In this issue:
INTERVIEW
Peter Haigh talks about setting up a council-backed energy company at Bristol Energy
EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH
Price spikes, not blackouts, are the fear for this winter
FEATURES
FIT reductions are not the only issue faced by PV developers
How long-term investors are moving in to the onshore wind industry
PLUS:
Scotland’s MSPs consider security of supply
Addressing industry Code development
What is a zero-subsidy CfD?
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I have heard some interesting discussions about gas storage recently. The industry has argued for several years that we need more storage. And, the argument runs, since the market doesn’t seem to support an expansion, customers should provide a subsidy.…
We are not at high risk from blackouts this winter. That is the strong response from New Power’s panel of energy industry experts in a survey carried out in October. Experts said that the market would respond, to provide power when needed. But they said part of the reason was that prices would “spike” – shooting up for periods that could be as short as half a hour – and that could have dramatic effects on industry players, possibly driving them into financial distress.
Ofgem’s decision to reform cash-out rules following its Electricity Balancing Significant Code Review could see supply contracts with industrial and commercial customers reopened, and result in more expensive power purchase contracts (PPAs) and potential penalties for small power generators, New…
Janet Wood asks: is power market support too tilted towards diesel? The big surprise of the inaugural Capacity Market (CM) auction was the large number of small gas and diesel-fuelled plants that sought – and won – contracts, mostly…
Chancellor George Osborne said he wanted to see £20 billion invested by UK pension funds in UK infrastructure. It has not been that simple, Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PIP) chief executive Mike Weston told Janet Wood, but PIP is ready to invest. The message to energy projects is: come and talk to us
INTERVIEW
Mike Weston of the Pensions Infrastructure Platform talks about where pensions are investing – and the unintended consequences of Contracts for Difference
David Williams of Eco2 on why renewables investors are leaving the UK behind
FEATURES
Tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay – how it works
Evolving investment strategies
PLUS:
New gas plant fails to qualify for Capacity Market
The LCF: a chance for budget discipline or a political fiction?
Why the industry needs a one-stop Code shop
Acer: market breaches “would have involved sanctions”
Rough problems delay marketing
AND MUCH MORE
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Eight large new-build gas projects failed to qualify for the upcoming Capacity Market auction, leaving Trafford (which won a contract last year) and potentially ESB’s Carrington (under constructon, and prequalified for the auction) the only large new-build gas plant…
The Clean Energy Switch could see 100,000 customers move to a green energy supplier. But is it the cheapest option?
Janet Wood says if we have to use fracked gas, it is better to abstract it in the UK, under our close scrutiny, than do it by stealth, over the horizon,