low carbon

  • Heat networks

    Reallocating electricity policy costs to incentivise low carbon heating technologies

    Funding the cost of decarbonising the power system has mainly been through the consumers' electricity bills. In fact, in 2020-21 these costs amounted to a whopping £10bn. But is this method of raising revenue for decarbonisation still fit for purpose when faced with the need to decarbonise the nation's heat?...

  • Low carbon generation

    Nuclear energy and its potential importance for net zero

    This article was originally written as a longer piece 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. Nuclear energy has been an integral part of the UK’s electricity system for many decades. Currently, nuclear provides around...

  • Net zero corporates and ESG

    Sleeving Pools could enable local authorities to procure local energy

    This blog post is adapted from an article in March’s issue of Energy net zero, published on 31 March. To find out more about a subscription to Energy net zero, please contact Veronica at v.truman@cornwall-insight.com. For many local authorities and corporates, development of small-scale renewables and consideration of generation production...

  • 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...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Flight of the Phoenix – could green investment point the way forward post-COVID?

    As economies around the world move from “disaster preparation” to “recovery preparation”, the low carbon and renewable sector has been earmarked as a means by which to target government support in a manner consistent with medium and long-term policy targets – such  the UK’s own net zero 2050 objectives. While...

  • Energy storage and flexibility

    Let’s talk about flex: The flexibility dilemma

    In this week’s blog, we consider the recent refusal of planning permission for the construction of a 208MW open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) "peaker" power plant in Co Meath. While the project would assist in ensuring and maintaining the security of supply in the region, the plant was intended to...

  • Low carbon generation

    Editor’s Pick | IRENA investigates future market enabling technologies

    This article was originally published on 30 September 2019 in Energy:2030. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published an Enabling Technologies: Innovation Landscape report in early September, highlighting innovations in emerging technologies. The report builds on an extensive report called Innovation Landscape for a Renewable-powered Future: Solutions to Integrate Variable Renewables,...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Rocket man: powering up the white paper

    On 17 June 2019 our CEO Gareth Miller spoke on the panel at a joint event with law firm TLT on Clean Energy Growth. Many of the key themes set out by Gareth were echoed in this week’s Energy Spectrum, in which he discussed the government’s decision last week to...

  • Home supply and services

    Smart export guarantee

    This summary outlines Cornwall Insight’s response to BEIS’ January consultation on the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). It expresses support for the broad thrust of the SEG proposals and identifies key issues for further consideration. Overview The proposals set out in the 8 January document The Future for Small-scale Low-carbon Generation...

  • Commercial and market outlook

    Insights from the latest Energy:2030

    Perspective In this issue we look at the community energy sector. We focus on possible impacts of the end of Feed-in Tariff (FiT) subsidies in the UK and call for retention of a guaranteed route to market for small-scale renewable generation, at least until levelised costs fall further and necessary...

  • Low carbon generation

    Low-carbon levy costs to peak later than government expects

    Cornwall Insight's new paper - Static Electricity: New Controls for Low Carbon Levies - has found that despite the efforts to control the costs of supporting low-carbon deployment, a continued overspend is locked in well into the next decade. Alongside the 2017 Autumn Budget the government issued details of a...

  • 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...