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Construction of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) will start at the end of this year or the beginning of next year at the latest, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak said at an energy event in the southern city of Antalya on Wednesday.

Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation, Rosatom, plans to construct Turkey's first nuclear power plant in the southern province of Mersin on the Mediterranean coast. The plant has an operational date set for the first reactor by 2023, and the plant is expected to be up and running at full capacity by 2025.

According to Albayrak, the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK), the country's regulatory body, is working on a detailed study for the construction permit for the plant. Albayrak stressed that in studies, even the slightest risk will be addressed in Turkey, a country new to nuclear technology. All work for localization has already started, he said.

On Oct. 4, TAEK approved AEM-technology as an equipment manufacturer for the Akkuyu NPP. According to an announcement from the company, TAEK issued the approval certificate to AEM-technology, the machine engineering division of Russia's Rosatom, on Sept. 19. Rosatom is the first nuclear power plant equipment manufacturer to obtain an official manufacturing certificate.

The first agreement on Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant was signed with Russia in 2010, when it was decided that Russia's state atomic energy corporation, Rosatom, would construct the facility. The plant will produce approximately 35 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year, once completed. The power plant will have a service life of 60 years.

According to the data provided by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, by January 2017, 449 nuclear reactors have been operating in 31 countries and 60 nuclear reactors are in the process of construction in 16 countries. These reactors account for 11 percent of the global electricity supply. On a country-by-country basis, France supplies about 76 percent, Ukraine 56 percent, Belgium 37 percent, Sweden 34 percent, South Korea 30 percent, the European Union (EU) 30 percent and the U.S. 20 percent of their electricity demand through nuclear power plants.

Ofgem has extended its price cap for customers on prepayment meters to 1 million more vulnerable households. The safeguard tariff, which will apply to all customers receiving the Warm Homes Discount from a supplier large enough to be required to participate in the scheme, will be in place by February 2018 and will save customers on average £120 a year.

The regulator said it would work with government to introduce a market-wide price cap for all customers on standard variable tariffs (SVTs), following the introduction of legislation, as promised by prime minister Theresa May in her speech to the Conservative party conference last week.

Ofgem will consult on the form of the cap while the legislation is passing through Parliament, and urged suppliers to shift customers off SVTs in the meantime. It acknowledged the recent efforts made by some suppliers – such as Eon and Scottish Power – to start moving customers off SVTs, but said “more action is required”. To facilitate this, the regulator is introducing new rules to allow suppliers to roll customers onto fixed deals at their end of their contracts, rather than onto default SVTs.

Ofgem said it would extend price protection to at least a further 2 million vulnerable customers in time for next winter, unless such a move was pre-empted by the introduction of the government’s market-wide price cap.

In a separate move, designed to boost switching, Ofgem has proposed that customers automatically receive compensation if their switch goes wrong.

Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan said: “Ofgem shares the government’s concern that the energy market is not working for all consumers and is determined to reduce the detriment suffered by those overpaying for their energy, particularly those who are vulnerable.

“The government’s proposed bill to provide price protection to those who remain on poor value default deals, such as the standard variable tariff, will give these households peace of mind about the price they pay for their energy.

“In the meantime, we expect suppliers to do more to get customers on poor value default tariffs onto better deals.

“We also expect suppliers to co-operate when Ofgem initially introduces a safeguard tariff for around 1 million vulnerable households this winter.

“The introduction of further price protections will give time for Ofgem’s reforms to work and for smart meters to be rolled out across the country as we move towards a smarter, fairer, more competitive market.”

Consumers are becoming more engaged in the energy market, with latest figures from Energy UK showing that more than 550,000 customers switched electricity supplier in September.

That figure is up by nearly a half (46 per cent) on September 2016 and means over four million customers have changed electricity supplier so far this year.

Recent data from Ofgem also reveals higher levels of consumer engagement in the energy market. The regulator found that over two thirds of customers (41%) have engaged with the market this year, up from 37% in 2015. Furthermore, a third of switchers changed supplier for the first time in the past 12 months. 

With three months of the year still to go, the overall number of switchers is likely to eclipse last year’s total of 4.8 million, which itself represented a 50% increase on the 3.2 million who switched in 2014.

The rise in engagement has come alongside a broadening of the market. There are now 54 suppliers in the energy market, compared with 24 as recently as 2014. 

Research last week revealed that nine in ten energy switchers were happy with the process of changing suppliers. Furthermore, over two thirds said that having the Energy Switch Guarantee - a series of commitments ensuring switches are simple, speedy and safe, made them more likely to change supplier.

Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy UK said: “The energy market is rapidly transforming as competition continues to flourish and the numbers of consumers engaging in the energy market continues to grow. Over half a million consumers switching suppliers in the space of a month, shows the scale of the growing momentum.”

“There are great savings to be made either by checking with your existing provider or by switching to one of over 50 suppliers in the market - So our advice to consumers is follow in four million footsteps and make sure you are on the best deal.”

Article
Jesse D. Jenkins , Ignacio J. Pérez-Arriaga
IMPROVED REGULATORY APPROACHES FOR THE REMUNERATION OF ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES WITH HIGH PENETRATIONS OF DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES

Under increasing penetration of distributed resources, regulators and electricity distribution utilities face greater uncertainty regarding the evolution of network uses and efficient system costs. This uncertainty can threaten revenue adequacy and challenges both cost of service/rate of return and incentive/performance-based approaches to the remuneration of distribution utilities. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel methodology to establish allowed utility revenues over a multi-year regulatory period.

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