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The Wire Wednesday 4 November |
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The Wire · Wednesday 4 November Good morning. Here is today's Energy & Infrastructure news. 👇 |
Five items overnight, every one dated, opened at the primary source and checked before it went in, with our read on each. Three minutes with your coffee and you are up to speed. |
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Diesel 198.6p ↓ 0.6p | Brent $104 ↓ $1 | Power £202 ↓ £9 | CPIH 3.6% ↑ 0.3 | Bank Rate 3.75% – | GBP/USD $1.34 ↓ |
The Pulse · figures to 3 Nov · the full board → |
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01 |
 Nuclear · UK Atomic Energy Authority / DESNZ · 3 November 2026
New 12-tonne part doubles heating power of UK's fusion test reactor
UKAEA engineers at Culham Campus have fitted a 12-tonne "double beam box" to the MAST Upgrade fusion research machine. The component houses two neutral beam injectors that together double the machine's heating power, from 4.4 to 8.8 megawatts, and should roughly double plasma temperatures too, to about 60 million degrees Celsius. All the major hardware is due to be fitted by autumn 2027, with experiments planned to start in 2028.
| | Our read The lift is a hardware milestone on the way to STEP, the UK's planned prototype fusion power plant, but the physics it is meant to prove out will not be tested until 2028. |
Read the source → |
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02 |
 Rail · Network Rail · 3 November 2026
Network Rail finishes drainage renewal on East Coast Main Line near York
Network Rail has renewed 300 metres of drainage at Chapman's Bridge near Shipton, North Yorkshire, working over two weekends in late October and early November. The East Coast route has more than 35,000 drainage assets and a £19.3 million budget for drainage renewals and maintenance over the five years to 2029. The same closures also delivered new track, point upgrades and overhead line work between Colton Junction and Skelton Junction via York.
| | Our read Drainage rarely makes headlines. Network Rail is pointing to it on purpose, as the budget line most likely to decide whether this winter's storms cause delays. |
Read the source → |
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03 |
 Energy & Grid · SSEN Distribution · 3 November 2026
SSEN adds 22 quieter generators to keep power on during outages
SSEN Distribution has put 22 new mobile generators into service, with hundreds more planned, to keep power on for vulnerable customers during outages. The units meet the Stage V emissions standard and run on hydrotreated vegetable oil, made mostly from used cooking oil and other waste. SSEN says the new units are quieter and more efficient, running longer between refuelling than the ones they're replacing, and it is also weighing up battery alternatives.
| | Our read It's a fleet-replacement story. It also shows a distribution operator treating backup generation as a regulatory promise it has to keep. |
Read the source → |
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04 |
 Renewables · Department for Energy Security and Net Zero · 3 November 2026
Government plans to replace tradable renewable energy certificates with a fixed price
Released by Department for Energy Security and Net Zero |
Renewables |
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The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has opened a consultation on replacing tradable Renewables Obligation certificates with a fixed-price alternative for renewable electricity generators. The consultation asks how the new certificates would be priced and paid, and how supplier levies would be set and collected. It also looks at how the industry would move off the current scheme, with responses due by 12 January 2027.
| | Our read Swapping a tradable certificate for a fixed price takes some of the swings out of generators' returns, but it also hands government more say over what that price is set at. |
Read the source → |
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05 |
 Transport · Department for Transport · 3 November 2026
Government reviews whether mayors have the staff to take on more transport powers
Released by Department for Transport |
Transport |
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The Department for Transport has published terms of reference for the Everitt Review, led by Vernon Everitt, Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester. It will look at how the department, its agencies and local leaders can work together as power, funding and accountability move from Whitehall to mayors, starting with England's established mayoral authorities. The review sits within the government's wider Rewiring the State programme of devolution, set out in July 2026.
| | Our read Devolving transport powers only works if mayoral authorities have the people and skills to use them, and this review is the government checking that gap before handing more over. |
Read the source → |
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