Capacity Market

  • Regulation and policy

    Electricity transmission charging reform – overtaken by changing priorities?

    Charging for the transmission network is never out of the development process for long. From major reviews, such as that initiated under Project Transmit in 2010, to significant reforms such as removing the triad benefit from distributed generation in 2018, and a host of smaller developments, change seems the only...

  • 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...

  • Regulation and policy

    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...

  • 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...

  • Net zero corporates and ESG

    Editor’s Pick Ireland | Clean Energy Package: what does it really mean?

    The Capacity Market Code removes or restricts payments to fossil fuel generators and allows cross border participation in Capacity markets, arising from the Clean Energy Package (CEP). We look at some of the other potential changes in the way EirGrid and SONI operate our energy system arising from the implementation of the...

  • 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...

  • Regulation and policy

    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...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Editor’s Pick | Lower procurement targets recommended for 2020 CM

    National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has issued its updated recommended procurement targets for the upcoming Capacity Market auctions. For all three auctions, the recommended capacity level was lower than the target previously confirmed by the Secretary of State (SoS). A series of reports, published on 9 January, set out...

  • Low carbon generation

    Guess who’s back? The Capacity Market and what happens next

    On 24 October, the European Commission (EC) announced its decision to approve the GB Capacity Market (CM) after an investigation which lasted several months. While this is a positive outcome for holders of capacity agreements, the ~£1bn ‘back-payment’ bill comes at a difficult time for suppliers, who are facing up...

  • 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...

  • Low carbon generation

    Black-out, what blackout? The curious case of unexciting imbalance prices on 9 August

    As a self-confessed imbalance pricing geek, one of my first questions as I stood stranded in St Pancras station on Friday evening 9 August, was: what was the imbalance price? And was it £6,000/MWh? Spoiler: it wasn’t, and it shouldn’t have been – but we might see imbalance prices of...

  • Low carbon generation

    Unplugged: net zero highs, but capacity market lows

    Cornwall Insight’s founder and non-executive director Nigel Cornwall is now writing a monthly review of the latest energy market developments in our weekly Energy Spectrum publication. Here is the first one.The landmark legislation of 24 June committing the government to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions target for 2050 has...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from this week’s Energy Spectrum | 671

    On 12 June the EMR Delivery Body announced that the T-1 Capacity Market auction for delivery year 2019-20 cleared at £0.77/kW – the lowest clearing price ever to be achieved in a GB capacity auction. In this week’s Energy Perspective, we pick apart the reasons behind the clearing price falling so low....

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from this week’s Energy Spectrum | 670

    The government’s decision last week to legislate for a net zero carbon emissions target by 2050 is an epoch defining development for the energy sector. However, as we discuss in this week’s Energy Perspective, there is now greater expectation on the content of the upcoming White Paper to see if policy measures...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from this week’s Energy Spectrum | 669

    In this week’s Energy Perspective, we put Ofgem’s strategic review of the microbusiness retail market under the microscope, reiterating one point very clearly: the microbusiness market is different to the domestic market. And while the review is aimed squarely at ensuring access to a competitive and secure market for businesses, it...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from Energy Spectrum | 661

    In this week’s Energy Perspective, we consider investor confidence and market sentiment following the legal challenge to the Capacity Market, the specific steps BEIS has taken to settle nerves and also the general support being afforded to demand-side response to provide market access. The proposals from government in its Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) consultation...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from Energy Spectrum | 659

    In this week’s Energy Perspective, we set out the main developments in the GB Capacity Market since the November 2018 ruling by the European Court of Justice that led to its suspension including, most recently, the European Commission’s confirmation it is to undertake a full investigation into the scheme. The business case...

  • Low carbon generation

    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...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Five things we learnt from this week’s Energy Spectrum | Issue 649

    There is scant evidence that dividend payments are crowding out long-term investment in either the regulated or competitive utilities market, while regulators have been lax in policing capital structures of the regulated network companies. In our Energy Perspective piece this week Cornwall Insight Associate Peter Atherton rebuts the argument that...

  • Regulation and policy

    Can Capacity Market costs be recovered via a ‘mirroring’ process in the Balancing and Settlement Code?

    Elexon confirmed on Monday (10 December) that Issue 76 Using the BSC to support Suppliers and the Capacity Market Arrangements has been formed and the first meeting will take place next Monday (17 December). The outcomes of this process have the potential to enable suppliers to collect payments from their customers for...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    European judicial ruling leads to Capacity Market “standstill period”, but replacement auction likely

    A decision on a legal challenge confirmed earlier today (15 November) has resulted in BEIS immediately suspending the Capacity Market (CM). This means cessation to payments to existing CM agreement holders and no CM auctions for future agreements early next year. The ruling is the result of a legal challenge...

  • Low carbon generation

    Cornwall Insight: evaluating drivers of low-carbon investment in a subsidy free world event

    On 17 October 2018 Cornwall Insight hosted a successful and well attended event where the future of support for renewable power generation, against the backdrop of the significant gap between current deployment levels and what must be delivered to meet decarbonisation goals, was discussed. Cornwall Insight experts discussed how although...

  • 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...

  • Low carbon generation

    Are you gonna go my way? | SEMC consults on changes to T-4 capacity auction

    On 14 May the SEM Committee (SEMC) published a consultation on the Capacity Renumeration Mechanism (CRM) focusing on interim arrangements, updating auction design and specific parameters for the first T-4 auction for capacity year 2022-23. It is an important document for potential bidders into the March 2019 auction as, if...

  • 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...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    This week’s Energy Spectrum overview

    Energy Perspective This week’s Energy Perspective explores BEIS’s latest Energy and Emissions Projections (EEP) published in January 2018, uncovering what the forecasts can tell us about the shifting official view of the energy systems of the future. We focus on the changes since the last EEP’s publication. We highlight how...

  • Low carbon generation

    Irish Capacity Market raises constraining questions

    The new Irish Capacity Remuneration Mechanism (CRM) T-1 auction was held on the 15th of December. In this week's blog, we examine the results that were published by Eirgrid and SONI on the 26th January. The auction cleared at 38,104.88 £/MW or 41,800.00€/MW with 100 Capacity Market Units submitting an...

  • Low carbon generation

    Capacity Remuneration Mechanism in Ireland

    Energy Spectrum Ireland comment On 20 December 2017 EirGrid and SONI published the provisional Capacity Auction results for the 2018-19 Capacity Remuneration Mechanism (CRM) T-1 auction, held on the 15th December 2017. Subject to approval the Regulatory Authorities, the final results at a Capacity Market Unit level will be published...