Featured Posts
New report: The true affordability of net zero
This evening my latest report: The true affordability of net zero, was launched at an event hosted by The [...]
Norway turning away from electricity interconnection
Norway is turning away from electricity interconnection as its governing coalition collapses over disagreements over energy co-operation with Europe. [...]
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 [...]
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
Energy, economics and the cost of denial
Kemi Badenoch’s proposal to cut energy bills by £200 has been widely dismissed as political posturing, but when looked at properly, from the perspective of consumers and the costs they have to bear, it’s far more coherent than critics [...]
The GB capacity market is broken
The Capacity Market was introduced with a very clear and sensible objective - to ensure that Britain would always have enough firm capacity available to meet demand, even under stress conditions (particularly periods of low renewables output) by providing [...]
The truth about the energy transition and the need for affordable secure energy with exploration & production to fill the gap
Today I gave the following speech at the ENVEXX oil and gas conference in London... . Good afternoon. I’m delighted to be here today – thank you to Mike for inviting me. The new dislocation in the energy markets [...]
Scotland’s looming energy crisis
Below is the transcript of a speech I gave at a Net Zero Watch event in Edinburgh on 9 March 2026: . Good evening, and thank you for inviting me to speak today. Scotland is often described as an [...]
OVO Energy is looking shaky – its failure would dwarf that of Bulb
Having written about the somewhat dubious goings on at Octopus Energy recently (still nothing on Companies House about the Kraken de-merger), here is my analysis of the OVO Group's published accounts, which indicate the business is, in my opinion, [...]
Octopus and Kraken are swimming in murky waters
I’m writing this in the middle of the night during a business trip to the US, so it feels appropriate that the line “miles to go before I sleep” by American poet Robert Frost is ringing in my ears [...]
The sorry tale of new Drax OCGTs highlights growing capacity market irrationality
The GB Capacity Market was introduced with a clear and repeatedly stated objective: to ensure security of electricity supply by bringing forward new capacity where the market would not do so on its own. In particular, it was meant [...]
New report: Electrification – can the grid cope?
Electrification has become the default answer to almost every energy and climate question. Heat? Electrify it. Transport? Electrify it. Industry? Electrify it. In policy circles, electrification is often treated as a frictionless substitute for fossil fuels: cleaner, simpler, and [...]
2025: the year energy security threats began to manifest
2025 could come to be characterised as the year the lights began to flicker across Europe as threats to energy security begin to manifest. We almost ran out of electricity in Britain in January. We did have a blackout [...]
Offshore pipeline closure risk: the hidden threat to GB energy security
On the same day that Rachel Reeves was announcing her Autumn Budget, the National Energy System Operator, NESO, quietly issued a bombshell warning about the risks the UK might start running out of gas on cold winter days as [...]
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