Almost out of the blue, last week, while all attention was on Brexit, came a decision from the General Court of the European Union that has led to the suspension of the GB Capacity Market. This means that all capacity payments are on hold, as are all future auctions. The case before the Court was…
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Last Friday, the T-4 capacity auction for 2021/22 closed at a record low price of £8.40 /kW/year, far below the pre-auction forecast of £17-25 /kW/year, with the Net Welfare Algorithm once again setting prices. 74 GW of de-rated capacity bid with just over 50.4 GW of contracts being awarded. Existing generation secured over 85% of…
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Last week saw the first T-1 capacity auction since the GB capacity market launched, clearing in the 14th round of bidding at £6 /kW/year. 10.7 GW of de-rated capacity entered the auction, with 5.8 GW of that being successful in securing contracts. Added to the 47.5 GW that was secured in the T-4 auctions this…
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The early capacity auction designed to secure security of supply for 2017/18 has entered its fourth day, with the price having dropped to £15 /kW by the end of yesterday’s round, some way below the expected clearing level of around £20 / kW and also below the prices of the T-4 auctions that have been…
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After three days of bidding, the 2016 capacity auction for the delivery year 2020/21 finally cleared at £22.50 / kW / yr, a higher price than the two previous auctions which cleared at £19.40 / kWh / yr and £18.00 / kW / yr. A total of 52.4 GW of de-rated capacity secured contracts, including…
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The Capacity Market went live on 1 October. This marks the start of a 12-month transition period, and covers only about 1-2% of the system (0.4-0.8 GW this year and 54 GW expected in 2017/18), mostly small generators up to 20 MW and DSR aggregators. Under CM rules, National Grid has an obligation to notify…
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Transmission systems are key to delivering security of supply and yet tend to be treated as an afterthought – note for example Germany’s massive deployment of renewables in the north of the country without a corresponding investment in the necessary transmission capacity to deliver it to the demand centres in the south. As noted in my…
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Last week the Daily Telegraph reported that Sainsbury’s, the second largest supermarket in the UK, has built a series of gas-fired generators due to its concerns over security of supply. The article quotes Paul Crewe, head of sustainability at the company, who said that worrying about energy security keeps him awake at night as his…
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