Are We Heading for Blackout Britain?

• Policy on renewables will on average cost households £466 a year by 2020. Costs may increase due to subsidy caps being breached.
• EU legislation has closed 12 GW of baseload capacity since 2012. UK winter margins are now 0.1% without emergency measures.
• The Capacity Market has failed to attract new gas fired power stations. New gas plant equated to just 10% of the Capacity Market’s gas contracts.
• Low wind, unplanned nuclear closures, an interconnector outage and high energy demand led to prices spiking from £40/MWh to £999/MWh on 14 September.
• The UK is depending on growing foreign imports of electricity, which have risen by 30% in two years. National Grid’s role in this must be examined.
• Following the abolition of DECC, a new Energy Bill is needed to prioritise costs, competitiveness and security of supply.

Media Impact: 

• Daniel Mahoney for CapX: Britain’s energy security is increasingly at risk
• Daniel Mahoney for City A.M.: Blackout Britain: Don’t blame the EU alone for the UK’s energy crisis
• Daily Telegraph: Energy policy overhaul ‘needed to cut costs and keep lights on’

 

 

Are We Heading for Blackout Britain?

Daniel Mahoney, Tony Lodge, Tim Knox - Thursday, 29th September, 2016