LONDON (Reuters) - Three of Britain's biggest power utilities have joined forces to draw up a strategy to cope with climate change as analysts warn extreme weather poses a growing threat to power stations and grids, the firms said on Monday.
EDF Energy (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), E.ON UK (EONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and National Grid (NG.L: Quote, Profile, Research) are working with the Met Office, which on Monday published a study on the potential impact of climate change on the energy industry. The study said utilities will have to cope with shifts in energy consumption as summers get hotter and winters get milder.
Less rain and falling river levels could foul up power station cooling systems, while gas turbines will become less efficient as the weather gets warmer, the study concluded. "We all need to play our part in adapting to climate change," Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of French-owned EDF Energy, said in a statement.
Power stations built near the coast, including nuclear plants, will become more vulnerable to rising sea levels and storm damage, according to the study, which was conducted by the met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Change and Research.
EDIT
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-06-05T000715Z_01_L02215610_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BRITAIN-ENERGY-ENVIRONMENT.xml