The Government’s decision to approve the new nuclear plant last week is merely a “starting point” and “there remain significant risks to the delivery”, the CCC said in a statement this week. Although the Committee is focused on the country’s carbon budgets and “does not comment on specific projects”, it does monitor their efficacy, it added. “It has taken about 10 years to get the project at Hinkley Point to its current stage. Over that period, estimates of total cost have risen and the time required to realise the project has increased.” Completing the project on time and on budget will require oversight by “successive governments, parliaments and public and private sector bodies,” CCC said. “A prudent energy policy will involve sufficient investment across low-carbon technologies to ensure that power output and carbon targets can be met given the risk of delays at Hinkley. The Committee said there are “a number of ways” in which new nuclear could help to cut emissions, but there are also “many mixes” of low-carbon technologies which could be used to decarbonise the power sector. It continued: “These will all require a combination of demand-side flexibility, storage, interconnection, and modern transmission and distribution networks to deliver them at least cost. It is crucial that these are pursued with vigour, alongside spending on nuclear.”
Edie 21st Sept 2016 read more »
There is a long-standing debate over price vs. quantity approaches to supporting the deployment of renewable electricity technologies. In the context of a recent shift from quantity to price-based support, the UK has also introduced a new form of budgetary framework, the Levy Control Framework (LCF). The introduction of the LCF has been very important for investors but has received relatively little attention in the academic literature. The paper gives an overview of the LCF, explores its effects on renewables policy, on consumers and on investor confidence arguing that an unintended consequence of its introduction has been to increase uncertainty, through interactions with underlying support mechanisms. A number of problems with the current scope and design of the LCF are noted. It is argued that the LCF is best understood as aimed at avoiding a political backlash against renewable support policy in a context where the benefits of such policy are concentrated economically and socially. The paper concludes by placing the LCF within a wider context of a shift towards greater budgetary control over renewable energy support policy across European countries.
IGov 21st Sept 2016 read more »
Governing for Innovation Without Disruption in Energy Systems
IGov 21st Sept 2016 read more »