An increase in electric vehicle ownership in the UK is becoming inevitable. Simon Sjenitzer, director – energy & climate change business development at WYG, asks: can legislation help our infrastructure cope? Britain is investing more than £1.2 billion in electric and…
Perspective
OPINION: swimming against government policy is not easy for hydropower
by New Power • • Comments Off
Hydropower can benefit the environment and gives communities a positive view of renewables, argues Barn Power’s Mark Simon – it is worth continued investment There are 29,000 industrial weirs in England, of which about 1,000 are suitable for small-scale hydropower,…
What does the year ahead have in store for transforming utilities? IT companies’ future views
by New Power • • Comments Off
Traditional utilities are transforming into e-utilities, using big data and new IT opportunities to offer services to distributed energy providers, prosumers and connected-home customers. New Power asked companies working at the intersection of energy supply and e-services to give their…
OPINION: Top ten? Board-member checklist tests stakeholder engagement
by New Power • • Comments Off
How effective is your board in meeting ‘future customer’ and stakeholder needs? Sustainability First has developed a check-list for the boards of energy companies to use to assess that question. Within your corporate structure, is it clear where responsibility sits for…
OPINION: Future Energy Scenarios reveal looming failures over security of supply
by New Power • • Comments Off
Mark Howitt argues that the government’s measures are failing to provide secure power over the long term National Grid’s 2017 Future Energy Scenarios, which set out four ways energy could evolve to 2050, only has one scenario – Two Degrees…
OPINION: Electric vehicles’ next big step is off-grid
by New Power • • Comments Off
Dr Peter Harrop of IDTechEx argues that electric vehicles will only trouble the grid temporarily. Soon they will have other power sources. Organisations fear the effect of electric vehicles on the grid – but they should not be concerned.…
OPINION: The UK can make good use of its strong position in the EU ETS
by New Power • • Comments Off
Mark Moriarty, chief operating officer at Commodity Management Services, argues that the UK’s large role in the EU ETS means it will still have influence in the bloc’s climate policy Brexit provides an opportunity for a re-examination of the UK’s…
OPINION: Contracts for difference – or for a different kind of wholesale market?
by New Power • • 3 Comments
Contracts for difference are a small part of the wholesale market now, but soon they will be affecting market behaviour, argues Mark Meyrick Under the government’s Electricity Market Reform, its replacement for the Renewable Obligation is now upon us. The…
OPINION: We can all win in the energy transition – get involved
by New Power • • Comments Off
Ahead of the Erasmus Energy Forum, meeting in Rotterdam on 28-29 June, Volker Beckers and Wolf Ketter argue that we need a joint understanding of the need for energy transition and how to implement the necessary changes. Once that is…
OPINION: For industry codes, form should follow function and the customer comes first
by New Power • • Comments Off
Tony Thornton, head of transformation at Gemserv, says a single Retail Energy Code could help support a simplified consumer-centric code governance model, but it must be implemented around a complex reform programme already under way. Aligning codes to function is a…