UK Infrastructure

Homes and businesses in the Orkney island of Papa Westray are now receiving their internet through the water network, in what is believed to be a UK first.

Cables have been laid within existing water pipes, using the island's community-owned water system, enabling full fibre broadband to almost all properties.

The innovation allows locals to do things they couldn’t previously, like attending medical appointments remotely and gaming.

It’s now hoped it will attract people to live and work in the island and that water networks could be used to deliver broadband in other hard-to-reach areas.

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The internet connection initially reaches Papa Westray via a radio link from neighbouring isle of Westray, before being distributed across the island using the water pipes.

The fibre cable is delivered through a second pipe housed within the drinking water network.

The island became the first to use this approach successfully because the water system is owned by the community, making the work a more efficient and less disruptive alternative to conventional cable laying methods.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19593742

Nearly 620 miles (1,000km) of new power lines need to be built to meet the government's clean energy plans, official energy planners have concluded.

In a report, the body in charge of linking new projects to the grid said Labour's target to decarbonise electricity by 2030 was "achievable" but a "huge challenge".

It will warn that infrastructure for the electricity network will need to be built much faster than it has been over the last decade to meet the pledge.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said ministers were committed to "significant reforms" of the planning system to speed up new connections.

Scientists have called for people to go “urban mining” after a study revealed that old cables, phone chargers and other unused electrical goods thrown away or stored in cupboards or drawers could stave off a looming shortage of copper.

The research found that in the UK there are approximately 823m unused or broken tech items hiding in “drawers of doom” containing as much as 38,449 tonnes of copper – including 627m cables – enough to provide 30% of the copper needed for the UK’s planned transition to a decarbonised electricity grid by 2030.

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Copper is essential in the drive to decarbonise the economy – being a crucial element of solar and wind developments as well as electric cars.

The study found that unused electrical goods could contain as much as £266m worth of copper. Scott Butler, from Recycle Your Electricals, which produced the study, called on the public to start recycling their unwanted electrical goods.

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Cables represent one of the UK’s biggest e-waste challenges, according to the research, with UK households throwing away or holding on to an average of 23 cables. Research by the Critical Minerals Association has identified that they contain at least 20% copper – meaning that across all UK households, cables alone could contribute 3,251 tonnes of metal.

The Royal Society of Chemistry [RSC] has calculated 347,000 tonnes of copper would be needed to build the required number of wind turbines and solar panels by 2030.

“The UK needs to wake up to just how important copper is in achieving our greener future,” said Izzi Monk, RSC policy adviser for the environment. “We are potentially facing imminent and substantial supply concerns where we won’t be able to meet the global demand for this vital material. That’s why we’re calling for government to commit to a strategic, joined-up approach to materials that considers these supply risks.”

Six water companies overcharged customers between £800m and £1.5bn by “significantly or systematically” underreporting the true scale of their sewage pollution of rivers and waterways, a tribunal has heard.

In the first environmental competition class action against water companies in England, lawyers argued that the privatised firms had abused their monopoly position to mislead regulators over the amount of sewage they were discharging from their assets over the past 10 years.

As a result, the companies, Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, Anglian Water, Severn Trent, Northumbrian Water and United Utilities, were able to charge customers higher bills than they would have been allowed to if they had provided the regulators with a true picture of their sewage pollution.

Archive Link: https://archive.is/Jl6Bv

Vodafone and Three have rejected claims by the UK's competition watchdog that their proposed merger would lead to higher prices for millions of mobile users.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has "provisionally concluded" the deal would weaken competition between mobile networks.

It has particular concerns that customers who are least able to afford mobile services would be most affected.

The findings are the latest from the CMA's ongoing probe into the merger, which it launched in January.

The regulator will now consult on its findings and potential solutions to its worries over competition.

These solutions could include legally binding investment commitments, and measures to protect both retail and wholesale customers.

Vodafone's CEO for European Markets, Ahmed Essam, told the Today programme, on BBC Radio 4, that he still believed the merger would make a better network for customers, and add to the competition in the market.

"We've made a significant commitment to an £11bn investment," he said.

"We're willing to make sure that this is legally binding, and we undertake a commitment to deploy this."

He also said the firm had already traded part of its radio spectrum with a competitor.

But the CMA said it is "not convinced" that it would be good for consumers.

"The main knockback to the merging parties is that the CMA considers claims of superior network quality post integration to be "overstated"," said Kester Mann from analysis firm CCS Insight.

But he said the regulator was not shutting the door on the deal.

"Vodafone and Three should be encouraged by the tone of the CMA's report, which appears more open to the merger than I was expecting."

But Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at consumer group Which?, took a different view.

"The regulator's finding has set a high bar for the merger to proceed," she said.

"It is clear from those findings that the planned merger between Vodafone and Three could have a negative impact on millions of consumers."

But she warned it would be "challenging" for the regulator to find remedies for its concerns.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/17063929

A total of nine offshore wind farm contracts have been awarded by the government after last year's auction failed to attract any bidders at all.

The contracts are part of a wider slate of green energy projects that also include tidal and solar power, and will provide enough electricity to fuel the equivalent of 11 million UK homes, the government said.

However, while the new offshore wind projects have been broadly welcomed, some experts questioned whether they would generate enough capacity to meet renewable energy targets set for 2030.

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On Tuesday, a total of 131 contracts have been awarded to firms for projects which will generate 9.6 gigawatts (GWs) of renewable energy.

The new offshore projects include what will be Europe's largest and second-largest wind farms, Hornsea 3 and Hornsea 4, which will be built off the Yorkshire coast by Ørsted, the Danish energy giant that is majority-owned by the state.

The Labour government is aiming to produce 60GW of energy through offshore wind farms by 2030.

The offshore wind farm projects announced on Tuesday provide capacity of 4.9GW.

Pranav Menon, a research associate at Aurora Energy Research, said the government still has some way to go to meet its goal.

"It still falls short of the pace required to meet its ambitious targets," he said.

Despite the name of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire canal, it doesn't actually go through the county town of Stafford so a group of volunteers are now trying to make that happen.