BEIS’s Updated Energy and Emissions Projections 2018, published in April, showed that the UK remains off target to meet its fourth and fifth five-yearly carbon budgets. In this week’s Energy Perspective, we look at the projections in more detail, concluding that while the pressure on the government to rachet up its policies has been increasing ever since the policies set out in the Clean Growth Strategy revealed the shortfall against the fourth and fifth budgets, the net effect reflected in the latest projections is that low-carbon policies will need to be even more ambitious than had been thought. Particularly as the emissions gap is set to worsen from 2033 when the sixth carbon budget begins.
The Committee on Climate Change’s landmark report, Net Zero: The UK’s Contribution to Stopping Global Warming, sets out recommendations to government as to how to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In our Policy section this week we look more closely at the key recommendations in the report, concluding that it is impressive in its scope, and only serves to put more pressure on the government across all areas of emissions reductions.
Ofgem presents a credible set of reforms in its consultation launched as part of its five-year review of the Capacity Market rules. We look at the consultation in our Regulation sector, suggesting that the CM Advisory Group should help provide some much-needed coordination before change proposals go to Ofgem, but issues around participation and resourcing will need to be considered further.
In our Industry Structure section, we detail Iberdrola’s first quarter results finding that, for the slimmed down Scottish Power, there is a notable contrast from a retail business hit by competition and price caps compared with the networks and renewables businesses, where profits are on the rise.
We have two Nutwood features this week. The first, from Cornwall Insight Associate Peter Atherton, takes a look at Utility Warehouse’s avoiding – to date – of the challenging conditions experienced by others in the retail market. Our second article introduces a new Cornwall Insight service, the Benchmark Power Curve, which provides a comprehensive market and asset-level power price modelling service that delivers long-term price forecasts.