Energy storage and flexibility

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Investor optimism sparks PPA competition

    In recent months, Cornwall Insight has issued several of our regular subscription reports from our PPA Insights Service covering both renewable and flexibility Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) markets, namely the Green Power Forecast, Renewable PPA Market Share and Flexible PPA Market reports. As part of these reports, we conduct surveys...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    How nuclear energy can help the UK reach its net zero goals

    This article was originally written in Energy Spectrum on 21 March 2021. To find out more about a subscription to Energy Spectrum, please contact Nick on n.palmer@cornwall-insight.com. There are several challenges to reaching net zero, where its proponents believe nuclear could add value. Some of tomorrow’s main issues concern: How to provide low...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Glory Days – T-1 auction clears at £45/kW

    To say the T-1 Capacity Market (CM) auction clearing at £45/kW per year was a surprise feels like an understatement. It looks like a major windfall for successful participants in the auction –  many are asking just what happened? Easy money Until February, it looked like prices would clear at...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    DNO to DSO: A work in progress

    Last month the Electricity Network Association (ENA) published updated figures regarding the procurement of Distribution Network Operator (DNO) flexibility services. This is the latest update from the ENA since April this year, with the document highlighting the historical uptake of services across the DNO regions. The publication also provides projections...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    The Rewire-NW project: delivering a Smart Local Energy System

    The Rewire-NW project was launched in spring 2020. Led by Pure Leapfrog, the project is developing plans to create a Smart Local Energy System (SLES) with a focus on leading the town of Warrington towards Net Zero. Cornwall Insight is a key project partner in the project, providing regulatory and...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Network innovation: coordinating Active Network Management schemes and Balancing Services

    The volume of generation connected to the distribution networks is increasingly rapidly. Cornwall Insight is part of a consortium developing an innovation project focusing on specific conflicts which this can create in the market, with the aim of developing learnings which can be applied in a broader context. Over 30GW...

  • Business supply and services

    COVID-19: A collection of resources

    This year has seen Governments, businesses and industries coming to terms with the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. The arrival of the pandemic shook the energy market across the value chain. Throughout, our experts have provided the industry with coverage of how COVID-19 has impacted the energy market. We analysed...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    The future of power prices: Black swans and dragon kings

    Understanding the long-term trajectory of the wholesale market is critical to new generation assets and their investment viability. Here at Cornwall Insight, we support market participants in assessing the potential outlook for wholesale power markets through our long-term market Benchmark Power Curve service. We’ve just updated our latest curves out...

  • Business supply and services

    All mod cons: Routes to market for household flexibility

    According to National Grid’s 2019 Future Energy Scenarios[1], meeting decarbonisation targets could require deployment in GB of 13GW of flexibility from commercial and industrial consumers by 2050, compared to around 1GW currently available. While there are currently no comparable forecasts for domestic demand-side response (DSR), energy suppliers and technology companies...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    FiT costs to reach all-time high amid COVID outbreak

    Energy Third Party Charges (TPCs) have certainly been in the limelight recently, and rightly so as less consumption from non-domestic sectors is resulting in a greater recovery of money from domestic households amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Several measures have been taken to date to protect domestic suppliers and consumers from...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    BSUoS in COVID-19

    This week National Grid Electricity System Operator (“the ESO”) released its latest forecast of Balancing Services Use of System (BSUoS) charges – levied on suppliers and large generators to recover costs incurred by the ESO in managing the system on a second by second basis. In this blog we look...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Turn it up – responding rapidly to manage the system

    In balancing the system, we used to talk mostly about narrowing capacity margins and the need to ensure ‘headroom’. But suddenly there’s a greater need for greater consumption and the provision of ‘footroom’ during COVID-19, and potentially and also in the future. The ESO will need to procure more and...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Storage story: a regulatory run-down

    While electricity storage has long been recognised as a crucial solution to mitigating the drawbacks of some types of renewable generation, it has taken some time for the regulatory and charging framework to catch up. It has taken years, but recent progress on the licensing and exemptions from some final...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    I can change – what’s wrong with the Capacity Market (and what we need to do to fix it)

    The return of the Capacity Market (CM) after its legal hiatus in November 2019 was a relief to many owners and developers of generating capacity in GB. But I think it’s time to ask whether it’s really the best tool to reach net zero at lowest costs to consumers. The...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Editor’s Pick | Belgian capacity support to take novel form

    This article was originally published in Issue 22 in Energy:2030. On 12 September, the Belgian Federal Commission for Electricity and Gas Regulation (CREG) issued a note on the implementation of a scarcity pricing mechanism in Belgium. Explaining that renewable generation may cause massive overcapacity in future with difficulties for generators relying...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Editor’s Pick Ireland | Do all roads lead to hydrogen?

