Oil and gas giant Shell is preparing for strike action across seven of its platforms in the North Sea as part of the largest UK oilfields industrial dispute for ten years. Earlier in the week, workers at Wood Group, the company which provides Shell with maintenance services, voted in favour of strike action in protest at the changes to working conditions and pay. The dispute is a reflection of the increasing tensions in North Sea industrial relations as businesses struggle to keep the basin competitive in the face of low oil prices, high costs and declining production. Shell says that it is not expecting disruption to hit immediately and has put contingency plans in place to make sure that essential maintenance would carry on as normal if the strike goes ahead as planned. Shell has been accused of recruiting “scab labour” by trade unions after advertisements were posted to a job agency website which offered maintenance work on week by week contracts. RMT and Unite union leaders said that their members had voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action. Head of Shell’s upstream business in the UK and Ireland, Paul Goodfellow, said that he was disappointed with the outcome of the vote and was hopeful that the Wood Group and its employees would be able to resolves their issues without the need for a walkout. Goodfellow commented: “Our priority is to ensure that the safety of our people and assets will not be compromised during any industrial action.” Meanwhile, Head of Wood Group’s Eastern Region, Dave Stewart, said that the company was hopeful of reaching an agreement with the unions that “meets our mutual goal of safeguarding these jobs in the North Sea now and in the future.” On average, Wood Group employees are facing a basic salary reduction of 3%.

The UK’s roads watchdog has warned Highways England that it must change its planning processes if it is to be successful in delivering its £15 billion Road Investment Strategy. If the agency is to meet its delivery targets for the rest of the programme, the Office of Road and Rail said that the agency would require a more “robust internal planning process.” The comments came in the ORR’s first yearly review of the performance of Highways England which stated that the agency has made a “good start” to RIS by spending in line with the agreed funding and meeting all of its performance targets. However, there were concerns raised over the ability of Highways England to deal with “future risks” including skills shortages as workloads increased. In 2015/16, Highways England spent just more than £1.7 billion on renewals and enhancements, which will rise to £2.2 billion the following year and £3 billion in 2020. Joanna Whittington, Chief Executive of ORR, warned that most of its delivery targets had been set for the latter stages of its five year funding period and the agency required “more work to do to demonstrate how it will ensure delivery of its capital investment plan.” Whittington added: “The company needs to be clear about how it will manage some specific risks, such as those associated with the availability of skilled workforce and capacity of the supply chain to deliver.” The report also stated that the sector’s “strongest capacity constraint” was its ability to attract people with the appropriate skill set. Earlier in the week it was revealed that Highways England was to replace the current Collaborative Delivery Framework with a £7 billion framework. As part of its plans, Jim O’Sullivan, Chief Executive, outlined plans for a “route to market” initiative that would consult suppliers on how the framework should be shaped moving forward.

The ‘Gas Transportation Company’ (GTC), a utilities infrastructure provider, has signed a deal to provide fibre networks, electricity and has to a Bovis Homes development in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. The Stanton Cross site is a £900 million development of 144,000 m2 of commercial space and almost 4,000 homes. GTC will make the connection of electricity from the main substation which is expected to serve all the planned commercial properties and homes. The company will also install a second duct which will allow them to install a new, GTC owned, primary substation on site in order to provide for more homes if they were to go ahead. Every home will be equipped with fibre optic cabling, with unlimited upload and download speeds, with no television aerial or satellite dish required. GTC will also install FIRS, a fibre integrated reception system, which will allow digital and satellite television to be received through an aerial and community dish, while the television signal will be transmitted via the ‘fibre to the home’ network. John Lougher, Land Director at Bovis Homes Group, said that technology is playing a more and more important role in our lives, in particular in our businesses and homes where super-fast internet connection and high speed fibre is in very high demand. Lougher added: “We are delighted that future businesses and residents of Stanton Cross will benefit from this very latest technology by GTC.” Meanwhile, Tom Brough, GTC Sales and Marketing Director, said: “It is crucial for GTC to be able to offer multi-utility solutions that will stand the test of time in order to benefit new communities for future decades. He added: “It also makes a great deal of sense for house builders  to be able to obtain all essential utilities through one reliable provider in order to ensure new home completions are delivered on time and on budget.”

