Press release
11/07/2006 Swift and efficient planning process is key to Energy Review, says E.ON UK Chief Executive
While welcoming today’s (TUES) Energy Review, E.ON UK has highlighted that a streamlining of the planning process is key to the success of the review.
The company, which runs Powergen, believes the Report is a good starting point but that there is still a lot of work to be done to allow government and industry to tackle key issues together.
In particular, E.ON UK believes it is vital that the Government produces a national statement of need in key areas of energy investment to ensure local planning authorities fully understand national priorities and determine them in a swift and efficient manner.
Dr Paul Golby, Chief Executive of E.ON UK, said: “Planning is fundamental to our industry, it’s every bit as vital to renewable projects as it is to nuclear, gas and clean coal power stations and to distribution and transmission networks.
“It is clear that planning will be crucial as we develop the energy diversity we need to keep the UK’s lights on and homes warm.
“And, for E.ON UK, that diversity means that we will now be joining the planning and licensing processes for new nuclear power stations.
“However, planning changes for energy diversity do not mean taking power away from local authorities, it will be about ensuring we have national consensus and local buy-in for the issues that matter to the community.
“What we want to see is a national policy that translates into regional and local planning policy statements that ensures nationally important energy projects can be progressed transparently, swiftly and efficiently.
“What we don’t need is a repeat of Sizewell B, where the planning process took five years, if we are to build a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK.
“It is clear that, for the UK, a failure in planning would be a case of planning to fail.”
E.ON UK also welcomed the Government’s call for greater energy efficiency in people’s homes and for an increase in distributed generation, such as micro-CHP and micro wind turbines.
“We believe new technologies must go hand in hand with new behaviour – we have to learn to do more with less,” said Dr Golby.
“That’s the challenge for both our industry and for our customers.”
E.ON UK has already:
•Begun to trial micro-CHP, micro wind turbines and smart metering to encourage energy efficiency;
•Established a £100m CaringEnergy fund to help customers access products, measures and services to reduce bills and to improve energy efficiency;
•Committed to reducing the carbon intensity of its power generation by 10% by 2012;
•Invested £225m in renewables in the last five years and plans to spend £1bn over the next five years, including the construction of the UK’s largest dedicated biomass power station in Scotland;
•Identified 1,300MW of renewables capacity in various stages of development;
•Started development of a £200m gas storage facility at Holford in Cheshire;
•Submitted applications to build gas-fired power stations at the Isle of Grain in Kent and at Drakelow in Derbyshire;
•Started a feasibility study into the possibility of building a clean coal IGCC power station with carbon capture and storage capability at Killingholme in Lincolnshire.
Ends
Notes to editors:
•E.ON UK is the UK’s largest integrated power and gas company – generating and distributing electricity and retailing power and gas – and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ around 13,000 people in the UK;
•Our retail business, branded Powergen, is a leading energy supplier in the UK, with around nine million electricity and gas customer accounts, both domestic and SME. In addition, we have around 13,000 industrial and commercial customers;
•For the over-60s, we offer the Staywarm scheme, which allows older people to plan their energy bills throughout the year, and, in conjunction with Age Concern, we offer free electric blanket testing for the over-60s;
•We currently sponsor the RFL Powergen Challenge Cup. We sponsor Ipswich Town FC and our sponsorship of the weather on ITV also means that we’re one of the best-known names in the business. From the 2006/07 football season we will sponsor The FA Cup, it will be known as The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON;
•The generation business produces enough electricity to cater for the needs of around seven million homes from a portfolio of world-class gas, coal and oil fired power stations;
•We are a market leader in combined heat and power, providing our customers with around 600MW of electricity and more than 1,000MW of heat at 13 sites across the country;
•In addition, we’re one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 20 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We also burn biomass material mixed with coal in two of our power stations and own the largest hydro power station in England and Wales. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester;
•Through Central Networks, we run the electricity distribution network in central England, delivering a reliable supply to 4.9 million customers from the Lincolnshire coast to the Welsh border and from the Peak District to the outskirts of Bristol through enough underground and overhead cable to go four times round the world;
•Our Trading arm trades electricity, gas, carbon and other energy commodities in the UK, ensuring that the value of E.ON UK’s energy generation is maximised and the company’s exposure to price volatility is minimised. As well as trading, this team provides an overall risk and portfolio management service for the E.ON UK business, and we also provide gas shipping and pipeline management.
For more information contact:
Jonathan Smith on 07786 747752
Rebecca Middleton on 024 7642 5779
Jane Branscombe on 024 7642 5528
A selection of E.ON UK images is available free of charge to the media by registering at www.newscast.co.uk
