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Business Mayor
14-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Can Britons be persuaded to switch off when the wind doesn't blow?
At home in Sunderland, north-east England, Walt Scales and wife Alexis try to finish their washing and cooking by 5pm. Ovo Energy, their electricity supplier, enters them into a prize draw for cutting usage from the mains supply between 5pm and 7pm on weekdays. For the retired bus driver, who switches to a small household battery for essentials in the evening, the benefits are more than financial. 'It means we can relax totally from 5pm, so it's kind of enriched [our lives]. There's more time for each other,' he said. The couple are responding to a push by energy companies and officials to encourage households and businesses to change their habits and adjust electricity use according to supply, as part of the government's goal of decarbonising the electricity system by 2030. This could mean avoiding peak times, such as the teatime rush, or using more power at times of high wind. Along with zonal electricity pricing, it is one way to lessen the amount of new grid capacity that needs to be built and potentially keep costs down. New tariffs, trials and schemes are under way around the country, and the National Energy System Operator wants to see up to five times the current level of flexible power demand in order to meet the national 2030 clean power target. But NESO concedes there are a 'broad range of views' about the feasibility of that goal, which will require technological and commercial developments — and big changes for consumers. 'I think it [demand flexibility] has to happen,' said Laura Sandys, chair of the Green Alliance and board member at EV charging company Ohme Global. '[But] it's probably the most complex part of the jigsaw. This is all about customers.' Walt Scales switches to a small household battery for essentials in the evening © Ian Forsyth/FT Consumers have been encouraged to use electricity outside of peak hours for decades, through 'Economy 7' tariffs offering cheaper power at night, or lower network charges for factories outside peak times. But the idea is taking on more importance given the effort to shift away from fossil fuels, which involves moving from petrol cars and gas-fired boilers to electric cars and heat pumps powered by renewable electricity. Electricity supply and demand have to be matched second by second to maintain system stability. But unlike coal and gas-fired power plants, wind and solar farms depend on the weather and cannot be so easily controlled in line with consumer needs. Demand needs to adjust instead. Excess power can be stored in the form of batteries or hydropower plants, ready to be discharged when needed. But officials believe households and businesses adjusting their behaviour could also help, by, for example, charging electric cars when it is sunny and windy, or turning down industrial freezers when it is not. This is the second part in a series on the future of Britain's electricity grid Spreading demand across the day could also cut the investment required in electricity networks, since they would not have to cope with such heavy peak loads. British wind farms often have to switch off if they are producing more than consumers can use at that time, owing to a lack of grid capacity. 'Flexibility services are crucial for transitioning to a net zero network,' said Northern Powergrid, which serves swaths of northern England. The Berkshire Hathaway-owned company has been offering up to £900 per megawatt hour — more than 10 times the typical rate for electricity bought a day ahead — for business and household consumers to shift their consumption when needed. UK Power Networks, which serves London and south-east England, said it had 100,000 'assets' registered on its network whose demand can be increased or reduced as needed. The network companies' offerings come on top of NESO's national voluntary 'demand-flexibility service', under which households are paid to cut electricity use if a shortage looms. Introduced at the height of the energy crisis in winter 2022, the scheme was initially popular, but critics fear the recent removal of a guaranteed payment level will dent enthusiasm. 'Customers [need] to see and feel good value from doing this,' said Kieron Stopforth, head of flexibility at Octopus Energy, the UK's largest household energy supplier. 'A bit of funding early on can help seed growth.' Octopus and other companies offer or are developing time-of-use tariffs where prices incentivise consumers to respond to constant fluctuations in supply, boosted by market reforms and the rollout of smart meters, which are in about 60 per cent of homes. Combined with plans for regional electricity pricing, the tariffs could lead to consumers in Scotland charging their cars very cheaply when it is windy in the North Sea. The time-of-use model has many enthusiastic proponents. 'Essentially, my fuel for the car is two pence per mile,' said Tesla owner Iain Turner, a customer of Octopus's Intelligent Go tariff. He also sets his washing machine, tumble dryer and, in the summer, swimming pool pump to come on at night. 'About 50-60 per cent of my electricity is now at a cheap rate,' added the Colchester resident. Yet there is also the risk of consumers missing out on benefits if they are less engaged, or get caught out by surge pricing, the flip side of some tariffs offering ultra-cheap electricity at certain times. 'Overall we see [flexibility] as an opportunity for consumers,' said Andy Manning, head of energy systems transformation at consumer watchdog Citizens Advice. '[But] it needs to be underpinned by effective protections [for them].' Industrial users' appetite for shifting their electricity use varies. Some factories are already running power-hungry machinery during brief spells of negative electricity prices triggered by surges in supply. But dialling up and down is not always suitable because it can damage equipment. Getting users on board is not the only challenge. A study in November of 900 homes, 408 of which had electric vehicles or an electric vehicle charger, showed their electricity demand peaked in the middle of the night when cheap overnight tariffs kicked in. 