CfD

  • Regulation and policy

    Government Announces Record Budget for Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 6

    The government has released the budget and reference prices, along with the auction parameters, for the upcoming Contract for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 6 (AR6). As recently reported, there were considerable questions outstanding about the parameters which will be used in the auction and significant pressure was placed on AR6...

  • E-mobility and low carbon

    2022’s most exciting ‘Charts of the Week’

    Some of our team have looked back throughout 2022 and picked their most exciting ‘Chart of the Week’.​Their choices include exploring green tariffs, wholesale gas prices, CfD allocation round 4 and the MHHS Implementation Levy.  It’s My Birthday – Two years of Dynamic Containment Picked by Tom Faulkner, Head of...

  • Energy Market Design

    Financing Net Zero: A (revenue) cap on UK merchant financing opportunities?

    On 13 October 2022, we hosted the latest instalment of our ‘Financing Net Zero’ webinar series. The session, sponsored by Shoosmiths, focused on opportunities and challenges for merchant financed renewable projects amid the current wholesale price volatility.   In recent years, due to the increasing success-rate and profitability of renewable projects,...

  • Regulation and policy

    Government to consult on the introduction of Cost-Plus-Revenue Limit

    The government issued its Energy Prices Bill on 12 October. The bill will put in law a number of the already-announced mechanisms that will be used to support households and businesses this winter including the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. Also announced alongside this is the...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    From zero to hero: Can CfDs split markets and reduce costs this winter?

    Given media comment on the imposition of a revenue cap for low carbon generators instead of migration of existing projects onto a CfD, please find below a blog published by Cornwall Insight three weeks ago. Not only did this note the possibility of the revenue cap being a fall back...

  • Energy Market Design

    How does REMA impact energy generation, flexibility and consumers?

    The Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) is the largest review programme of GB electricity market arrangements for a generation. It comes at a time when European energy markets are suffering extreme turmoil. Depending on the outcome there could be significant implications for generators, flexibility providers, and, indirectly, consumers. REMA...

  • Energy Market Design

    REMA: electricity market design choices

    Electricity markets will serve as the foundation for the future GB energy system.  This article examines some of the market design decisions that will be considered by the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA). Market design goals At its most simple, a well-functioning market will attract enough potential “buyers” and...

  • Low carbon generation

    Head to Head: CfD vs RESS

    2022 has been busy for renewable developers in Great Britain and Ireland, with both the fourth allocation round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme and the second round of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) concluding this summer. We compared the latest results of the CfD and RESS schemes...

  • Low carbon generation

    Energy System Reform: Ofgem shares plans for Britain’s energy system

    Against the backdrop of record high and volatile energy prices, Ofgem set out on 8 July its view on key aspects of the GB energy system where it considers significant reform is required to deliver a resilient, low cost, low carbon energy sector. Recent developments in the energy market, such...

  • Energy Market Design

    Can we fix the wholesale energy market this winter to lower prices and should we want to? 

    The Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) is intended to discuss and decide on appropriate market arrangements for 2035 in a Net Zero, low marginal cost, renewables-dominated market. It is unlikely it has the scope or capability to intervene in the market arrangements ahead of this winter. Therefore, some new interventions...

  • Low carbon generation

    3G meets in-person| Lots discussed in our low carbon user group

    Last week I took a trip to sunny central London to attend Cornwall Insight’s Green Generators Group (3G), which is the user group for our low carbon generation service. In what felt like a novelty after a two-year hiatus of face-to-face forums, I was joined by my colleagues Dan Starman...

  • Regulation and policy

    New nuclear: BEIS consults on RAB revenue arrangements

    BEIS published on 14 June its consultation on the revenue stream element of the proposed Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model to incentivise the deployment of new nuclear projects. BEIS is responsible for implementing this as legislated by the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act 2022 which received Royal Assent on 31 March...

  • Low carbon generation

    CfD Auction Secures Greatest Amount Of Renewable Capacity To Date

    Yesterday, the government released the results of the fourth round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, securing almost 11GW of renewable capacity across 93 projects, nearly double the 5.8GW awarded in Allocation Round 3 in 2019. The greatest capacity – at 7.0GW - has been secured from new offshore wind projects,...

  • Business supply and services

    Re-balancing the balancing costs –BSUoS charges to be levied solely on suppliers from April 2023

    Balancing the electricity system costs money. National Grid in its role as Electricity System Operator (ESO) takes actions in every half hour to achieve the remarkable feat of keeping supply and demand finely balanced on our national electricity system – maintaining a system which runs between 49.8 and 50.2Hz with...

