Areva nuclear reactor moves ahead in U.S.

Hydro-Québec Unified Corporate Structure advances the energy transition through integrated planning, strategy, infrastructure delivery, and customer operations, aligning generation, transmission, and distribution while ensuring non-discriminatory grid access and agile governance across assets and behind-the-meter technologies.

Key Points

A cross-functional model aligning strategy, planning, and operations to accelerate Quebec's low-carbon transition.

✅ Four groups: strategy, planning, infrastructure, operations.

✅ Ensures non-discriminatory transmission access compliance.

✅ No staff reductions; staged implementation from Feb 28.

As Hydro-Que9bec prepares to play a key role in the transition to a low-carbon economy, the complexity of the work to be done in the coming decade requires that it develop a global vision of its operations and assets, from the drop of water entering its turbines to the behind-the-meter technologies marketed by its subsidiary Hilo. This has prompted the company to implement a new corporate structure that will maximize cooperation and agility, including employee-led pandemic support that builds community trust, making it possible to bring about the energy transition efficiently with a view to supporting the realization of Quebecers’ collective aspirations.

Toward a single, unified Hydro

Hydro-Québec’s core mission revolves around four major functions that make up the company’s value chain, alongside policy choices like peak-rate relief during emergencies. These functions consist of:

1. Developing corporate strategies based on current and future challenges and business opportunities
2. Planning energy needs and effectively allocating financial capital, factoring in pandemic-related revenue impacts on demand and investment timing
3. Designing and building the energy system’s multiple components
4. Operating assets in an integrated fashion and providing the best customer experience by addressing customer choice and flexibility expectations across segments.

Accordingly, Hydro-Québec will henceforth comprise four groups respectively in charge of strategy and development; integrated energy needs planning; infrastructure and the energy system; and operations and customer experience, including billing accuracy concerns that can influence satisfaction. To enable the company to carry out its mission, these groups will be able to count on the support of other groups responsible for corporate functions.

Across Canada, leadership changes at other utilities highlight the need to rebuild ties with governments and investors, as seen with Hydro One's new CEO in Ontario.

“For over 20 years, Hydro-Québec has been operating in a vertical structure based on its main activities, namely power generation, transmission and distribution. This approach must now give way to one that provides a cross-functional perspective allowing us to take informed decisions in light of all our needs, as well as those of our customers and the society we have the privilege to serve,” explained Hydro-Québec’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Sophie Brochu.

In terms of gender parity, the management team continues to include several men and women, thus ensuring a diversity of viewpoints.

Hydro-Québec’s new structure complies with the regulatory requirements of the North American power markets, in particular with regard to the need to provide third parties with non-discriminatory access to the company’s transmission system. The frameworks in place ensure that certain functions remain separate and help coordinate responses to operational events such as urban distribution outages that challenge continuity of service.

These changes, which will be implemented gradually as of Monday, February 28, do not aim to achieve any staff reductions.

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UK EV Per-Mile Taxes are reshaping road pricing and vehicle taxation for electric cars, raising fairness concerns, climate policy questions, and funding needs for infrastructure and charging networks across the country.

Key Points

They are per-mile road charges on EVs to fund infrastructure, raising fairness, emissions, and vehicle taxation concerns.

✅ Propose tax relief or credits for EV owners

✅ Consider emission-based road user charging

✅ Invest in charging networks and road infrastructure

As the UK continues its push towards a greener future with increased adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and surging EV interest during supply disruptions, a growing number of electric car drivers are voicing their frustration over the current tax system. The debate centers around the per-mile vehicle taxes that are being proposed and implemented, which many argue are unfairly burdensome on EV owners. This issue has sparked a broader campaign advocating for a more equitable approach to vehicle taxation, one that reflects the evolving landscape of transportation and environmental policy.

Rising Costs for Electric Car Owners

Electric vehicles have been hailed as a crucial component in the UK’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change. Government incentives, such as grants for EV purchases and tax breaks, have been instrumental in encouraging the shift from petrol and diesel cars to cleaner alternatives, even as affordability concerns persist among many UK consumers. However, as the number of electric vehicles on the road grows, the financial dynamics of vehicle taxation are coming under scrutiny.

One of the key issues is the introduction and increase of per-mile vehicle taxes. While these taxes are designed to account for road usage and infrastructure costs, they have been met with resistance from EV drivers who argue that they are being disproportionately affected. Unlike traditional combustion engine vehicles, electric cars typically have lower running costs compared to petrol or diesel models and, in many cases, benefit from lower or zero emissions. Yet, the current tax system does not always reflect these advantages.

