Networks
The importance of security of supply has been underlined this week by events in the US state of Texas which has been hit by extensive power outages as unprecedented cold weather saw temperatures fall as low as -22 oC, leaving millions of homes without [...]
This month, Statkraft and ABB announced the construction of two synchronous condensers on Lister Driver in Liverpool. The Lister Drive project will provide a range of grid stabilisation services to National Grid ESO, including inertia, short circuit current and voltage control. Grid stability in [...]
On 1 January 2021, the UK left the EU's internal energy market (“IEM”), meaning that trading over the interconnectors between GB and the EU us no longer be managed through market coupling (except for Northern Ireland which remains part of the Single Electricity Market [...]
There are signs of squeezed power market supply and demand margins. Last week saw National Grid ESO issue two Electricity Margin Notices (the new name for the Notice of Inadequate System Margin, or “NISM”), warning of a potential shortfall in electricity generation in the [...]
National Grid has launched a new frequency response service: Dynamic Containment, designed to provide sub-second response to faults which cause a significant deviation in the electricity system frequency. According to National Grid ESO: “Currently, the electricity system is experiencing lower inertia and larger, more [...]
As the country largely remains locked down, electricity demand continues to be low, and renewable generation high, particularly in the current sunny weather. This is creating challenges for National Grid ESO in balancing the electricity system, and so it is introducing new tools to [...]
In 2019 the GB market went a total of 18 consecutive days without any coal contributing to demand and 83 days without coal throughout the year as a whole. This was hailed as a great turning point and a sign that soon there would be [...]
As we all enter the second week of the covid-19 lockdown, what is the impact of the crisis on the gas and electricity sectors?Retail markets: changing usage patterns and an increase in consumer vulnerabilityMore consumers are now vulnerableOne of the more urgent aspects of the [...]
Last week I had the pleasure of being one of the keynote speakers at the Institute of Directors Guernsey Branch annual convention, speaking about energy policy options for the Bailiwick in the context of climate ambitions. The day before, the States had published a [...]
Ofgem is in the process of reforming the way in which users pay for access to and use of electricity networks, which I have described in previous posts here and here. The Targeted Charging Review is the more advanced project and is tackling reform [...]