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 first SMETS2 smart meters finally arrive but doubts over the programme remain
With the deadline for smart meter installation just 30 months away, more than 11 million smart meters had been fitted in domestic properties by the end of March 2018 against a target of over 50 million – in order [...]
Price rises by energy suppliers will not be remedied by the price cap
The Big 6 energy suppliers have all raised the prices of their standard variable tariffs recently. E.On kicked off with a 2.7% increase, followed by EDF Energy with 1.4%, npower with 5.3%, Scottish Power and British Gas both with [...]
New power projects in Wales: Government expected to approve new nuclear but reject tidal lagoon
Nuclear power is back in the news in the UK, with reports that the Government is provide support to the new nuclear plant being developed at Wylfa Newydd in Angelsey, Wales by Horizon Nuclear Power, a subsidiary of Hitachi. [...]
A possible OPEC production increase triggers fall in oil prices
A couple of weeks ago Donald Trump announced the US was withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran, and I wrote that this added to the bullish trend in oil prices. Since then oil prices have fallen from their [...]
De-carbonising everything: is CCU the answer?
I have bemoaned in previous posts the dependence of de-carbonisation goals on carbon capture and storage (“CCS”), a process that has yet to demonstrate commercial viability, other than in the context of enhanced oil recovery, which is hardly supportive [...]
Relying on interconnectors for security of supply carries risks
Last week Will Gardiner, chief executive of Drax Group, told the Guardian newspaper that Britain’s increasing reliance on electricity imports through the use of interconnectors is a threat to energy security, and will result in the country importing carbon [...]
Market coupling failures undermine the Internal Energy Market
There are two main pillars to European energy policy: the internal energy market (“IEM”) and the Climate Change Package. The IEM was the result of extending the Single Market into energy, and involved the unbundling of networks from generation [...]
Oil price rise set to continue after US pulls out of Iran deal
Oil prices have been in the doldrums since the collapse from record highs of over US$110 /barrel in June 2014, broadly trading sideways in a US$ 40-60 range until late last year, when prices broke out, and passed US$70 [...]
De-carbonisation of heat will be an expensive challenge
In the last few weeks there have been a number of announcements by the Government and others on the challenging subject of the de-carbonisation of heat. Heating and cooling currently accounts for nearly half of UK energy consumption, and [...]
Transmission charging: outcome of judicial review uncertain but changes are inevitable
Last week the legal challenge issued by Peak Gen and seven other companies against Ofgem’s decision last year to change the charging base for the demand residual component of transmission charges was heard at the Royal Court’s of Justice [...]
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