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Tag Archives: power
With Scotland-based British Energy now sold to France, what power do we own?
Scotland-based British Energy is the biggest UK power company and is now French owned. E.ON – the rebranded, bought-out Powergen, is the second biggest and is German owned, with its HQ in Dusseldorf. The fourth biggest is another German company, RWE which owns Npower and its six million customers in the UK. EDF itself was already the fifth largest supplier of power to the UK market, before it’s acquisition of British Energy. Then, with 6% of the British market comes Scottish Power – but before hats are thrown in the air – hang on. Scottish Power has been owned by Spain’s Iberdrola since 2006. And even before EDF bought British Energy, eleven million British households got their power from foreign-owned companies.
Anybody remember what Harold MacMillan said when Margaret Thatcher started the privatisation train? ‘Selling the family silver.’ It’s not over yet.
Westminster commits to nuclear
A new UK Government Office for Nuclear Development launches today, promoting investment in nuclear power.
Westminster’s Business Secretary, John Hutton, sees energy from new nuclear generators as being ‘absolutely indispensable’. Today he will tell the first meeting of the UK Government’s new Nuclear Development Forum’s Advisory Group that 100,000 jobs could be created and £20 billion of private sector investment secured for nuclear expansion.
He is stressing his determination to ‘press all the buttons to get nuclear built in this country at the earliest opportunity, not only because it’s a no-brainer for our energy security, but also because it’s good for jobs and our economy. Insecure international sources of energy underline the case for a diverse mix’.
While this policy is at odds with the Scottish Government’s declared opposition to any new nuclear power generation in Scotland, there is also a significant degree of sleight of hand in Mr Hutton’s argument. Energy security cannot be said to be a priority of the UK Government. It was recently quite prepared to see Britain’s main energy company sold to a French company with the French Government as a major shareholder. This deal fell through for reasons not associated with energy security or political concerns.
Not owning our own natural resources – like water – and not owning our sources of power generation and distribution leaves us operationally and politically vulnerable to a degree that should be of real concern. The answer to this is not nuclear power which itself, in a liberal marketplace, could be owned by anyone anywhere. The issue is one of ownership of key national resources.
The Scottish Government is commitment to renewable energy development, with a target – now on course to be exceeded – of 50% of Scotland’s energy needs to come from renewable sources by 2020. This drive is already seeing exciting achievements in the move towards harnessing marine energy. As we reported recently, Irish company OpenHydro is now engaged in trials in the Pentland Firth, testing its marine turbines and its barge to lower them to the sea bed.
Argyll’s natural resources for renewable energy generation are considerable across the spectrum from wind, freshwater hydro and marine hydro.