The Taxation Debate

The crux of the debate lies in how vehicle taxes are structured and implemented. Per-mile taxes are intended to ensure that all road users contribute fairly to the maintenance of transport infrastructure. However, the implementation of such taxes has raised concerns about fairness and affordability, particularly for those who have invested heavily in electric vehicles.

Critics argue that per-mile taxes do not adequately take into account the environmental benefits of driving an electric car, noting that the net impact depends on the electricity generation mix in each market. While EV owners are contributing to a cleaner environment by reducing emissions, they are also facing higher taxes that could undermine the financial benefits of their greener choice. This has led to calls for a reassessment of the tax system to ensure that it aligns with the UK’s climate goals and provides a fair deal for electric vehicle drivers.

Campaigns for Fairer Taxation

In response to these concerns, several advocacy groups and individual EV owners have launched campaigns calling for a more balanced approach to vehicle taxation. These campaigns emphasize the need for a system that supports the transition to electric vehicles and recognizes their role in reducing environmental impact, drawing on ambitious EV targets abroad as useful benchmarks.

Key proposals from these campaigns include:

1. Tax Relief for EV Owners: Advocates suggest providing targeted tax relief for electric vehicle owners to offset the costs of per-mile taxes. This could include subsidies or tax credits that acknowledge the environmental benefits of EVs and help to make up for higher road usage fees.

2. Emission-Based Taxation: An alternative approach is to design vehicle taxes based on emissions rather than mileage. This system would ensure that those driving high-emission vehicles contribute more to road maintenance, while EV owners, who are already reducing emissions, are not penalized.

3. Infrastructure Investments: Campaigners also call for increased investments in infrastructure that supports electric vehicles, such as charging networks and proper grid management practices that balance load. This would help to address concerns about the adequacy of current road maintenance and support the growing number of EVs on the road.

Government Response and Future Directions

The UK government faces the challenge of balancing revenue needs with environmental goals. While there is recognition of the need to update the tax system in light of increasing EV adoption, there is also a focus on ensuring that any changes are equitable and do not disincentivize the shift towards cleaner vehicles, while considering whether the UK grid can handle additional EV demand reliably.

Discussions are ongoing about how to best implement changes that address the concerns of electric vehicle owners while ensuring that the transportation infrastructure remains adequately funded. The outcome of these discussions will be critical in shaping the future of vehicle taxation in the UK and supporting the country’s broader environmental objectives.

Conclusion

As electric vehicle adoption continues to rise in the UK, the debate over vehicle taxation becomes increasingly important. The campaign for fairer per-mile taxes highlights the need for a tax system that supports the transition to cleaner transportation while also being fair to those who have made environmentally conscious choices. Balancing these factors will be key to achieving the UK’s climate goals and ensuring that all road users contribute equitably to the maintenance of transport infrastructure. The ongoing dialogue and policy adjustments will play a crucial role in shaping a sustainable and just future for transportation in the UK.

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Cerro Dominador CSP Plant delivers 110MW concentrated solar power in Chile's Atacama Desert, with 10,600 heliostats, 17.5-hour molten salt storage, and 24/7 dispatchable energy; built by Acciona and Abengoa within a 210MW complex.

Key Points

A 110MW CSP solar-thermal plant in Chile with heliostats and 17.5h molten salt storage, delivering 24/7 dispatchable clean power.

✅ 110MW CSP with 17.5h molten salt for 24/7 dispatch

✅ 10,600 heliostats; part of a 210MW hybrid CSP+PV complex

✅ Built by Acciona and Abengoa; first of its kind in LatAm

A consortium formed by Spanish groups Abengoa and Acciona, as Spain's renewable sector expands with Enel's 90MW wind build activity, has signed a contract to complete the construction of the 110MW Cerro Dominador concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Chile.

The consortium received notice to proceed to build the solar-thermal plant, which is part of the 210MW Cerro Dominador solar complex.

Under the contract, Acciona, which has 51% stake in the consortium and recently launched a 280 MW Alberta wind farm, will be responsible for building the plant while Abengoa will act as the technological partner.

Expected to be the first of its kind in Latin America upon completion, the plant is owned by Cerro Dominador, which in turn is owned by funds managed by EIG Global Energy Partners.

The project will add to a Abengoa-built 100MW PV plant, comparable to California solar projects in scope, which was commissioned in February 2018, to form a 210MW combined CSP and PV complex.

Spread across an area of 146 hectares, the project will feature 10,600 heliostats and will have capacity to generate clean and dispatachable energy for 24 hours a day using its 17.5 hours of molten salt storage technology, a field complemented by battery storage advances.