    This article was originally published on 12 November 2019 in Energy Spectrum Ireland.  On 3 October, Hydrogen Mobility Ireland published its report: A Hydrogen Roadmap for Irish Transport, 2020-2030, which outlines how government and policy makers can facilitate the uptake of hydrogen fuelled vehicles. Hydrogen is viewed as the cleanest fuel...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    A pivotal play?

    On the 4 November, EDF Renewables UK agreed to acquire Pivot Power. Pivot Power is a UK start-up which aims to build 50MW batteries connected to the Transmission Network and provide rapid Electric Vehicle (EV) charging nearby. The firm announced plans in 2018 to develop up to 2GW of batteries connected...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Frequency Response weekly auction trial summary report

    National Grid ESO is now in the process of trialing weekly procurement of frequency response services. Cornwall Insight will be reporting and analysing on every stage of this trial, as it highlights the potential future for the procurement of balancing services to come.  The trial will test closer to real-time...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Five things we learned in our new Flexible PPA Market Report

    Cornwall Insight has been examining the fast-developing market for flexible asset Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with a new report, The Flexible PPA Market Report, specifically launched to cover this. Through our leading market research and regulatory expertise, complemented by in-depth discussions with a range of market participants, the report encapsulates...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Is flexibility evolving? The latest from our customer flexibility event

    On Thursday 26th September, Cornwall Insight held its customer flexibility event, presenting a comprehensive overview of our research covering flexibility in the GB electricity sector. The presentations encompassed a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from analysis of recent Balancing Mechanism trends to proposed network reforms and progress under Project TERRE....

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Frequency Response weekly auction trial summary report

    In line with National Grid ESO’s System Needs and Product Strategy (SNaPS) the ESO is now in the process of trialing weekly procurement of frequency response services. Cornwall Insight will be reporting and analysing on every stage of this trial, as it highlights the potential future for the procurement of...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Under the microscope: The Frequency Response auction trial

    In recent years National Grid ESO has consulted and worked with industry to identify improvements to its range of balancing services, in order to make them more applicable to the future networks challenges and opportunities. This first formed the publication of the System Needs & Product Strategy (SNaPS) document in...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Frequency Response weekly auction trial summary report

    In line with National Grid ESO’s System Needs and Product Strategy (SNaPS) the ESO is now in the process of trialing weekly procurement of frequency response services. Cornwall Insight will be reporting and analysing on every stage of this trial, as it highlights the potential future for the procurement of...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Take on me… Proposed Balancing Mods

    Since the new SEM go-live on 1 Oct 2018, a topic of heated discussion has been the volatility and extreme prices seen so far in the Balancing Market (BM) including very high prices and a greater than expected incidence of negative balancing prices. The highest prices seen in the balancing...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Changes in accepted BM offers: What’s the STORy?

    In August 2018 National Grid (NG) made a change to its internal processes, restricting the operational window in which its staff could engage Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) assets from four to two hours ahead of delivery. This has contributed to a significant reduction in the number and volume of...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Imbalance prices turn negative for six straight hours

    Imbalance prices turned negative for 13 consecutive settlement periods on Sunday, as low electricity demand and high levels of wind output led the System Operator to reduce generation output from a variety of wind, combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) and biomass power stations. The imbalance price dropped below zero in...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Clarity on Capacity Market renewable ratings, but gap in government policy remains

    On 7 January, National Grid ESO published its consultation on the new de-rating factor methodology to be used for renewables participating in the Capacity Market (CM). The document forms a key part of the five-year review of the CM, for which a government call for evidence was published in August 2018.   In previous...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Re-wiring – interconnectors to face increased policy scrutiny

    This week Will Gardiner, CEO of Drax Group, reignited the debate on the role of interconnectors within the Capacity Market (CM) and whether their treatment fairly assesses how they contribute to system security. In an interview with The Guardian on 20 May, Gardiner stated that increasing levels of interconnection would do little...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    A pragmatic review of battery business cases

    As we await the full results of the latest T-4 Capacity Market, which has delivered the lowest clearing price to date for this type of auction, we have been reflecting on the possible business cases for large-scale battery storage. I was speaking on this very topic at the Energy Storage...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    What the T-1 auction does and doesn’t tell us about the upcoming T-4 auction

    The T-1 Capacity Market (CM) auction cleared on Thursday 1 February 2018 in round 14 at £6/kW. 5.78GW of capacity won an agreement for delivery year 2018-19 at an estimated cost for the consumer of £34mn. This is the second one-year ahead auction that has cleared lower than expectations; what does this...