Welsh Water says it will give its three million customers a chance to voice their opinions on how the company should invest in services in the future. The non-profit water and sewerage firm does not have shareholders but will permit customers to offer views on how the company board should prioritise the spending of the company’s financial gains, which are forecast to be £30 million next year. The consultation process will last for 10 weeks and will offer various options for customers to choose from on the organisation website, including money off water and sewerage bills, more help for those who are struggling to pay their bills, investing in more pumps and water treatment works and support for educational and recreational schemes in communities. Chris Jones, Chief Executive at Welsh Water, said that the move is an unparalleled one as it gives people a real say in how they should spend any returns they achieve, which he believes reflects how their non-profit status is rooted in its work with customers and for customers. He added: “As we do not have any shareholders, we reinvest money in our network, support our customers and embed innovation to keep our service modern, efficient and at an affordable price.” The water supplier announced last month that it was to invest a further £32 million into its services in 2016, along with helping lower income homes after is recorded its best year in overall performance since it became non-profit in 2001. The consultation will be launched on July 11 and will run through until September 19. Last month, Welsh Water’s Head of Energy, Mike Pedley, said that “Companies need to be prepared to use their assets as flexibly as possible.” He believes that the company should provide a service that not only benefits themselves but also the country in general.

The National Grid has said that it is confident of having the required power supplies to keep the lights on this coming winter, but only because of the introduction of emergency measures to avoid blackouts. The operator of the UK’s electricity transmission system has forecast that it will have enough power and predicts that the buffer between supply and demand in the winter months is likely to average around 5.5%, which is similar to last year’s margin, stating that this was “manageable.” However, without the spare capacity that power generators are paid to keep on standby, the margin would have been just 0.1%, along with a scheme to pay industrial users to cut demand during peak times. The National Grid has given lucrative contracts to a number of energy firms to keep mothballed coal fired power stations available to use at short notice as the electricity network in the UK has come under more and more strain. National Grid Director of UK Market Operations, Cordi O’Hara, said she was confident that the organisation is equipped with the right services and tools, including more power that can be called upon if needed for the highest demand periods. However, blackout fears have been increased by a number of major supply crunches caused by fires and breakdowns at power stations in the UK over recent years; however Hugo Chandler, a director at New Resource Partners, an energy consultancy service said that the National Grid deserved credit for ensuring that the system is strong enough to cope. Mr Chandler commented: “We are moving towards a decentralised, flexible grid with a diverse mix of generation capacity, and increasingly smart methods of balancing supply and demand.” However, the National Grid stated earlier in the week that the big new capacity sources were needed in the coming years to make sure that the UK has an adequate electricity supply.

Energy efficiency in the UK is suffering from a lack of incentives from the government, according to the latest energy survey by Tuffin Ferraby Taylor (TFT). The study found that 80% of commercial property landlords believe that a lack of incentives from the government is the primary barrier that is stopping widespread energy efficiency measures being brought in across the country’s commercial real estate. Meanwhile, another 75% stated that the existing regulatory framework is too difficult to work with, following a significant majority of respondents who say that attitudes to energy efficiency have improved over the last few years. The TFT Energy Survey 2016 is the first one to be carried out by the firm and explores the barriers in place that are preventing the delivery of a truly energy efficient real estate. The survey is primarily aimed at managers and investors and looks at a number of important issues such as whether energy efficiency has become a higher priority over the last few years. TFT partner and Head of Sustainability, Mat Lown, said that the removal of incentives from the government, along with the complex nature and scale of the various pieces of energy regulation and policy statements, this has caused an erosion of confidence in the sector that has formed a significant barrier in the implementation of efficiency measures. He added: “60% of investors can see the clear investment potential of energy efficiency projects but, to date, investment has been targeted towards the large-scale projects. We hope that with more mainstream banks beginning to provide funding, smaller-scale projects will be able to attract funding streams. ““Lack of confidence came across strongly among many respondents. The market could benefit from standardised methodology for appraising the viability of projects. Particularly among investors, knowing that the advice they were receiving is truly independent is clearly a high priority.”

Affinity Water has seen its annual profits before tax fall to £46 million from the previous year’s figure of £60 million after it revealed its annual results for the last financial year (2015/16). The company posted a 12.5% increase on yearly operational costs, with an increase of £26.3 million up to £237.5 million, while in the same period revenue went up from £296 million to £303 million. The year’s asset-related expenditure was lower than the previous year’s amount because of delays in technology selections for water quality projects and a slower than expected start to its metering programme. In 2015/16, the company has spent over £100 million on maintaining and enhancing its assets and infrastructure, with work anticipated to speed up in the next year. Among its schemes are an upgrade to Denge water treatment works and a mains cleaning project on Romney Marsh. The company also posted some significant achievements during the last year, including the installation of 30,000 meters beneath a water saving programme, a redesign of its biggest river intake pumping system that will make major energy savings and a reduction in the number of burst mains by 9%. However, some bad news for Affinity came in its failure to meet one of its performance commitments relating to the speed of response to supply disruption. The company has now stated that it has refocused its approach to reducing unplanned interruptions on fixing the problems that come about quickly, restoring supplies and prevention. Simon Cocks, Affinity Water Chief Executive, said that he was proud of the Affinity Water team for the strong start they have made to its first year of an ambitious five year plan for communities and customers. He added: ““When I look back at our performance for 2015/16, the first year of our five year Business Plan, I recognise that there is more to do in the coming years to deliver on all our commitments, but this is a reflection of the genuinely stretching targets we have set ourselves.”

