Energy & Innovation
The ongoing drama about GB electricity grid security on 23 June is exposing much wider problems than expected. To recap, on 23 June, the grid experienced periods of low frequency which was below the safe operating limit for extended periods. NESO was forced to cut exports to recover it – initially by an Emergency [...] The post Have the events of 23 June exposed failures in Ofgem’s approach to…
Here is the transcript of a speech I gave to the New South Wales Energy Forum on 19 July. Unfortunately it was by Zoom and not in person... *************************** Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me to speak today about the practical realities of the energy transition and what lessons we can draw [...] The post Affordable and reliable energy: where to from here? appeared first on…
Is NESO struggling to manage the grid this summer? In addition to multiple market warnings in the past couple of weeks, there was a significant low frequency event that went largely unreported although has been the subject of much discussion within the industry;. Over the past week GB system operator NESO has issued two [...] The post NESO cutting exports during a low frequency event may come back…
Here is a transcript of a speech on grid stability that I gave to the International Energy Credit Association in Valencia on 16 June 2026... ................................. Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to speak here today. This is a risk audience, so I want to begin with a few risk manager’s questions: [...] The post Maintaining grid stability in a wind and solar world appeared…
Back in February I wrote an analysis of energy supplier OVO, concluding that it faced a real risk of ceasing to trade in the coming 12 months. This week, after being for sale for some time, OVO, the 4th largest supplier by market share announced that it had sold its retail supply business to [...] The post Swings and roundabouts: the retail energy market consolidates again appeared first on…
10 years ago today I published my first blog post, and it’s interesting that I’m still talking about this exact topic – the physics of the gas and electricity markets. Last week I was in Parliament giving one of my training courses for MPs and Peers to a group of about half a dozen [...] The post Physics versus ideology – ten years of energy policy confusion appeared first on Watt-Logic .
I gave this speech at the Cirrus Investor Conference in Namibia last week: . Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. The question before us - green energy versus baseload energy is often presented as a simple choice. But for developing countries, it is anything but simple. And it’s not [...] The post Green vs Baseload: the most suitable energy for a developing country?…
Kemi Badenoch’s proposal to cut energy bills by £200 has been widely dismissed as political posturing, but when looked at properly, from the perspective of consumers and the costs they have to bear, it’s far more coherent than critics would like to admit, and certainly more grounded in economic reality than the current government’s [...] The post Energy, economics and the cost of denial appeared…
The Capacity Market was introduced with a very clear and sensible objective - to ensure that Britain would always have enough firm capacity available to meet demand, even under stress conditions (particularly periods of low renewables output) by providing revenue certainty that would support both new investment and the retention of existing generating plant. [...] The post The GB capacity market…
Today I gave the following speech at the ENVEXX oil and gas conference in London... . Good afternoon. I’m delighted to be here today – thank you to Mike for inviting me. The new dislocation in the energy markets has Ed Miliband and others jumping up and down about how this underlines the need [...] The post The truth about the energy transition and the need for affordable secure energy with…