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
Responding to the challenges of transmission system transformation
Last week, National Grid outlined its plans for it system operator business, following the decision by Ofgem last year that greater separation of this activity was needed from the rest of the National Grid business in order to better [...]
T-4 capacity auction fails yet again to deliver new power stations
Last Friday, the T-4 capacity auction for 2021/22 closed at a record low price of £8.40 /kW/year, far below the pre-auction forecast of £17-25 /kW/year, with the Net Welfare Algorithm once again setting prices. 74 GW of de-rated capacity [...]
Australian electricity prices spike amid high temperatures and plant outages
One of my readers drew my attention to this article about recent Australian electricity price spikes. The combination of a heatwave and an unplanned outage at the 1,050 MW Loy Yang B coal-fired power station were widely reported as [...]
T-1 capacity auction: gas wins; consumers lose
Last week saw the first T-1 capacity auction since the GB capacity market launched, clearing in the 14th round of bidding at £6 /kW/year. 10.7 GW of de-rated capacity entered the auction, with 5.8 GW of that being successful [...]
A tough environment for small suppliers as Future Energy collapses
Within days of my post last week where I speculated on the future of smaller energy suppliers, another of them ceased trading. Future Energy, a Tyneside-based supplier with 12,000 customers announced on Thursday that it was closing, citing the [...]
Retail energy market: does size matter?
The collapse of GB Energy in November 2016 was seen by many as the start of a market correction, with other small independent suppliers being seen as vulnerable to rising prices and higher volatility. In the event, 2017 was [...]
Updating frequency control and reserve markets
In December, National Grid published a new roadmap for its frequency control and reserve markets, setting out the principles which are to govern the development of balancing services products with a view to providing greater clarity and investor certainty. [...]
Review of 2017 and the key themes for 2018
A year ago I set out my key themes for 2017, and as predictions go it was definitely a mixed bag! In this post I review the key themes of 2017 and look forward to the current year. What [...]
A recent discovery strikes an interesting note
This time of year is full of music, with carol singers out in force and the ubiquitous Christmas “hits” playing on loop in every store, but a recent discovery has brought music to mind in a different way... The [...]
GB gas market: do recent gas infrastructure failures signal trouble ahead?
The past few weeks have seen unseasonably cold weather in the UK - we even had a dusting of snow in London(!) - which has inevitably put pressure on energy supplies, particularly against the backdrop of the Rough closure. [...]
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