Featured Posts
The energy white paper fails to deliver a detailed plan for net zero
December saw the publication of the long-awaited energy white paper, which built on Boris Johnson’s 10-point energy plan. In [...]
FES-2020 costs indicate massive investment needed for net-zero
Last week, National Grid ESO published the first costings for its Future Energy Scenarios (“FES”). The key conclusions of [...]
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 [...]
Recent Posts
Should electricity markets be more local?
While working on my new training offering, I have been reading about the very earliest days of electricity and reflecting on how some of the early trends of local electricity markets and de-centralisation are experiencing a renaissance. The 19th [...]
Per Ardua ad Astra
Today is the 5th anniversary of my blog, and, in common with may of my readers, the past year has presented significant and unexpected challenges. And in common with a great many people, I suffered health problems last year [...]
New report shows challenges with de-carbonising home heating
Today Citizens Advice has published a report, Home Truths, into consumer experiences with home heating approaches including low carbon technologies and new insulation. The report draws on the calls made over the past three years to its Consumer Service [...]
National Grid exits gas and aims to buy WPD
This morning, National Grid has announced the acquisition of Western Power Distribution (“WPD”), the largest of Britain’s distribution network operators (“DNOs”), in a move that signals a transformation for the company and for the GB electricity system more broadly. [...]
Another BritNed outage illustrates the risks of the current offshore infrastructure regime
The 1 GW BritNed interconnector linking GB with the Netherlands has suffered another fault and is expected to be out of service until late April, meaning it has spent much of this winter out of action. In addition to [...]
UK ETS auctions to launch in May with higher reserve price
Last week saw some updates to the new UK Emissions Trading Scheme (“UK ETS”) which is set to replace the EU ETS which the UK left on 1 January when Brexit took effect. The Government has published participation guidance, [...]
Drones and droids: automated power system monitoring
When people talk about digitisation in energy the things that spring to mind are often use of sensors to gather more granular consumption information, and more sophisticated market and system data platforms, allowing new forms of trading and optimisation. [...]
New consumer protection proposals unlikely to work for energy sector
Last week saw the publication of a review by Conservative MP John Penrose into how the UK’s approach to competition and consumer issues could be improved, to strengthen consumer protections and stimulate competition. Penrose has previously called for existing [...]
When security of supply is the most important thing
The importance of security of supply has been underlined this week by events in the US state of Texas which has been hit by extensive power outages as unprecedented cold weather saw temperatures fall as low as -22 oC, [...]
Synchronous condensers help stabilise the GB electricity grid
This month, Statkraft and ABB announced the construction of two synchronous condensers on Lister Driver in Liverpool. The Lister Drive project will provide a range of grid stabilisation services to National Grid ESO, including inertia, short circuit current and [...]
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