Expected to prevent 640,000 tons of CO2 emission, the plant is located in the commune of María Elena, in the Atacama Desert, in the Antofagasta Region.

“In total, the complex will avoid 870,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere every year and, in parallel with Enel's 450 MW U.S. wind operations, will deliver clean energy through 15-year energy purchase agreements with distribution companies, signed in 2014.

“The construction of the solarthermal plant of Cerro Dominador will have an important impact on local development, with the creation of more than 1,000 jobs in the area during its construction peak, and that will be priority for the neighbors of the communes of the region,” Acciona said in a statement.

The Cerro Dominador plant represents Acciona’s fifth solar thermal plant being built outside of Spain. The firm has constructed 10 solarthermal plants with total installed capacity of 624MW.

Acciona has been operating in Chile since 1993. The company, through its Infrastructure division, executed various construction projects for highways, hospitals, hydroelectric plants and infrastructures for the mining sector.

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Rio Tinto waste heat-to-electricity initiative captures underground mining thermal energy at Resolution Copper, Arizona, converting it to renewable power for cooling systems and microgrids, advancing decarbonization, energy efficiency, and the miner's 2050 carbon-neutral goal.

Key Points

A program converting underground thermal energy into on-site electricity to cut emissions and support mine cooling.

✅ Captures low-grade heat from rock and geothermal water.

✅ Generates electricity for ventilation, refrigeration, microgrids.

✅ Scalable, safe, and grid- or storage-ready for peak demand.

The world’s second-largest miner, Rio Tinto announced that it is accepting proposals for solutions that transform waste heat into electricity for reuse from its underground operations.

In a press release, the company said this initiative is aimed at drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, even as energy-intensive projects like bitcoin mining operations expand, so that it can achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

Initially, the project would be implemented at the Resolution copper mine in Arizona, which Rio owns together with BHP (ASX, LON: BHP). At this site, massive electrically-driven refrigeration and ventilation systems, aligned with broader electrified mining practices, are in charge of cooling the work environment because of the latent heat from the underground rock and groundwater. 

THE INITIATIVE IS AIMED AT REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS SO THAT RIO CAN ACHIEVE ITS GOAL OF BECOMING CARBON NEUTRAL BY 2050

“When operating, the Resolution copper mine will be a deep underground block cave mine some 7,000 feet (~2 kilometres) deep, with ambient air temperatures ranging between 168°F to 180°F (76°C to 82°C), conditions that, during heat waves, when bitcoin mining power demand can strain local grids, further heighten cooling needs, and underground water at approximately 194°F (90°C),” the media brief states.

“Rio Tinto is seeking solutions to capture and reuse the heat from underground, contributing towards powering the equipment needed to cool the operations. The solution to capture and convert this thermal energy into electrical energy, such as emerging thin-film thermoelectrics, should be safe, environmentally friendly and cost-effective.”

The miner also said that, besides capturing heat for reuse, the solution should generate electrical energy from low range temperatures below the virgin rock temperature and/or from the high thermal water coming from the underground rock, similar to using transformer waste heat for heating in the power sector. 

At the same time, the solution should be scalable and easily transported through the many miles of underground tunnels that will be built to ventilate, extract and move copper ore to the surface.

Rio requires proposals to offer the possibility of distributing the electrical energy generated back into the electrical grid from the mining operation or stored and used at a later stage when energy is required during peak use periods, especially as jurisdictions aim to use more electricity for heat in colder seasons. 

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Sub-Saharan Africa Energy Access faces critical deficits; SDG7, clean energy finance, off-grid solar, and microgrids drive electrification for health, education, and economy amid World Bank and IEA efforts to expand reliable, affordable power.

Key Points

Reliable, affordable power in sub-Saharan Africa via renewables, off-grid solar, and SDG7-led electrification.

✅ SDG7 targets universal, modern energy access by 2030

✅ Off-grid solar and microgrids boost rural electrification

✅ Health, education, and business depend on reliable power

Sub-Saharan Africa has an electricity problem. While the world as a whole has made great strides when it comes to providing access to electricity and moving toward universal electricity access worldwide (the world average is now 90 per cent with access, up from 83 per cent in 2010), southern and western African states still lag far behind.

According to Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report, produced by a consortium of organisations including the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and the World Health Organization, 759 million people were without electricity in 2019 and threequarters of them were based in sub-Saharan Africa. At just seven per cent, South Sudan had the lowest access figures; Chad, Burundi and Malawi were only marginally higher. What’s more, due to a combination of factors, the situation is getting worse. In total, the region’s access deficit increased from 556 million people in 2010 to 570 million people in 2019.

