Networks
Last week Will Gardiner, chief executive of Drax Group, told the Guardian newspaper that Britain’s increasing reliance on electricity imports through the use of interconnectors is a threat to energy security, and will result in the country importing carbon emissions. He also said that [...]
There are two main pillars to European energy policy: the internal energy market (“IEM”) and the Climate Change Package. The IEM was the result of extending the Single Market into energy, and involved the unbundling of networks from generation and supply with regulated rather [...]
Last week the legal challenge issued by Peak Gen and seven other companies against Ofgem’s decision last year to change the charging base for the demand residual component of transmission charges was heard at the Royal Court’s of Justice in London. I was in [...]
Last week Ofgem has published its consultation for the next round of price controls for energy networks, known as RIIO-2. RIIO-1 had been strongly criticised for allowing network companies to generate above average levels of returns on businesses that are seen to be less risky [...]
I have written several times about the challenges facing system operators as the energy transition sees increasing amounts of intermittent generation increasing frequency variation. However, between mid-January and early March, there was a persistent frequency deviation that caused clocks to lose time across the [...]
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 manage conflicts of interest. “Our [...]
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. Described in more detail below, [...]
National Grid's outlook for the coming winter is somewhat more positive in capacity terms than in previous winters, with a capacity margin of 6.2 GW or 10.3%. "We are confident that we have the right products and strategy in place to help us to [...]
Last week, National Grid announced a rationalisation of its frequency response balancing services as part of its wider review of the needs of the electricity system. As the electricity system becomes more decentralised with an increasing contribution from intermittent sources of generation, the traditional methods [...]
Last week saw the news that National Grid has successfully trialled a method of measuring the inertia of the electricity system in real time. This may seem like a technical curiosity, but it has major implications for system management. What is inertia…… Electrical inertia [...]