Networks
One night last week I had a dream that hydro-power isn’t generated by water, but by a mouse called Lucy which is getting tired, with dire consequences for the market. The dream made more sense than the tangle which is known as network charging [...]
This month the Government and Ofgem have announced the creation of a new system operator to manage both the gas and electricity transmission systems in Great Britain. Dubbed the “Future System Operator”, the organisation will be publicly owned and involves the nationalisation of National [...]
In October, the 1,400 MW interconnector between Britain and Norway, known as the North Sea Link, began commercial operations. The €1.6 billion project is a joint venture between National Grid and Norwegian system operator Statnett. Unlike the other markets with which Britain is linked, [...]
Several people have reached out to me today asking me to comment on Ofgem’s announcement about the SOLR cost recovery, so I’m writing this quick blog on the subject. Back in October, Ofgem published a letter setting out its plans to make temporary changes [...]
While Britain has been struggling with unprecedented retail market chaos, there have been unprecedented events of a different sort on the other side of the world in South Australia, which saw negative demand on the transmission system for the first time ever. In fact [...]
Last week National Grid ESO announced that it has begun to use a novel new tool for measuring grid inertia. One of the challenges of managing an electricity system with a large amount of intermittent generation is maintaining grid frequency within operational tolerances. If [...]
Current high gas prices combined with a period of low wind output in September have re-awakened concern about security of supply, including among the general public – today my doctor asked me if he was going to be able to charge his car when [...]
From 1 April 2023 the way that Balancing Services Use of System (“BSUoS”) costs are recovered could change - Ofgem is proposing to exempt generators from the charges and to recover the costs solely from end consumers. This would likely prompt a reduction in [...]
Yesterday, National grid ESO published a preliminary Winter Outlook for next winter (2021/22), deciding to come out with an early view following last winter’s market tightness, which I discussed in a series of posts last month: With tight margins and high prices, was Winter [...]
This morning, National Grid has announced the acquisition of Western Power Distribution (“WPD”), the largest of Britain’s distribution network operators (“DNOs”), in a move that signals a transformation for the company and for the GB electricity system more broadly. At the same time, National [...]