talks with officials, a company
spokeswoman said on Feb. 15.

Attracting Jobs

Competition for the Gamesa project underscores the
attraction of jobs in renewable energy on both sides of the
border as U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron pushes through the
deepest budget cuts since World War II.

It’s also a political issue as Salmond, the 57-year-old
leader of the semi-autonomous government in Edinburgh, strives
to make renewable energy a pillar of an independent economy. The
Scottish government aims to get all its electricity from
renewable energy by the end of the decade.

As well as onshore and offshore wind farms, the seas around
Scotland have the potential to provide up to 25 percent of
Europe’s tidal power and 10 percent of its wave power, according
to Scottish Development International. Salmond has said the
industry can generate 130,000 jobs.

About 1 billion pounds has been invested in offshore wind
in Britain since April, U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Davey said on
Feb. 9 after inaugurating the world’s biggest offshore wind
farm, which is in the Irish Sea off Britain’s west coast. The
money includes a Jan. 31 announcement that Samsung Heavy
Industries Co. will base a 100 million-pound offshore wind
project in Scotland, creating more than 500 jobs.

Turbines and Blades

Gamesa, based in Zamudio near Bilbao in northern Spain,
would build and open the plant making turbines and blades by
2014, according Scottish Development International, the agency
responsible for bringing in foreign investment.

“Gamesa is an important player in Scotland’s developing
offshore wind sector and we continue to work closely with the
company,” Tom Lamb, head of renewable energy at the agency,
said in an e-mailed statement.

Hartlepool, an industrial port, is counting on its location
and history. It could also do with the jobs. It has an
unemployment rate of 12.6 percent, the ninth-highest of 408
municipal areas in Britain, according to labor data from the
Office for National Statistics. Middlesbrough, 10 miles to the
south of Hartlepool, has the highest rate, at 15.1 percent.

“We’re ideally placed geographically and we’ve got a
legacy of heavy industry and construction,” Drummond, the
mayor, said in an interview by telephone. Drummond, who lobbied
last year for the Gamesa project in Madrid, said it would create
between 800 and 1,200 jobs.

Independence Question

Gamesa’s decision will be made on purely commercial
criteria and the spokeswoman declined to comment on how the
prospect of Scottish independence would complicate that
analysis. She also declined to be identified because of company
policy.

CBI Scotland, the biggest business lobby group, and
Scottish Financial Enterprise urged Salmond last month to spell
out his positions on taxation, employment laws, public debt and
the currency. Citigroup Inc. analyst Peter Atherton said in
November that power companies should exercise “extreme
caution” investing in Scotland until the political outlook
becomes clearer.

The U.K. is meanwhile planning to install hundreds of giant
wind turbines in the North Sea, accessed from both Leith and
Hartlepool, as it looks to raise the country’s offshore
generating capacity.

Drummond, who became mayor in 2002 after campaigning as the
monkey-suited mascot for the local soccer club, said the town is
in talks with Gamesa and “looking at ways of cutting down
costs” to win the project.

Securing the wind-turbine project would help transform
Hartlepool into a hub for renewable energy, he said. “It’s one
piece of the jigsaw if we can get it,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Rodney Jefferson in Edinburgh at
r.jefferson@bloomberg.net;
Ben Sills in Madrid at
bsills@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tim Quinson at tquinson@bloomberg.net

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• Google +1
• Print

European Electricity and Gas Groups

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0774599/European-Electricity-and-Gas-Groups.html#utm_source=prnewswireutm_medium=prutm_campaign=Electric_power_energy

European Electricity and Gas Groups

Market Analysis – 2011-2016 Trends – Corporate Strategies

Publication date: December 2011

Exclusive extracts from this 220 page-long report:

- What is the business?

EU’s largest power producers are active throughout the entire electricity and gas value chain and their operations involve: purchasing, producing and marketing gas and electricity; storing and distributing gas and transmitting electricity, as well as developing the adequate infrastructure; providing heat and environmental management related services. […]

- Who are the key players?

Most analysed companies have a pan-European and/or international presence, and are leading utility companies in their home markets: GdF Suez and EdF in France, Centrica in the UK, E.ON and RWE in Germany, Enel in Italy, Iberdrola and Gasnatural Fenosa in Spain. However companies such as Vattenfall, CEZ or SSE remain regional players. […]

Companies analysed in the report: CENTRICA, CEZ, EDF, ENEL, E.ON, GAS NATURAL FENOSA, GDF SUEZ, IBERDROLA, RWE, SSE and VATTENFALL.

