Featured Posts
Time to accept that wind farm costs are not falling
There has been a consistent narrative that the cost of building new wind farms is falling, with falling subsidy [...]
Windfall tax harms oil and gas production and must be cut
In May last year, the UK Government introduced a windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies [...]
Why Norway’s views on energy security should ring alarm bells across Europe
Norway's energy security would appear to be a done deal, yet the past couple of years have been very [...]
Addressing the high real cost of renewable generation
Over the past few months we have been inundated with claims from interested parties that more renewables are the [...]
Recent Posts
The strange, unfamiliar world of FES-2020
In July 2020, National Grid published its 2020 Future Energy Scenarios (“FES-2020”), its annual update on the four scenarios describing what it sees as the “credible pathways for the future of energy over the next thirty years.” They are [...]
Boris Johnson’s 10-point energy plan: a mixed bag
Despite being forced to self-isolate having come into contact with a covid-positive MP, Boris Johnson has finally unveiled his 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution”. With his familiar flamboyance, he describes a new utopia full of clean air [...]
Space-based solar power: an exciting idea or pie in the sky?
This weekend the press became very excited by an announcement from the UK Government that it is commissioning new research into space-based solar power (“SBSP”) systems that would use satellites to collect solar energy and convert it into a [...]
Domestic DSR trials explore ways of tapping household flexibility
Building on the recent development of local flexibility markets, a couple of domestic demand-side response ("DSR") trials are underway to explore whether households can provide flexibility to local electricity networks. The trials take different approaches: WPD's Sustain-H trial uses [...]
Low wind and high demand squeeze the GB power market
There are signs of squeezed power market supply and demand margins. Last week saw National Grid ESO issue two Electricity Margin Notices (the new name for the Notice of Inadequate System Margin, or “NISM”), warning of a potential shortfall [...]
Nuclear power could be a key enabler for net zero
Despite the disruptions to the energy sector as a result of the pandemic, the Government remains committed to its 2050 net zero carbon target. The problem, as I have noted before, is that there are currently no technological solutions to [...]
How can energy suppliers survive a hostile market environment
I posted earlier about the difficult conditions facing energy suppliers in the GB market, and repeated my long-held vies that suppliers should be allowed to focus on energy supply and be released from their tax-collection activities. However, in the [...]
Energy retail in a covid world
Many industries have been hit hard by the covid-19 crisis, including the energy sector, but energy supply businesses were in trouble even before the novel coronavirus struck. This year another five suppliers have disappeared - Tonik Energy, Gnergy and [...]
Dynamic Containment: National Grid ESO launches new frequency control service
National Grid has launched a new frequency response service: Dynamic Containment, designed to provide sub-second response to faults which cause a significant deviation in the electricity system frequency. According to National Grid ESO: “Currently, the electricity system is experiencing [...]
Smart meters: handing over control of electricity usage
This month saw a flurry of negative press about smart meters as journalists awoke to the implications of some proposed industry changes that could lead to suppliers remotely switching off appliances used by domestic consumers. Back in July, SSE [...]
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