Time to look more deeply at interconnectors?
Interconnectors are very useful things and can help reduce the costs of supplying power and balancing the system. But you have to consider what is at the other end.
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Opinion: A domestic project pipeline is the spur to developing products for the global market
The UK will have to be better at developing and exporting skills and products in future, when it loses the ability to treat the rest of Europe as a quasi-domestic market.
Western Bootstrap commissioning set to reduce constraint costs
Commissioning of a new HVDC link between Scotland and the England/Wales transmission networks is set to reduce constraint payments by £90 million a year, according to National Grid.
Interconnectors under question: do savings from pooling generation across borders outweigh risk of pushing out domestic power?
The UK should add two further interconnectors to its plans to bring capacity to 17.4GW, according to National Grid.
Spalding reaches financial close
Intergen has announced financial close and funding for Spalding Energy Expansion, a 300MW gas-fired plant in Spalding, Lincolnshire, which was awarded a 15-year capacity agreement in the December 2016 Capacity Market auction.
Major investment required
In his inaugural lecture at UCL in February, Michael Grubb, professor of international energy and climate change policy, argued that the “financialisation” of the energy industry has broken the link between markets and strategic investment.
Capacity Market shift towards a localised energy industry raises gas network questions
Professor Michael Grubb argues that major capital-intensive energy assets such as nuclear power plants are effectively government projects and should be planned and funded as such (see box, p6).
NAO: RHI is ‘poor value for money’
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme has been “uncertain” value for money, the National Audit Office has concluded.
CMA heat networks study raises questions over role of Ofgem
Heat network customers should have their bills capped to ensure they are charged no more than customers that use natural gas, energy regulator Ofgem has told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is conducting an inquiry into heat net
Expert Forum: we can export onshore wind expertise – but it needs a domestic springboard
Giving evidence to the Lords Economic Affairs Committee in February, energy minister Claire Perry MP said the UK had a “triple test” for providing R&D funding for any form of decarbonising technology: “Can we deliver a cost-effective pathway f