'There's a certain critical mass where you've created a peak somewhere else through herding behaviour,' said Claire Rowland, at Energy Systems Catapult, a government-backed research and technology organisation, that carried out the study. Iain Turner sets his car, washing machine, tumble dryer and swimming pool pump to come on at night © Daniel Jones/FT Trials are also under way to see whether households can be flexible about when they run heat pumps. That could involve switching them on a few hours before they come home and then off during peak times, relying on the home to hold warmth for a few hours. In a survey at the end of a trial run by National Grid and others last year, known as Equinox, about half of the participants reported discomfort 'sometimes' for themselves or other household residents from using power more flexibly. But almost all — 91 per cent — said this was 'mild'. The University of Wales Trinity St David, Lampeter, has installed technology that automatically turns down electric heating in students' rooms when the local network provider is looking for electricity savings. Dan Priddy, head of sustainability at the university, said it might be rolled out further, but noted 'we wouldn't want it to come on midway during a washing [machine] cycle'. Voltalis, the French company behind the technology, has said it plans to invest £1bn in Britain by 2030, following market reforms last year that allow aggregators to be paid for saving, rather than generating, electricity. Randall Bowen, managing director in the UK for Voltalis, said: 'The opportunity is greater in the UK than we've seen in other countries.' Despite many uncertainties Scales, whose prize draw entries could win him a year's worth of free energy, is happy to be at the forefront of a changing system. 'I never stop talking about it,' he said. 'It's important that people pay attention to national consideration.' Data visualisation by Janina Conboye
The Herald Scotland
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Has Scotland's offshore wind sector been blown off course?
In addition, in a number of countries there has been a reduction or cancelling of offshore auction rounds. This reflects the binary political decisions in respect of the response to climate change. There are still many countries pursuing material reductions in carbon emissions year on year, while others are now run by those that wish to defer investment. It is still the case, however, that offshore wind represents one of the largest technology opportunities to supply renewable electricity at scale and thereby effect system change. In the UK, there has been consistent support for the further deployment of offshore wind. The Conservative administration placed offshore wind at the heart of its response to climate change with significant targets set to be achieved by 2030. The new Labour Government, which came into power last summer, has doubled down on the importance of the delivery of offshore wind. Ed Miliband is a passionate advocate for the sector and has come into power with a focus and zeal to support climate change initiatives. The new ambition is to achieve installation off at least 43GW by 2030. The UK's Auction Round 6 was not a great success for offshore wind with just over 3GW of new offshore capacity being supported. This was equivalent in scale to the number of successful bids for solar technology. This clearly does not reflect either the former or current ambition of the UK Government. The offshore sector offers significant opportunity to develop UK supply chains both in the delivery of the offshore wind farms themselves, but also in relation to the associated grid infrastructure. The auction round occurred at a time when the incoming Labour Government was just trying to get its feet under the table. It was a disappointment in terms of scale. The new UK Government has provided a new impetus in seeking to deploy as much new offshore wind capacity by 2030. The government has looked to reform the auction rules to see whether they can relax certain rules to allow more projects in to bid. It is anticipated that this would considerably increase the pool of eligible projects and thus allow the Government to set more meaningful objectives regarding the scale of ambition. There have been a number of key reforms to the regulation of grid, including the formation of the National Energy System Operator (NESO). It has been seeking to flex its forward thinking but appears to be heavily influenced by establishing zonal structures. This on the one hand, could genuinely seek to ensure that appropriate investment was targeted at the right time. There are however concerns that it is potentially the slippery slope to zonal pricing and all the consequences that may have for developing new projects in different parts of the UK. It is also evident that grid remains one of the key constraints to the decarbonisation of our energy system. Grid connection dates for major offshore projects continue to be pushed back. The 'Strategic planning' post awards such as ScotWind have not resulted in reductions in grid connection times. It is however clear that grid remains a focus of both the government and Ofgem and there are genuine attempts to seek to accelerate the establishment of a grid system that can manage low carbon generation sources. In addition, the Scottish Government is looking to speed up decision making in relation to grid infrastructure and has recently set out a 12 month time period for decision making in respect of key grid projects. This emphasises the particular drive and ambition that all parties seem to have in delivering an enhanced grid. It is against that background that the further deployment of offshore wind in the UK faces significant challenges. As identified earlier, there have been a number of international challenges to the deployment of offshore wind and there continue to be concerns regarding the ability on the supply chain to deliver at the scale of the ambition. In addition, given the international concerns regarding offshore wind, it is now even more imperative that the government does not introduce measures which create a greater risk going forward. A live example of this is zonal pricing. These would give rise to very significant concern on behalf of the development community. On a bright note, Flotation Energy received both consent and achieved a CfD for its innovative Green Volt floating project off the east coast of