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
Incremental balancing services reform announced – more is to come
Last week, National Grid announced a rationalisation of its frequency response balancing services as part of its wider review of the needs of the electricity system. As the electricity system becomes more decentralised with an increasing contribution from intermittent sources [...]
Helm’s proposal for a default electricity tariff could go further
In my previous post, I described the findings of Dieter Helm's review into electricity pricing. Here I will explore in more detail the section on supply costs and his recommendation that a default electricity tariff be implemented, which is [...]
The Helm review: some good ideas but lacking in detail
Last week Dieter Helm published the findings of his review into energy pricing and found that the cost of energy is significantly higher than it should be, and energy policy, regulation and market design are not fit for purpose. [...]
Finding ways to exploit Iceland’s unique energy resources
Back in April, the press was full of the news that a new Icelandic energy project could revive the prospects of IceLink, the Iceland - UK interconnector project. This week has seen progress in another energy project which may [...]
The Clean Growth Strategy: long on ambition, short on detail
Last week the Government published its long awaited Clean Growth Strategy, described by the Telegraph as the coming of age of the green agenda. Clean growth is defined in the document as growing the UK's national income while cutting greenhouse [...]
The energy price cap is finally on the table but will anyone actually be happy with it?
Yesterday the Government published its draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill, essentially imposing caps on some energy bills until 2020, with a possibility of extending until 2023. "The Government wants markets to thrive and we continue to [...]
Measuring grid inertia accurately will enable more efficient frequency management
Last week saw the news that National Grid has successfully trialled a method of measuring the inertia of the electricity system in real time. This may seem like a technical curiosity, but it has major implications for system management. [...]
Local flexibility markets mark the emergence of the new DSOs
The electricity system is in transition. Transmission connected, centralised synchronous generation is being displaced by multiple small installations of intermittent asynchronous generation connected at the distribution level. Advances in sub-transmission technology including as storage, smart homes, electric vehicles, DSR [...]
Changing regulatory landscape for electricity storage is not all good news
The last couple of months have seen some interesting newsflow in relation to electricity storage. Storage projects are increasingly popular, with developments occurring at every level of the system from grid-connected utility-scale projects to behind-the-meter domestic storage, and the [...]
LAES: a cool idea if it can be shown to be cost effective
In June, Highview Power Storage secured funding from Innovate UK to modify its Liquid Air Energy Storage ("LAES") system to improve its response times. LAES is an interesting concept, as it provides the potential for bulk energy storage without [...]
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