Centrica has announced a new venture, Centrica Innovations, that will identify, incubate and accelerate new technologies and innovations. The new business unit will include a venture fund of up to £100 million to invest in start-ups, in exchange for access to technology and entrepreneurial capability and resources.…
Perspective
OPINION: Please come back bankers, all is forgiven – we need wholesale market liquidity
by New Power •
Dominic Whittome, consultant and ex-energy trader, regrets the loss of banks and other third parties from commodities and power trading In November the Financial Times reported that Barclays was winding down its energy – largely oil and gas – trading business,…
Longread
Ofgem warns Oftos it may get stricter on 3rd party outages
by Annabel Andrews •
This is an extract from an article in the February 2017 issue of New Power. Regulator Ofgem has warned it may change the way it accounts for the offshore transmission cable availability during outages caused by ‘exceptional events’ like cable strikes…
News
Horizon builds team to deliver new nuclear at Wylfa
by New Power •
Horizon Nuclear Power has called on US nuclear utility Exelon to provide expertise as it develops its plans to build a new nuclear plant, Wylfa Nywedd, in Wales. Horizon is planning to apply for a site licence for the project.…
Flash update
Submit tenders by Friday for Demand Turn-Up payments this summer
by Annabel Andrews •
Large energy users and aggregators who want to be paid to use power this summer have to submit their tenders by 5pm Friday. National Grid expects to have to manage excess generation of 3-5GW during the summer of 2017. The…
News
Low wholesale prices reduce EDF Energy profits by 29 per cent
by Annabel Andrews •
EDF Energy said today that lower wholesale prices were behind a 29% reduction in operating profit for its UK business. In 2016, the firm brought in an underlying operating profit of £470m, compared to £664m in 2015. This figure does not include a…
News
Toshiba delays results to investigate ‘inappropriate pressure’ over nuclear deal
by New Power •
Toshiba, parent of the company planning to build a new nuclear plant at Moorside in Cumbria, has announced a $6.3 billion write-down for its US nuclear subsidiary Westinghouse. Reuters said that would “wipe out its shareholder equity and will drag…
News
Government to keep FiT support for larger AD plants – for now
by Annabel Andrews •
The government has stepped back from its proposal to cut the support for anaerobic digestion plants above 500kW. The government’s review of support for Anaerobic Digestion (AD) and micro-CHP originally suggested cutting the Feed in Tariff for AD plants sized 500kW-5MW to zero.…
News
Ovo acquires smart energy management company Vcharge
by New Power •
OVO has acquired US energy technology company Vcharge. The US company’s technology uses algorithms to balance grid requirements with individual user requirements. The first application of the pioneering technology controls electric storage heating in social housing to better manage resident…