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
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 [...]
Smart meters: costs remain static while benefits shrink
A few months ago I wrote about the smart meter roll-out in the UK. My main conclusions were that this project is premature and likely to cost more and deliver less than projected. I broke my concerns down into [...]
Two Capacity Market Notices in one week: expect more to come
The Capacity Market went live on 1 October. This marks the start of a 12-month transition period, and covers only about 1-2% of the system (0.4-0.8 GW this year and 54 GW expected in 2017/18), mostly small generators up [...]
Do we need an independent system operator?
Calls are growing for the UK electricity system to be managed by an independent system operator ("ISO") whose activities are separate from the ownership of the wires themselves. Such a change would require nationalisation of the system operation activities of [...]
Subsidies central: electricity markets need fundamental reform to remove distortions
Subsidies and extra-market support now underpin every part of the UK electricity market, and as a result, some technologies benefit from double payments and others double charging, and since the double payments are going to diesel generators and the double charging [...]
Energy market innovation: timing is everything
The past few days have seen Tempus Energy surrendering its supply licence in order to focus purely on wholesale market trading, and Tidal Energy, the Welsh tidal stream technology company go into administration. Analysis by the Financial Times indicates [...]
Solar + Storage: the other side of the story
In this second post on the viability of solar + storage (first post here) I examine the conclusions of the Aurora Energy report, which presents a rather more optimistic view of the prospects of the combined technologies, claiming that [...]
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