These days, being without electricity has an impact on every sphere of life. The Covid-19 pandemic only served to put this into sharper relief. Intermittent electricity meant vaccination doses that rely on cold storage were impossible to deliver and, as more than 70 per cent of the health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to reliable electricity, the problem was vast. But even without a global pandemic, having no power stymies opportunity in every field, from education to economics.

French photojournalist Pascal Maitre, who has spent much of his career writing about sub-Saharan Africa, wanted to document the problems faced by people in areas with no electricity. He thought particularly carefully about the location for his project. ‘First, I was thinking I could take images in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,’ he says. ‘But then I thought that if you chose a place that has war, it’s logical that electricity won’t really work. So, instead, I wanted to find a place that is quite stable. I decided to go to Benin, where they have a democracy. It is a good example of a country that’s not in really bad shape but where they still have this problem. Also, I didn’t want to go to a place that is very remote, where it is normal not to have good service. So I decided to go to a place around 50 kilometres from the capital that you can get to by road.’

Maitre visited several villages in the region, as well as making trips to Chad and Senegal, and encountered the full range of limitations engendered by the power shortage. From teachers struggling to conduct lessons in the dark to midwives forced to work with only the weak light from a phone, the situation was clearly unacceptable. ‘People were very, very, very upset,’ he says. ‘I conducted a lot of interviews in different villages and lack of electricity touches education, economy, business, security and also emigration, because people have to move to big cities or maybe to Europe to get jobs.’

Where once the situation might have been accepted as the norm, people today are fully aware of the ways in which they are held back by the lack of power. As Maitre remembers: ‘A guy said to me one day, “Do you think it is normal that last time my wife delivered a baby, the midwife had to hold her phone between her teeth in order to see what she was doing?” You feel very frustrated.’ He adds that the fact that most people now have mobile phones only highlights the hardship. ‘Before, maybe it was not so frustrating. But now, most of these people have cellphones. The cellphone company puts antennae everywhere so the phones work, but people cannot recharge their phones. They have to go to the market, where someone will come with a generator to recharge.’

Governments and global organisations are very aware of the problem across the world as a whole. Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) – one of the 17 goals set out in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly – was designed to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy by 2030, underscoring the push for clean, affordable and sustainable electricity for all by 2030. As part of this goal, international financial flows to developing countries in support of clean energy reached US$17 billion in 2018. As a result, some areas have seen huge improvement. According to the Energy Progress Report, in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, the advance of electrification has been enough to approach universal access. By 2019, in Western Asia and North Africa, and Central and South Asia, 94 and 95 per cent of the population respectively had access to electricity.

But these statistics only serve to emphasise just how bad the situation is in sub-Saharan Africa, where electricity systems are unlikely to go green this decade according to several analyses. As the report states: ‘While renewable energy has demonstrated remarkable resilience during the pandemic, the unfortunate fact is that gains in energy access throughout Africa are being reversed: the number of people lacking access to electricity is set to increase in 2020, making basic electricity services unaffordable for up to 30 million people who had previously enjoyed access.’

The small silver lining is that if the situation is dealt with properly, the region could build a renewable-energy system from the ground up, rather than having to undergo the costly and complex transitions underway in developed countries. In rural areas, small-scale or off-grid renewable systems (mostly solar) are expected to play an important role, as highlighted by a recent IRENA report on decarbonisation, in increasing access. In fact, solar panels are already used in many areas. In 2019, 105 million people had access to off-grid solar solutions, up from 85 million in 2016, and almost half lived in sub-Saharan Africa, with 17 million in Kenya and eight million in Ethiopia.

Rachel Kyte is currently serving as the 14th dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University in the USA, but her CV is long. She was previously CEO of the UN-affiliated Sustainable Energy for All (SeforALL), as well as the World Bank Group vice president and special envoy for climate change, leading the run-up to the Paris Agreement. According to her, a focus on renewables is absolutely essential, both for wider efforts to tackle climate change, with some advocating a fossil fuel lockdown to drive a climate revolution, but also for the people of sub-Saharan Africa. ‘The fossil fuel industry has said it will just extend the centralised fossil-fuel power systems that we have today to reach these people,’ she says.

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Ontario Darlington SMR Expansion advances four GE Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors with OPG, adding 1,200 MW of baseload nuclear power to support electrification, grid reliability, and clean energy growth across Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Key Points

Plan to build four BWRX-300 SMRs at Darlington, delivering 1,200 MW of clean, reliable baseload power under OPG.

