Electricity and energy industry models are starting to diverge from the centrally dispatched model dominated by large generators, and demand side response – although often an opaque term to users – is becoming a familiar part of the landscape. Initiatives…
Editor’s blog
If hydrogen is to work it can’t be second class for domestic users
by New Power • • Comments Off
Janet Wood asks how we will look back on the hydrogen future In the short term, a switch to electric heating is expensive and disruptive. It may mean new heating systems are needed throughout the property. In contrast, a switch to…
UPDATED: Range anxiety? It will be the making of electric vehicles
by New Power • • 3 Comments
What’s going on at this SE London petrol station? It is being converted into an EV charging hub. It reminds me of the blog below, which I wrote in 2017, and this article…
How to get electric vehicle plans out of the box
by New Power • • Comments Off
During discussions about electric vehicles and the opportunities in having so much storage in the system, I am always struck by how quickly people start to talk about their own car, and what they do with it. Say they drive…
Texas customers face blackouts – are there lessons for the UK?
by New Power • • Comments Off
Energy customers in Texas are facing rolling blackouts, with around 4 million currently off power. Users have been asked to cut peak demand and unprecedented actions have been seen from competitive suppliers, who have offered customers payments of up to…
Range anxiety again?
by New Power • • 1 Comment
Think tanks Bright Blue and Policy Exchange raise some useful policy proposals aimed at speeding up the rollout of electric vehicles (see story here). A couple raise questions. Policy Exchange would see government offer competitive tenders and long term contracts…
Do you need an energy butler?
by New Power • • Comments Off
From time to time I find myself trying to explain how the energy industry is changing to people who couldn’t give a picowatt. Here is my latest analogy: In the past you have had an energy butler, happy to meet all…
A good idea a decade ago?
by New Power • • Comments Off
Once again Kwasi Kwarteng MP talks up nuclear as “The only way we can get decarbonised firm power which isn’t intermittent …We will need a source of power that isn’t fluctuating, that isn’t dependent on the wind blowing and the…
Treaty governance versus membership – and the stability of UK policy
by New Power • • Comments Off
Participants at the longstanding Joint European Stakeholder Group (JESG) this week expressed their concern that co-operation on energy under the EU-UK treaty agreed at the end of 2020 ceases in 2026. In response, they heard that the UK is in…
Those intermittent power plants …
by New Power • • Comments Off
We’ve been seeing some price spikes in power supply over the last few days. Ought we to blame those intermittent power generators, who can’t be relied on to generate at times of need and sit idle 80% of the time?…