Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 09/05/25.
Article: Britain’s energy bills problem – and why firms are paid huge sums to NOT provide power – BBC News Online
9 June 2025, Justin Rowlatt. “The two farms are 13 miles off the north-east coast of Scotland and include some of the biggest wind turbines in the UK, at 257m high. With winds like that they should be operating at maximum capacity, generating what the developer, Ocean Winds, claims is enough power to meet the electricity needs of well over a million homes…..Except they are not”:
Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdedjnw8e85o
News: Government needs to focus on lowering energy costs to sell net zero, polling says – City AM
8 June 2025, Fonie Mitsopoulou. The government’s embattled net zero mission suffers from a PR problem. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has been tasked with two huge goals: achieving clean power by 2030, and net zero by 2050. According to fresh polling by PR agency Grayling Media, 55 per cent of people think the 2030 clean power target cannot be attained:
News: Reeves mulls taxpayer-funded subsidy to cut manufacturers’ energy costs – City AM
8 June 2025, Samuel Norman. Rachel Reeves is looking at plans for a £1bn taxpayer-funded annual subsidy to bring down the energy costs for manufacturers after warnings the UK faced “rapid deindustrialisation” without intervention:
Link: https://www.cityam.com/reeves-mulls-taxpayer-subsidy-for-manufacturers-to-slash-energy-costs/
Article: Earth’s CO2 hits highest recorded level in human history – exceeding 430 parts per million for the first time ever – The Daily Mail
6 June 2025, Jonathan Chadwick. There’s now more carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere than ever before in human history, scientists have revealed:
Link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14787095/Earth-CO2-hits-highest-human-history.html
News: New UK AI datacentre could cause five times emissions of Birmingham airport – Guardian Online
6 June 2025, Robert Booth. Exclusive: emissions from power-hungry warehouses at Lincolnshire facility expected to be 850,000 tonnes a year:
Research briefing: Battery energy storage systems (BESS) – House of Commons Library
3 June 2025. This briefing covers battery energy storage systems (BESS), concerns about their safety and barriers to their deployment:
Link: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7621/
Consultation outcome: Capacity Market: proposals to modernise Rules and improve participation and delivery assurance of consumer-led flexibility – Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
2 June 2025. Detail of the outcome available:
News: Calls for Drax to be forced to fully disclose its biomass sourcing – Guardian Online
2 June 2025, Fiona Harvey and Jillian Ambrose. Campaigners say the publication of key KPMG report must be a condition to MPs extending subsidies scheme:
News: OEUK says action needed on windfall tax to secure jobs, boost energy security and build for the future – Energypedia
2 June 2025, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK). The leading trade body, (OEUK), has said the Government should remove the windfall tax on oil and gas profits by 2026. They are calling for it be replaced it with a competitive long-term mechanism that responds to future price shocks to encourage necessary investment in the UK’s energy future:
News: Heat pump rollout under threat if Government cuts £7,500 boiler upgrade scheme – i-news
1 June 2025, Hugo Gye. Government has not yet confirmed funding for the boiler upgrade scheme and broader ‘warm homes plan’ beyond next year:
Link: https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/heat-pump-boiler-upgrade-cuts-rollout-3723442
Case: Referral of the proposed subsidy to Drax Power Limited by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – Competition and Markets Authority
30 May 2025. The Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) has accepted a request for a report providing advice to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) concerning its proposed subsidy to Drax Power Limited (Drax):