AR7 results are a huge win for offshore wind!
This was the last round I worked on in government and so has a special place in my heart.
8.4GW of total offshore wind capacity makes it the largest round to date.
And an average price for fixed bottom of £91MWh is one government can be happy with.
And all for promises of 'growth' that will not materialise.
Unregulated private financial markets are risky?
Shocking. If only we'd had some cautionary tale about the risks of unregulated financial markets.
I don't know, maybe around 2008 or something.
The carve up of the Middle East was driven by a colonial thirst for oil, and the region still bears the scars.
Britain and France didn't have domestic supplies in the way the USA and USSR did, so they looked to empire.
Much more on oil, energy and empire in the full episode!
Some accidental dystopia from the @theguardian.com 🙃
A very strong case for heat pumps made here! New episode of the pod out today.
A bit of reprieve for Orsted with the lifting of the stop work order on their Revolution Wind project.
It will undoubtedly go to higher courts but at least some parts of the US judiciary are still working.
It's disappointing seeing EU leadership slip on climate, but we carry on.
The fact that clean tech is so modular and replicable compared to oil and gas or nuclear make them so much easier to bring down a cost curve!
One system to rule them all
For a long time this was a non-starter though so at least welcome to see Treasury is open to the conversation.
- Legacy renewable costs like the RO and FiT
- Hidden cost of high seabed leasing fees that rake in money for Treasury but are ultimately born by consumers
- Belated network upgrades that come through as standing charges
- Costs of newer expensive techs that will soon appear on bills
If you're going to put things on tax I'd much rather see them go after other parts of the bill that arguably would sit better on taxation anyway, e.g.:
The problem with focusing on just VAT is that it's both relatively marginal and it will mean the fixed costs that are left will make up a larger proportion of the bill, which could feed the (incorrect) narrative that it's net zero 'levies' that's making bills expensive.
Reports from @thetimes.com that Rachel Reeves is considering removing VAT shows a growing awareness in gov that there are limited levers to get bills down this parliament - and many of them sit with treasury.
Scrapping VAT on bills would be welcome, but isn't actually where I'd start (a thread) 🧵
Community energy is one of the biggest areas GBE can make a difference!
People need to feel a stake in the energy transition, and GBE can help make the economics stack up.
This is the bit I found most interesting! Still picking through the report but yeah the increasing reliance on shale could mean that when viable output falls it falls much quicker than people expect.
Great breakdown of a 'consumer-first' energy system here! 👇
Do we need a 'demand revolution' in energy?
New podcast episode out where we talk about the need to smash the boundaries between heat, transport and power to truly put end-users at the centre of the system!
linktr.ee/energyrevolu...
The number of leaps here is astounding 😅
Is Europe funding Putin's war?
Find out how companies are getting round the EU and UK sanctions on Russian Oil and Gas in our latest episode of the energy revolution podcast, with Isaac Levi of
@creacleanair.bsky.social.
linktr.ee/energyrevolu...
Will be watching this case like a hawk, will test how willing and able the courts are to reign Trump's direct assault on Wind.
This is a good bit of nuance.
I'm still a bit conflicted on this but we probably do need to have a hierarchy of gas sources and encourage switching between them, but there's a risk this becomes a license to keep on building gas infrastructure because 'at least it's clean gas'.
Ooh yes looks very interesting! Will check it out thanks.
You cannot understand the state of UK energy today unless you understand it's history.
New episode launched today with Energy Historian and Director of Strategy at @octopus.energy, @arthurdowning.bsky.social!
linktr.ee/energyrevolu...
This is what always bothers me, the North Sea is a declining basin and no amount of sabre rattling will change the economics.
It's almost as if facts don't matter here 🙃
I suppose she's invented a time machine then.
Clearly she's smarter than we thought, I see why Stanford wanted her...
Even Kwasi Kwarteng said openly that drilling north sea oil and gas will do nothing to reduce bills in the UK.
The market is global, UK producers don't sell to us at a discount.
It's delusion or dishonesty.
Thanks for setting that out Paul, really helpful context!
