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
Electricity storage on the fly
Last week saw the news that the UK is to host Europe’s largest battery flywheel energy storage system, which will provide fast frequency response services to both the GB and Irish markets. The £3.5 million project will be delivered [...]
Why the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement is not a disaster
On Thursday Donald Trump caused outrage by withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, something widely derided by politicians and the media globally as a retrograde step that literally risks the future health of our planet. Quieter [...]
Australian electricity market: struggling to cope with de-carbonisation
The words "Australia" and "energy crisis" are increasingly being used together, so it is interesting to consider how an energy rich country has found itself on the brink of energy chaos, with blackouts and brownouts occurring over the past [...]
Electric vehicle infrastructure a significant barrier to uptake
Much has been made recently about the potential for electric vehicles ("EVs") to transform transport and related industries, even going as far as to suggest that demand for oil is close to peaking as EVs displace petrol and diesel [...]
Germany-Austria electricity zone to spilt due to renewable power spills into neighbouring grids
The German electricity system has been celebrating record levels of renewable generation, with 85% of the electricity consumed in the country on 30 April coming from renewable sources. However, this high level of renewable energy is not without cost [...]
The General Election: nothing to get excited about for energy
This week the main political parties published their manifestos ahead of the General Election next month. In this post I will explore what they mean for the energy markets. The current political landscape has resulted in a very interesting [...]
Barriers to effective retail competition need to be removed
Retail price caps continue to make the news, as "dealing" with rising energy prices is seen as a popular move in the run up to the General Election. As has now been argued many times, including in this blog, [...]
Can energy price caps ever work?
Last week the Conservative Party has announced a manifesto commitment to an energy price cap, despite warnings from across the industry, including in this blog, that the idea is unlikely to work, and may have significant unintended adverse consequences. [...]
Building energy efficiency forecasts appear to be largely useless
Following on from my previous post on energy efficiency, I was very interested to read about a recent study by the University of Bath which shows a significant gap between the forecast energy efficiency of new buildings and their actual [...]
Is the theory of peak oil demand any more credible than its supply-side cousin?
Peak oil has been in the news again over the last week, but this time in relation to the theory of peak oil demand. This recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute, explores a number of potential long-term themes [...]
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