Featured Posts
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 [...]
BEIS Select Committee set to increase oversight of Ofgem after accusing the regulator of incompetence
This week, the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee published its report on its inquiry [...]
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
National Grid skirts calls for an independent system operator…for now
Last summer the House of Commons Energy and Climate Committee raised questions about the conflicts of interest inherent in National Grid’s role as the electricity system operator and recommended that the government should create an independent SO to mitigate [...]
IFA outage: so far in 2017 this does look like a good thing
Last month I wrote about the IFA outage and suggested that the historic trend of exporting in periods of high UK demand might mean the outage is positive for UK capacity margins. So far 2017 has seen some significant [...]
Tidal lagoons: Hendry review supportive but looks too good to be true
Last week saw the publication of Stephen Hendry’s long awaited report into the prospects for tidal energy in the UK, and the hyperbole in the press has been interesting to observe. In his report, Hendry concludes: “I believe that [...]
Key themes in the energy market for 2017
2017 could see further interesting and potentially dramatic changes to the UK energy market. In this post I explore some of the key themes for the coming year. # Creation of an Independent System Operator Throughout 2016 pressure was growing [...]
Decarbonisation of transport: exploiting seasonal phenomena
I’ve recently written about the work of the Energy Policy group at Exeter University, however another team at Exeter is exploring a novel way of transport which has significant benefits in terms of speed and efficiency, while also having [...]
The 2016 capacity auction: a bit of new gas, a bit more flexibility but mostly higher prices for existing generation
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 [...]
Creation of local energy markets
This week saw the launch of a £19 million 3-year local energy market pilot in Cornwall. The programme, developed by Centrica and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, comprises four elements: A virtual flexibility marketplace; A DSR platform [...]
IFA outage: a blessing in disguise?
In my last post I commented on the impact low nuclear output in France could have on the UK electricity market, noting that if the interconnector switches to export mode, there would be a 4 GW net effect on [...]
Why we shouldn’t be ignoring the French nuclear problem
When the UK government gave the final approval for Hinkley Point C in September this year, people could have been forgiven for thinking that a new generation of nuclear reactors was a done deal for the UK. The decision [...]
Policy and financial innovation as important as new technologies in the energy transition
Energy policy is frequently described in terms of the “trilemma”: decarbonisation, security of supply and affordability. Delivering this three-pointed objective requires a three-pointed approach: technological, policy and financial innovation. None of these in isolation can deliver the energy policy [...]
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