- How intense is competition?

The liberalisation of the European power industry has profoundly modified the competitive environment of electricity companies. The EU has instigated competition in the power sector, shaping its medium and long-term strategies in line with its climate change policy. This has triggered a transformation in the EU’s utilities fuel mix and power generation technologies. Furthermore, significant changes resulted from liberalisation in terms of demand patterns, operation and investment in transmission networks. […]- What are the main markets?

Most of total electricity production in the EU comes from its most industrialised markets: Germany, France, the UK, Spain and Italy. Together, they account for nearly two thirds of Europe‘s electricity generation. […]

0. Conclusions1. Market fundamentals1.1. Overview1.2. The industry1.3. Supply and demand1.4. Geographical data2. Market environment and prospects2.1. Market overview2.2. Demand2.3. Supply2.4. International trade2.5. Regional overview3. Corporate strategies and competition3.1. Competitive forces3.2. Structure of competition3.3. Corporate strategies4. Company profiles4.1. E.ON4.2. GDF Suez4.3. Enel4.4. EDF4.5. RWE4.6. SSE4.7. Centrica4.8. Iberdrola4.9. Vattenfall4.10. CEZ Group5. Statistical appendix6. Sources7. Annexes

Companies mentioned

CENTRICA, CEZ, EDF, ENEL, E.ON, GAS NATURAL FENOSA, GDF SUEZ, IBERDROLA, RWE, SSE and VATTENFALL

To order this report:Electric power energy Industry: European Electricity and Gas Groups

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Nicolas Bombourg
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Solar flares can affect satellite navigation systems and other communications

The government must take more seriously the threat of a nuclear weapon being exploded in space by a rogue state, MPs have warned.

The Defence Select Committee said the resulting radiation pulse could disrupt power and water supplies, UK defence and satellite navigation systems.

Its chairman, Tory MP James Arbuthnot, said an attack was “quite likely”.

The committee is urging ministers to invest in more “hardened” technology to cope with such an event.

It looked at the threat to the UK’s technological infrastructure from “electromagnetic pulse” (EMP) events in space, which could also include the eruption of solar flares.

‘Quite likely’

The committee found the government was “somewhat complacent” about the risks to technology, such as the destruction of computer chips, which could put defence systems out of action.

Mr Arbuthnot told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “The defence really is to build up the resilience of the electronic infrastructure by, over a period of time, replacing the incredibly delicate and vulnerable systems and chips and connections that we now have with the more hardened chips and connections and systems that are available at a not very expensive price, as you’re doing your routine maintenance.”

On the possibility of a nuclear missile being fired into space and exploded, he said: “I personally believe that it’s quite likely to happen. It’s a comparatively easy way of using a small number of nuclear weapons to cause devastating damage.

“The consequences if it did happen would be so devastating that we really ought to start protecting against it now, and our vulnerabilities are huge.”

Mr Arbuthnot added: “it would actually have a far more devastating effect to use a nuclear weapon in this way than to explode a bomb in or on a city. The reason for that is it would, over a much wider area, take out things like the National Grid, on which we all rely for almost everything, take out the water system, the sewage system.

“And rapidly it would become very difficult to live in cities. I mean within a matter of a couple of days.

“I wish the government would address this with rather more energy and cohesion and focus. I think sooner rather than later.”

Currently a severe “space weather” event would most likely be considered an “emergency” under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and require help from the armed forces.

But the committee called for a clearer picture of who has responsibility in such an event.

‘Global threat’

The report insisted such threats should be considered by the National Security Council and civil contingency planners, with standards of protection developed for industries most in danger.

Conventional defence alone could not protect against the threat, it said.

In February last year a large solar flare erupted, disrupting flights over Pacific, but the bulk of the material emitted by the Sun passed by Earth.

The committee said sudden fluctuations in the magnetic field caused by weather in space or nuclear attack, could wipe out electricity and GPS, used by the military and financial markets.

It added: “Space weather is a global threat and may affect many regions and countries simultaneously.”

This, the report said, meant countries should work together, but also that there was no guaranteed safe place from where help could come.

The report also urged the Ministry of Defence to plan for the loss or degradation of satellite-based communications systems in case they are damaged by severe space weather.