Flexibility

  • Announcement

    Energy market and net zero transition learning and development: Role-relevant career development training

    We’re well over halfway through the calendar year and are now beginning to see more of the government’s thinking and policy-shaping around what needs to change to meet the 2050 net zero target. For example, the flurry of documents issued towards the end of 2020, including the Energy White Paper...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Evaluating the benefits of local coordination mechanisms in power supply

    In March, Cornwall Insight launched its new Energy Spectrum Europe publication in collaboration with the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI). Below is an extract of our Energy Perspective article from our latest issue, written by Konstantin Gruber and Nils Namockel from EWI. Local forms of coordination are...

  • 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...

  • Announcement

    GB consultancy: Our 2020 highlights

    We are independent commercial advisors to over 300 energy companies from generators, project developers, energy suppliers, network companies, investors, government departments and professional firms. Our team has over 40 years of energy market experience and works across the whole energy chain. Here is a small selection of our work in...

  • Announcement

    The top 5 podcasts of 2020

    We released 13 podcasts in 2020 covering all aspects of the energy market, from the Capacity Market and Electric Vehicles to Faster Switching and heat networks. Here are our top five podcasts of the year, ranked by the number of people who listened. 5. The Impact of COVID-19 on System...

  • 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...

  • Announcement

    Event | An update on recent and upcoming changes in the Flexibility space

    Cornwall Insight is holding a virtual event for flexibility market customers on Thursday 20 August 2020, from 10am until 12pm. Our experts will be giving an overview of current and upcoming trends across the wholesale and retail flexibility space. This will be split across two sessions - the first considering short-term changes and the...

  • 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

    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...

  • Low carbon generation

    Flexible Asset PPAs – more capacity, more competition

    The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) market for flexible assets in the last six months has both grown in size and seen increased levels of competition as new offtakers and optimisers make themselves known in the market. What do we mean by the PPA market for flexible assets? We mean the...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Wind Of Change: What’s this, more RESS talk!

    There’s no shortage of speculation regarding the upcoming Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS) auctions, however, we should spare a thought for our friends in Eirgrid who own the challenge of operating this relatively highly dominated renewable energy saturated system. This challenge is getting tougher, with the forecasted additional wind 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...

  • Low carbon generation

    Take That: Will solar applications see the light of RESS?

    The capacity available through the Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS) will see competition high as the long-awaited subsidy scheme for renewables opens its auction doors on 16 June 2020. The RESS will provide relief to new entrants offering renewable capacity, following the closure of the Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff which...

  • Low carbon generation

    Always sunny in RESS: The gang gets an auction

    With the excitement around the potential for a rejuvenated renewable market, it is easy to overlook just how few projects could get a RESS contract at the auctions this June. With between 1GWh – 3GWh available, the competition could be high. Here, James Goldsmith looks at the size of the...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Editor’s Pick | AEMC takes forward system resilience measures

    The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) issued its final report on 12 December following a black system event, setting out recommendations on measures to enhance the resilience of the power system. On 28 September 2016, there was a black system event in which around 850,000 South Australia customers lost electricity...

  • Regulation and policy

    Winding down: NGESO proposes virtual inertia specifications

    By this time next year, intermittent generation may be able to provide virtual synchronous services to the industry under a new Grid Code modification proposal. Raised by National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO), GC0137 Minimum Specification Required for Provision of Virtual Synchronous Machine (VSM) Capability seeks to create requirements for...

  • 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

    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....

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Editor’s Pick | CEER addresses energy communities’ regulation

    On 25 June 2019, the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) issued a report entitled Regulatory Aspects of Self-Consumption and Energy Communities. Following the introduction of recognised terms Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) and Citizen Energy Communities (CECs), or collectively Energy Communities, CEER has developed a regulatory approach to analyse these energy...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Editor’s Pick | ENA lays foundations for “cleaner energy system”

    The Energy Networks Association (ENA) published Our Six Steps for Delivering Flexibility Services on 20 June, outlining how grid operators will look to deliver “a smarter, more flexible energy system.” Through utilising smart technologies, consumers, businesses and local communities will gain increased control and choice over their electricity use and allow further...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Tomorrow’s energy today – Renewable transition pathways

    EirGrid published its bi-annual Tomorrow's Energy Scenarios 2019 consultation on 28 June, outlining scenarios for the future development of Ireland’s electricity future, over a 20-year timeframe. It maps out three scenarios intended to outline a range of credible pathways to the renewable energy transition, and what these would mean for the transmission system...

  • 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...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from Energy Spectrum | 657

    An increasing number of interventions, including new mutualisation events, are likely to cause shocks in energy third party charges in the coming years. That is the conclusion of this week’s Energy Perspective, in which we explore the current level of these costs for policy and networks, focussing on changes for...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from Energy Spectrum | Issue 651

    We present five key themes and findings from this week’s edition of Energy Spectrum Issue 651 The debate around new nuclear continues to shift at pace, not least as a result of growing confidence in the role that renewable sources, flexibility, demand-side response and interconnectors can play. In this week’s...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    This week’s Energy Spectrum overview | 29 May 2018

    Energy Perspective In this week’s Energy Perspective, we look ahead to this summer, a period that we believe could prove to be ground-breaking in terms of testing some long-held theories about flexible power systems. With the electricity market in rapid in transition we explore a range of emerging market phenomena...

  • 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...