French utility company EDF says operations in Somerset will start a year later as delay costs firm €2.5bn
Britain’s first new nuclear plant in a generation at the Hinkley Point C site will face further delay, at a cost of €2.5bn to the French utility company EDF.
EDF said the first reactor at the site in Somerset will begin operations in 2030, a year later than planned – almost 13 years after construction work began – after a series of delays to the project.
Continue reading...Consultancy’s prediction comes after Rachel Reeves said green subsidy costs would be removed from domestic bills
Household energy costs in Great Britain are expected to tumble by an average of £117 a year from April after Rachel Reeves announced in November’s budget that the cost of green subsidies would be removed from domestic bills.
The government’s quarterly cap on energy bills is forecast to fall after the chancellor’s decision to shift the levies used to support renewable energy projects into general taxation, and scrap a bill payer-funded energy efficiency scheme, according to Cornwall Insight, a leading energy consultancy.
Continue reading...French government-owned company to receive funding for Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C
UK energy bill payers will hand over £2bn a year in subsidies to EDF, the French company building two new nuclear power stations, according to government figures.
EDF, owned by the French government, will be entitled to £1bn in annual payments as soon as Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, comes on to the grid in 2030.
Continue reading...One in every 25 participants at 2025 UN climate summit is a fossil fuel lobbyist, according to Kick Big Polluters Out
More than 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the Cop30 climate negotiations in Belém, significantly outnumbering every single country’s delegation apart from the host Brazil, new analysis has found.
One in every 25 participants at this year’s UN climate summit is a fossil fuel lobbyist, according to the analysis by the Kick Big Polluters Out (KBPO) coalition, raising serious questions about the corporate capture and credibility of the annual Cop negotiations.
Continue reading...Policy body calls for western-backed investigation into oil officials known to be at heart of illegal enterprise
A surge in state-sanctioned fuel smuggling between 2022 and 2024 cost the Libyan people about $20bn (£15bn) in lost revenue – an alarming sum that demands decisive international sanctions against those responsible, according to the most comprehensive report published on how Libya’s primary revenue source has been systematically pillaged.
The report by the investigative and policy body the Sentry states that “politicians and security leaders who claim to serve the public and fight organised crime have, in fact, acted as the chief architects of Libya’s fuel-smuggling industry, often with backing from foreign states”. Some of the imported fuel has also been smuggled into Sudan, where it has prolonged that country’s civil war.
Continue reading...Watchdog’s flagship report says rise in low-carbon electricity will make transition ‘inevitable’, despite Trump’s calls to carry on drilling
Renewables will grow faster than any major energy source in the next decade, according to the world’s energy watchdog, making the transition away from fossil fuels “inevitable”, despite a green backlash in the US and parts of Europe.
The world is expected to build more renewable energy projects in the next five years than has been rolled out over the last 40, according to the flagship annual report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Continue reading...Anti-corruption agency says state nuclear power operator Energoatom taking illicit payments of 10-15%
Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau said on Monday that it was conducting a large-scale investigation into the country’s energy sector, alleging kickbacks in transactions involving the state nuclear power operator, Energoatom.
The bureau, which operates independently of the government, alleged that several senior figures were involved. Ukrainian media identified one of them as Timur Mindich, a businessman and associate of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Continue reading...Australia stopped buying fuel directly from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine but has imported more than 3m tonnes of its oil products since 2023
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Millions of tonnes of Russian oil have been traded through a port part-owned by Macquarie Bank and potentially sold on to Australian businesses, new data shows.
The identification of a new link between Australia and the trade in Russian-origin products exposes further gaps in government sanctions, as Australia lags behind the EU and the UK in tightening import rules.
Continue reading...YouGov poll say only 26% of people say immigration is an issue locally but more than half believe it to be a national issue
There were six council byelections yesterday. Here are the results, from Election Maps UK.
Reform gained two seats, from Labour and from an independent group.
Continue reading...Analysts say president’s war on Russia’s fossil fuel revenues is a chance to bring peace to Ukraine and profit to US
Donald Trump’s stated mission to broker peace in Ukraine could come down to this simple question: can the US president convince the world to stop buying Russia’s fossil fuels?
Last week, Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in an effort to damage Moscow’s ability to fund its war machine.
Continue reading...US and Qatar say new rules will hinder imports of LNG, posing ‘existential threat’ to European economies
The US has demanded that the European Union roll back its climate and human rights rules in order to allow greater imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the Trump administration approved a controversial gas export hub along the Gulf of Mexico coast.
