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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