Danish firm Dong Energy has been successful in its bid to construct two offshore wind farms off the Dutch coast, which experts in the industry claim will be the cheapest projects of their kind. The schemes will be constructed for 72.70 Euros per megawatt hour, which is considerably beneath the 103 Euro MWh record which was set in 2015 by Swedish firm Vattenfall for a scheme off Denmark’s coast. A spokesman for the wind industry trade group, WindEurope, Oliver Joy commented: “This is the cheapest we’ve ever seen by a long way and it puts offshore wind on a par with what it costs to build a new coal or gas power station.” Dong is the biggest offshore wind developer in the world, and this latest deal does not include the price of transmission cables and equipment that will link the scheme to onshore power networks. However, executives in the wind industry said that adding in these costs would still leave the project cost at around 87 Euros MWh. Over the life of the project, Dong had set a cost target of 100 Euros MWh in four years’ time and says it is pleased to have already met its goal. Dong’s Head of Wind Power, Samuel Leupold, said: ““We are reaching a critical industry milestone more than three years ahead of time. This demonstrates the great potential of offshore wind.” There were various factors that contributed to the Dutch deal, which will result in the construction of two find farms built just over 20km off the coast of Zeeland, a Dutch province. The cheaper cost of capital available in the Netherlands helped with the low cost, along with the relatively cheap cost of the steel used to construct offshore wind turbines. Leupold added that the firm has reached a significant milestone three years ahead of schedule and shows the huge potential of offshore wind.

The UK solar industry has launched a new initiative in celebration of its third ‘Solar Independence Day’ when the country observed solar energy. The event saw people up and down the country posting photos using the hashtag #SolarIndependece and to mark the occasion, the Solar Trade Association (STA) has started a new initiative that will raise standards in the maintenance of ground mount and big rooftop solar systems. Estimates now suggest that the UK now has nearly 12GW of solar PV installed across solar farms, warehouses, schools, offices and homes throughout the country. This amount of solar power is equal to the amount needed to power almost 4 million homes, while the latest analysis from MyGridGB for the STA shows that in early June solar generation peaked at almost 24% of electricity demand in the UK, which is a new record for the country. Latest statistics show that there are currently more than 800,000 homes with solar PV and 200,000 with solar thermal systems, meaning that the UK now has more than a million solar homes. Meanwhile, the STA is eager to raise awareness of the fact that high quality maintenance and operation of solar systems is crucial to ensuring their safe working conditions, longevity and performance. The group is keen to make sure that the sector does more than just the minimum standard required and establishes the best possible practice to raise standards in the industry. As a result it has launched the new initiative ‘Raising Standards in Solar PV Operations and Maintenance’ which will build on the work already established by EU level organisation Solar Power Europe. STA Operations & Maintenance Working Group Chairman and Lightsource Renewable Energy Director, Mark Turner, believes that the initiative will establish best practice and raise standards throughout the UK in maintenance and operations of solar PV, ensuring that people know about the preventative action that will avoid expensive corrections at a later date.

Shell is planning to leave behind concrete and steel structures as big as the Empire State Building when it abandons one of the North Sea’s largest gas and oil fields. The company has a decommissioning plan in place for the Brent field, which is situated 115 miles to the north east of the Shetland Islands and will require international regulations to exempt it, demanding that all traces of gas and oil production will be removed after its offshore operations come to a close. Earlier in the week, Shell said that it had finished assessing the environmental and safety risks that are involved in the removal of a significant amount of the infrastructure at the Brent field site and found that it would far outweigh the benefits. The oil giant plans to submit its proposals to be approved by the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change before the conclusion of this year. This case will be a key test of the rules on what should happen to abandoned gas and oil fields in the North Sea as the coming decades are set to see more and more energy groups decommissioning sites due to reserves becoming scarcer. North East Atlantic countries are bound by the Ospar regulations which were agreed after the debate in the 1990s over Shell’s abortive plans to dump its Brent Spar oil storage facility just off the Scottish coast. However, there are exemptions to the ‘leave no trace’ rule which allow companies to dump facilities if they are able to show that a full removal of the structure would either be too risky or too problematic. Shell is using this exemption as its case for hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete subsea structures underneath its four Brent platforms. Decommissioning facilities in the North Sea has continued to climb the industry agenda over recent years due to the rapid fall in oil prices.