Blog

Economic curtailment: understanding its scale and impact

As part of today’s reformed national pricing process, there is an acute focus on reducing network curtailment, the renewable generation we have to switch off due to grid constraints, and the cost of replacing it with non-renewable generation elsewhere. In this working paper, I look at a different type of curtailment: oversupply of renewables, when […]

Project Willow – the opportunities for a hydrogen hub at Grangemouth

  On Tuesday I gave evidence to the The Scottish Parliament Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee on the development of hydrogen in Scotland. The proximate reason for the session was the publication of work, commissioned by Scottish Government and UK Government, on low carbon options for Grangemouth. However, the main thrust of the questions

Investability and Scottish wind: the narrow path to ensuring onshore wind in Scotland is viable

Is an onshore wind farm in Scotland investable in early 2025? It is an important question. Clean Power 2030 needs 13 GW of new onshore wind by 2030, potentially 10 GW in Scotland. Full details, the report and the open source spreadsheet are available via Regen’s website. My answer, in this ‘open-source’ paper produced with

Exploring the implications of locational marginal pricing of electricity

A wholesale market based on ‘locational marginal pricing’ (LMP) has long been advocated by a number of electricity sector economists and commentators as ‘the right answer’, but what is the question, and is it the right answer for the challenges we face now in decarbonising and expanding the electricity system in Britain? In this extended

Locational Signals for Electricity system flexibility alongside a national wholesale market

As the dust settles on the second REMA (Review of Electricity Market Arrangements) consultation, this blog reviews the debate on locational signals, their importance for flexibility, and the need for a more concrete articulation of what could be improved alongside a national wholesale market. It feels like we have been debating the options for improving locational signals