In New Power’s September issue Janet Wood spoke to Paul Brodrick, Head of connected communities at Siemens, about making networks smarter – even in advance of the smart meter rollout
Longread
Analysis, interviews, thought leadership
Price spikes, not blackouts, are the biggest risk this winter
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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.
As air quality concerns grow, should we be giving diesel generation subsidy support and tax breaks?
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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…
National infrastructure: will our pension funds invest? The view from PIP’s Mike Weston
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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
Will consumers benefit from CMA remedies? Citizens Advice remains uncertain
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Rich Hall, Infrastructure policy manager – Consumer Futures, at Citizens Advice, says the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) understands the symptoms of the energy industry competition problem, but not the causes.
A new framework for the energy industry?
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New thinking for the energy industry? Catherine Mitchell, professor of energy policy at the University of Exeter, sets out her vision of a new industry framework
From the New Power archive: interview with George Grant, Watt Power MD
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From the New Power archive: development consent orders have been granted to Hirwuan Power and Progress Power on schedule. Here’s how Watt Power MD George Grant saw the market when he spoke to Janet Wood in July 2014
Amber Rudd: ‘We have enough wind farms’
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Ahead of Amber Rudd’s evidence session at the Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change today, read New Power’s take on the recent RO announcement, published in the July issue. We saw little room in the CfD auction, and a threat over FITs.
Ovo says: make energy tariffs cost-reflective to kick-start competition
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Ovo’s chief financial officer Chris Houghton talks about pricing in an interview with New Power: “We make a margin on every customer however small and we don’t believe in some customers subsidising others. “We don’t think that’s the view throughout…
Are networks changing?
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Alastair Martin of Flexitricity sees a change in distribution network operators (DNOs): “the Low Carbon Networks Fund stimulated something really quite remarkable in the change of thinking of DNOs, and they are now out there with a strong appetite to…