✅ Four GE Hitachi BWRX-300 units, 1,200 MW total

✅ Shared infrastructure cuts costs and timelines

✅ Supports electrification, grid reliability, net zero

The day after Ontario announced it would be building an additional 4,800 megawatts of nuclear reactors at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, the province announced it would be dramatically expanding its planned rollout of small modular reactors at its Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, and confirmed plans to refurbish Pickering B as part of its broader strategy.

Ontario Power Generation OPG was always going to be the first to build the GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor SMR, with the U.S.’s Tennessee Valley Authority among others like SaskPower and several European nations following suit. But the OPG was originally going to build just one. On July 7, OPG and the Province of Ontario announced they would be bumping that up to four units of the BWRX-300.

The Ontario government is working with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to commence planning and licensing for three additional small modular reactors (SMRs), for a total of four SMRs at the Darlington nuclear site. Once deployed, these four units would produce a total 1,200 megawatts (MW) of electricity, equivalent to powering 1.2 million homes, helping to meet increasing demand from electrification and fuel the province’s strong economic growth, the Ontario Ministry of Energy said in a release.

“Our government’s open for business approach has led to unprecedented investments across the province — from electric vehicles and battery manufacturing to critical minerals to green steel,” said Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. “Expanding Ontario’s world-leading SMR program will ensure we have the reliable, affordable and clean electricity we need to power the next major international investment, the new homes we are building and industries as they grow and electrify.”

For the first time since 2005, Ontario’s electricity demand is rising. While the government has implemented its plan to meet rising electricity demand this decade, the experts at Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator have recommended the province advance new nuclear generation and pursue life-extension at Pickering NGS to provide reliable, baseload power to meet increasing electricity needs in the 2030s and beyond.

Subject to Ontario Government and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) regulatory approvals on construction, the additional SMRs could come online between 2034 and 2036. That is the same timeframe that SaskPower is looking at for its first, and possibly second, units.

The initial unit is expected to go online in 2028 following Ontario’s first SMR groundbreaking at Darlington.

The Darlington site, which already hosts four reactors, was originally considered for an expansion of “large nuclear,” which is why OPG was already well on its way for site approvals of additional nuclear power generation. The plan changed to one, singular, SMR. Now that has been updated to four.

The announcement has significant impact on Saskatchewan, and its plans to build four of its own SMRs. The timing would allow Ontario Power Generation to apply learnings from the construction of the first unit to deliver cost savings on subsequent units. This is also the strategy SaskPower is following – allow Ontario to build the first, then learn from that experience.

Building multiple units will also allow common infrastructure such as cooling water intake, transmission connection and control room to be utilized by all four units instead of just one, reducing costs even further, the Ministry said.

“A fleet of SMRs at the Darlington New Nuclear Site is key to meeting growing electricity demands and net zero goals,” said Ken Hartwick, OPG President and CEO. “OPG has proven its large nuclear project expertise through the on-time, on budget Darlington Refurbishment project. By taking a similar approach to building a fleet of SMRs, we will deliver cost and schedule savings, and power 1.2 million homes from this site by the mid-2030s.”

The Darlington SMR project is situated on the traditional and treaty territories of the seven Williams Treaties First Nations and is also located within the traditional territory of the Huron Wendat peoples. OPG is actively engaging and consulting with potentially impacted Indigenous communities, including exploring economic opportunities in the Darlington SMR project such as commercial participation and employment.

The Ministry noted, “Ontario’s robust nuclear supply chain is uniquely positioned to support SMR development and deployment in Ontario, Canada and globally. Building additional SMRs at Darlington would provide more opportunities for Ontario companies and broader economic benefits as suppliers of nuclear equipment, components, and services to make further investments to expand their operation to serve the growing SMR market both domestically and abroad.”

Supporting new SMR development and investing in nuclear power is part of the Ontario government’s larger plan, aligned with a Canadian interprovincial nuclear initiative that brings provinces together, to prepare for electricity demand in the 2030s and 2040s that will build on Ontario’s clean electricity advantage and ensure the province has the power to maintain it’s position as leader in job creation and a magnet for the industries of the future, the Ministry said.

In February, World Nuclear News (WNN) reported that Poland was considering up to 79 small modular reactors of the same design as OPG and SaskPower. And on June 5, it reported, “Canada’s Ontario Power Generation will provide operator services to Poland’s Orlen Synthos Green Energy under a letter of intent signed between the partners, extending their existing cooperation on the deployment of small modular reactors.”

WNN added, “The letter of intent is aimed at concluding future agreements under which OPG and its subsidiaries could provide operator services for SMR reactors to OSGE in connection with the deployment of SMRs in Poland and other European countries. The partnership would include a number of SMR-related activities including: development and deployment; operations and maintenance; operator training; commissioning; and regulatory support.”

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