Scotland. This is a major milestone for floating wind and will further help to develop this critical sector. It is clear that, without the development of floating technologies, there will be a constraint to the overall UK ambition. Increasingly shallower waters are facing cumulative challenges and the ability to locate development within deeper waters will be important to meet future scales of ambition. The next year is going to be a very important one for the offshore wind sector and it is clear that what developers want is as much certainty and stability as possible. This in turn allows developers to properly plan and engage with the supply chains to ensure that viable projects continue to be brought forward in UK waters. The opportunities are significant, but meaningful delivery is now the key objective of the government. It is also of note that we now have Scottish, Welsh and UK Governments which are very broadly aligned in relation to offshore wind. It is likely to be the critical technology in achieving 2030 ambitions and it is now up to the government to ensure that a proper framework is provided and that this provides the stability for the forward investment required to make this investment happen. Colin Innes is a confirmed speaker at All-Energy 25, the UK's largest renewable and low-carbon energy exhibition and conference, taking place in Glasgow on 14-15 May. Visit Shepherd and Wedderburn's All-Energy hub at
Leader Live
12-05-2025
- Business
- Leader Live
Heathrow records busiest April for passenger numbers
That is up 5.9% compared with April 2024. The increase was partially driven by the timing of Easter this year. The west London airport said this year it has recorded the 'highest departure punctuality out of the major European hubs', 99% of bags travelled on the planned flights, and 97% of passengers waited less than five minutes at security. Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: 'Last month showed Heathrow at its very best – we successfully navigated our busiest April ever whilst our service levels took a further leap forward. 'We're providing great value for our passengers and I'm proud of what we've achieved in collaboration with our Team Heathrow partners so far this year. 'We're now firmly focused on the busy summer ahead and work is under way across the airport to ensure we continue delivering for our customers.' Some airlines which use Heathrow have branded the airport the most expensive in the world for passenger charges. Last week, an interim report by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) found power was restored to Heathrow's terminals seven hours before flights resumed on March 21, when the airport was closed because of a substation fire. The flow of electricity to the buildings was restarted by 10.56am but flights did not resume until approximately 6pm. Neso said power was restored to the 'wider Heathrow Airport Limited network' by 2.23pm, which was followed by 'a period of safety checking'. Heathrow Airport said the report raised 'important questions', such as how the fire started.
Glasgow Times
12-05-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Heathrow records busiest April for passenger numbers
That is up 5.9% compared with April 2024. The increase was partially driven by the timing of Easter this year. The west London airport said this year it has recorded the 'highest departure punctuality out of the major European hubs', 99% of bags travelled on the planned flights, and 97% of passengers waited less than five minutes at security. Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: 'Last month showed Heathrow at its very best – we successfully navigated our busiest April ever whilst our service levels took a further leap forward. 'We're providing great value for our passengers and I'm proud of what we've achieved in collaboration with our Team Heathrow partners so far this year. 'We're now firmly focused on the busy summer ahead and work is under way across the airport to ensure we continue delivering for our customers.' Some airlines which use Heathrow have branded the airport the most expensive in the world for passenger charges. Last week, an interim report by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) found power was restored to Heathrow's terminals seven hours before flights resumed on March 21, when the airport was closed because of a substation fire. The flow of electricity to the buildings was restarted by 10.56am but flights did not resume until approximately 6pm. Neso said power was restored to the 'wider Heathrow Airport Limited network' by 2.23pm, which was followed by 'a period of safety checking'. Heathrow Airport said the report raised 'important questions', such as how the fire started.
North Wales Chronicle
12-05-2025
- Business
- North Wales Chronicle
Heathrow records busiest April for passenger numbers
That is up 5.9% compared with April 2024. The increase was partially driven by the timing of Easter this year. The west London airport said this year it has recorded the 'highest departure punctuality out of the major European hubs', 99% of bags travelled on the planned flights, and 97% of passengers waited less than five minutes at security. Chief executive Thomas Woldbye said: 'Last month showed Heathrow at its very best – we successfully navigated our busiest April ever whilst our service levels took a further leap forward. 'We're providing great value for our passengers and I'm proud of what we've achieved in collaboration with our Team Heathrow partners so far this year. 'We're now firmly focused on the busy summer ahead and work is under way across the airport to ensure we continue delivering for our customers.' Some airlines which use Heathrow have branded the airport the most expensive in the world for passenger charges. Last week, an interim report by the National Energy System Operator (Neso) found power was restored to Heathrow's terminals seven hours before flights resumed on March 21, when the airport was closed because of a substation fire. The flow of electricity to the buildings was restarted by 10.56am but flights did not resume until approximately 6pm. Neso said power was restored to the 'wider Heathrow Airport Limited network' by 2.23pm, which was followed by 'a period of safety checking'. Heathrow Airport said the report raised 'important questions', such as how the fire started.