A letter jointly sent by the US and Qatar, two of the three largest LNG exporters in the world, warned the EU that its new rules pose an “existential threat” to European economies as they would hinder imports of gas from countries such as theirs.
Continue reading...State’s Republican-led public service commission to decide on power expansion and prices, as Democrats vie for voice
Georgia is facing the largest demand for electricity in its history, driven by nation-leading datacenter construction.
The Georgia Power company has made an unprecedented bid to the agency that oversees the utility for about 10 additional gigawatts of energy in the coming years – enough to power 8.3m homes, at an estimated cost of nearly $16bn, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Continue reading...A 2% blend of low-carbon gas injected into gas grid to fuel Brigg power station in North Lincolnshire is a UK first
Energy companies have injected green hydrogen into Britain’s gas grid and used the low-carbon gas to generate electricity, in a landmark development for the UK’s climate ambitions.
For the first time in the UK, a 2% blend of green hydrogen was injected into the gas grid and blended with traditional gas to fuel the Brigg power station in North Lincolnshire which generated electricity for the power system.
Continue reading...Reform deputy leader’s trip, worth £1,400, to Lubov Chernukhin’s property was for ‘discussing gas power in UK’
Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, accepted a £1,400 stay at the French Riviera home of Lubov Chernukhin, a Conservative donor and the wife of Russia’s former deputy finance minister, new filings show.
Tice enjoyed accommodation valued at £1,000 and meals worth £400 between 4 and 6 August at the Chernukhins’ property on the Mediterranean coast, listing the purpose as “discussing gas power in the UK”, according to the register of MPs’ interests.
Continue reading...Company says more roles will be at risk unless UK government supports tariffs to protect industry
Ineos, the chemicals company owned by the billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, is to cut a fifth of jobs at its East Yorkshire plant, blaming “sky high” energy costs and “dirt-cheap” imports from China.
The company founded in 1998 by Ratcliffe, who co-owns Manchester United FC, said it would cut 60 jobs at the Acetyls site in Hull, which makes petrochemical products such as acetic acid. It said more roles would be at risk across the industry unless the government stepped in.
Continue reading...Beefed-up packaging tax will triple pub chain’s costs from the levy to £2.4m a year, says Tim Martin
The boss of the pub chain Wetherspoon’s has vowed to keep price increases to a “minimum”, after blaming a beefed-up packaging tax and rising energy bills for extra costs.
Tim Martin said the recently introduced “extended producer responsibility” levy on packaging would lead to the company’s costs from the tax tripling from £800,000 to £2.4m a year.
Continue reading...As typical annual dual-fuel charge rises to £1,755, charities warn over record £4.4bn owed to suppliers
Britons preparing to ration energy as Ofgem price cap rises, says charity
What is the energy price cap for Great Britain, and can I cut my bill?
Three and a half years after war plunged Europe into an energy supply crisis, millions of households in Great Britain are braced for another winter of painful gas and electricity bills.
On Wednesday, the quarterly cap on charges will increase again. Despite a fall in wholesale gas prices, the ceiling for a typical annual dual-fuel bill will rise by 2% to £1,755 to help cover the costs of energy policies and network upgrades.
Continue reading...National Energy Action says 58% of households expect to cut heating use as typical annual dual-fuel bill increases to £1,755
‘It’s unsustainable’: homes in Great Britain brace for winter with soaring energy debts
What is the energy price cap for Great Britain, and can I cut my bill?
The majority of British households expect to restrict their home heating this winter to try to keep rising costs in check, according to research released as the price cap that dictates most bills rose again.
The fuel poverty charity National Energy Action said 58% of households told its survey they were likely to trim their energy use, a nine-percentage-point increase from the level in January.
Continue reading...Insolvency Service says 125 roles to go at Lincolnshire plant, which went into administration in summer
Almost a third of workers at the Prax Lindsey oil refinery in north Lincolnshire, which collapsed into administration this summer, will lose their jobs at the end of October.
The Insolvency Service said the decision to make 125 roles redundant, with 255 people remaining at the site, “was not taken lightly” and follows a thorough review of “all aspects of the business, following its insolvency”.
Continue reading...Renewables are thriving, with Africa breaking solar energy records – but action is needed to plug financing gap
The first signs of a takeoff of Africa’s green economy are raising hopes that a transformation of the continent’s fortunes may be under way, driven by solar power and an increase in low-carbon investment.
African leaders are meeting this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the Africa Climate Summit, a precursor to the global UN Cop30 in November. They will call for an increase in support from rich countries for Africa’s green resurgence, without which they will warn it could be fragile and spread unevenly.
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