  • Low carbon generation

    Reform in haste, repent at leisure: squaring electricity market reform with investor confidence

    The review of electricity market arrangements (REMA) signalled by the energy security strategy could impact wholesale & balancing markets, & there could be a need to examine the capacity market rules & CFD contracts. It is too early to know what options will ultimately be adopted or when changes would...

  • Low carbon generation

    What to look out for in Third Party Charges in 2022-23

    In recent months, the GB energy market has been exposed to extreme volatility as wholesale prices have grown rapidly, leading to a significant number of supplier exits and questions over consumer affordability of energy bills. This has resulted in notable movement across a number of non-commodity costs (also known as...

  • Low carbon generation

    Why is RAB being pursued for new nuclear

    Nuclear generation has experienced a stop-start approach to investment in GB since the then Labour government put it back on the policy agenda in the early 2000s. Even with the addressing of environmental and operational concerns to the satisfaction of policymakers and regulators, its high capital costs made it require...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Unlocking routes to market

    On 19 January 2022, a webinar hosted by Cornwall Insight in partnership with the law firm Weightmans focused on routes to market for renewable projects that may not secure a contract during the fourth allocation round of the 'Contracts for Difference' (CfD) auction, which opened in December 2021. In the...

  • Low carbon generation

    CfD Allocation Round 4 – let the competition begin

    2022 is set to hold what could be the largest Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction to date, Allocation Round (AR) 4, with government aiming to secure around 12GW of new renewables through the scheme. It will see the re-introduction of Pot 1 technologies (“established” technologies such as onshore wind and...

  • Home supply and services

    The risks of short-term interventions distorting long-term incentives in the energy market

    Christmas 2021 was not a time of cheer for the energy industry and its customers. There is acute stress on energy suppliers and consumers from current bills - let alone where they may move to in the coming year. And it seems the political and regulatory debate has moved on...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Five highlights from our latest PPA market research

    Recently, as part of both our Renewable PPA Market Share and Green Power Forecast reports, we have undertaken research into the renewables PPA market, hearing views from generators, offtakers and other renewables PPA market participants. Our recent Chart of the Week detailed the latest research from our Renewable PPA Market...

  • Net zero corporates and ESG

    The stakes are higher than they seem: the current energy challenge and net zero

    It has been an incredibly challenging week in the UK energy sector, and attention has rightly focussed on consumer protection, and indirectly on the state of the energy supply markets. However, it would be a mistake to believe that the ramifications of supplier failure will be limited only to this...

  • Low carbon generation

    Our Renewables Pipeline Tracker: In with the new – scoping projects and progression through planning stages

    Our latest Renewables Pipeline Tracker was published on 11 June, and this blog provides a summary of some of the recent developments in our coverage of the pipeline for new build and repowering renewables assets in GB. What’s new? Seabed leasing rounds, scoping projects and CfD announcements Since our previous...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    The PM’s 10-point plan: Further thoughts from our Energy Spectrum webinar

    In our regular Energy Spectrum webinar on Tuesday 24 November, Senior Writer Nick Palmer and Head of Relationship Development Robert Buckley discussed the government’s 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution. They considered what has led to this point, what is in the plan, what the reaction was to it...

  • Home supply and services

    COVID-19-driven changes to electricity Third Party Charges

    The impact of COVID-19 on the energy sector has been a hot topic for the last few months. As we progress further into the UK’s lockdown period we are now beginning to piece together the wider picture of effects across energy Third Party Charges (TPCs). These impacts are expected to...

  • 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...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    BEIS opens consultation on CfD payment deferral

    BEIS launched a consultation on a proposal to defer to Q121 part of the increase in electricity suppliers' obligations for Q220 for the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. Launched on 12 May, the consultation is a follow up to the decision BEIS took on 24 April to provide a one-off...

  • Home supply and services

    From “what if?” to “what now?”

    As the UK begins its third week of lockdown, the nation’s energy sector continues to wait to see whether there will be any economic or financial support targeted specifically at end users, suppliers, network operators and fellow participants alike. Immediate issues for end users include their ability to pay their...

  • Low carbon generation

    Lessons from a lock down

    We are all facing a new, simpler existence. For my part, I have been self-isolated for three weeks. My little flat in central London has become almost my entire existence, my days have settled into a simple routine, and I've had plenty of time to reflect. Although COVID-19 presents an...

  • Low carbon generation

    Editor’s Pick | The green shoots of the Capacity Market auctions

    A pivotal year for the Capacity Market (CM) draws to a close, with the first long-term auctions for capacity since 2018. But for once the CM is the least interesting thing happening in the market, and the scheme itself seems out of step with the net zero future. In this Energy...