Latest news with #Slye
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘More wind farms in the South' under Miliband's regional energy blueprint
Plans to overhaul Britain's energy market being studied by Ed Miliband would prompt a surge in the number of wind farms in the South of England, officials have confirmed. Fintan Slye, the chief executive of the National Energy System Operator (Neso), said breaking the electricity market into regions under so-called zonal pricing would encourage developers to put turbines up in the South. He backed the idea and said the current system of setting power prices nationally was giving renewable developers the wrong 'price signals' over where to locate wind farms. In a speech at the Royal Society, Mr Slye said he wanted renewable developers to 'move south' and build more wind and solar farms closer to where demand is strongest. Mr Slye said: '[Zonal pricing] will incentivise the development of wind and solar farms in southern areas but it will also encourage energy intensive developments in the North and Scotland.' Under zonal pricing, Britain would be split into regions and energy prices in each area would be set based on local supply and demand. In practice, households in the South would pay more than those in the North – where most wind farms are concentrated. However, Mr Slye argued that the higher power prices would encourage more developers to build renewable capacity in the South, which would add supply and put downward pressure on bills. So far most wind farms have been built in Scotland and offshore despite the UK power grid lacking the capacity to carry all the power they generate. Britain has spent more than £537m this year on paying northern wind farms to switch off just to avoid overloads, a cost known as 'constraint' payments. Mr Slye is pushing Mr Miliband to make the change to zonal pricing, arguing it could generate huge savings for consumers and businesses overall. He said: 'The current arrangements where there's a single national price and we, the system operator, acts as the residual balancer are not working. 'Constraint costs are rising and developers are not getting the market signals that incentivise them to operate in the right way or locate in the right place.' He said there were 'very significant benefits to consumers of a move to zonal pricing'. He added: 'The amount varies depending on the assumptions that you make, but it is in the range of £30-£50bn over the period 2030 to 2050.' Mr Slye's words carry weight given the crucial role played by the Neso. The organisation, which was recently spun out of National Grid, is responsible for the day-to-day management of the entire British power grid. It is now wholly owned by Mr Miliband's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Mr Miliband is considering whether to adopt a zonal pricing system as part of the review of electricity market arrangements. The Energy Secretary's advisers have recommended he back the policy. However, the proposals are highly controversial as they would usher in a surge in construction activity in the English countryside and trigger higher bills in the South. Downing Street has taken a growing interest in plans, amid fears of a voter backlash. Zonal pricing has also divided industry. Octopus Energy, which is among the UK's biggest suppliers, has campaigned strongly for the change, while others including British Gas-owner Centrica and green energy tycoon Dale Vince have publicly spoken out against it. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘More wind farms in the South' under Miliband's regional energy blueprint
Plans to overhaul Britain's energy market being studied by Ed Miliband would prompt a surge in the number of wind farms in the South of England, officials have confirmed. Fintan Slye, the chief executive of the National Energy System Operator (Neso), said breaking the electricity market into regions under so-called zonal pricing would encourage developers to put turbines up in the South. He backed the idea and said the current system of setting power prices nationally was giving renewable developers the wrong 'price signals' over where to locate wind farms. In a speech at the Royal Society, Mr Slye said he wanted renewable developers to 'move south' and build more wind and solar farms closer to where demand is strongest. Mr Slye said: '[Zonal pricing] will incentivise the development of wind and solar farms in southern areas but it will also encourage energy intensive developments in the North and Scotland.' Under zonal pricing, Britain would be split into regions and energy prices in each area would be set based on local supply and demand. In practice, households in the South would pay more than those in the North – where most wind farms are concentrated. However, Mr Slye argued that the higher power prices would encourage more developers to build renewable capacity in the South, which would add supply and put downward pressure on bills. So far most wind farms have been built in Scotland and offshore despite the UK power grid lacking the capacity to carry all the power they generate. Britain has spent more than £537m this year on paying northern wind farms to switch off just to avoid overloads, a cost known as 'constraint' payments. Mr Slye is pushing Mr Miliband to make the change to zonal pricing, arguing it could generate huge savings for consumers and businesses overall. He said: 'The current arrangements where there's a single national price and we, the system operator, acts as the residual balancer are not working. 'Constraint costs are rising and developers are not getting the market signals that incentivise them to operate in the right way or locate in the right place.' He said there were 'very significant benefits to consumers of a move to zonal pricing'. He added: 'The amount varies depending on the assumptions that you make, but it is in the range of £30-£50bn over the period 2030 to 2050.' Mr Slye's words carry weight given the crucial role played by the Neso. The organisation, which was recently spun out of National Grid, is responsible for the day-to-day management of the entire British power grid. It is now wholly owned by Mr Miliband's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Mr Miliband is considering whether to adopt a zonal pricing system as part of the review of electricity market arrangements. The Energy Secretary's advisers have recommended he back the policy. However, the proposals are highly controversial as they would usher in a surge in construction activity in the English countryside and trigger higher bills in the South. Downing Street has taken a growing interest in plans, amid fears of a voter backlash. Zonal pricing has also divided industry. Octopus Energy, which is among the UK's biggest suppliers, has campaigned strongly for the change, while others including British Gas-owner Centrica and green energy tycoon Dale Vince have publicly spoken out against it. Sign in to access your portfolio
Boston Globe
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
After a years-long hunt, the internet finally found a Dean's Furniture commercial with this famous catchphrase
But over the years, as nostalgic natives looked to recall the good old days of Dean's, they all found the same thing: There seemed to be no video evidence of 'I doubt it!' anywhere on the internet. There were clips of For more than a decade, these Dean's detectives posted online about trying to track down proof of those three words, and in 2022, Norwood native Nicholas Slye decided to launch a subreddit forum — r/idoubtit — to try to crack the case. More than 100 people joined. Advertisement 'It's the cadence in which he says it that really stuck with me as a kid,' said Slye, 35. 'You'd be at the lunch table with your friends, and we would all, you know — 'You think the pizza will be good today? I doubt it. ' It was just like a Boston thing.' Advertisement At last year's Medford Porchfest, But users on Reddit dug up an 'I think we all assume, especially early on, that you can just look it up. It's online somewhere. But then when you don't find it, that natural human curiosity kicks in,' Slye said. 'You feel like you're the one that's going to find it.' Finally, in January, someone did. 'I never doubted it,' wrote a Reddit user named browncommas in Slye's subreddit. The post included a link to a YouTube video — a 13-minute compilation of commercials that aired on Comedy Central in 2000. Buried about 11 minutes deep is a Dean's commercial, in which you see a couple snoozing on one of the brand's double reclining sofas. The camera zooms in on their bare feet, which become anthropomorphized and marvel at the $544 price tag. 'Can you get a deal like that at those other stores?' a voiceover booms before the answer comes in the form of — finally — the long-lost tagline. Users in the comments section of the post reveled in the holy grail finally being unearthed. 'Welp, pack it up boys. It's been fun,' one wrote. Advertisement 'I'm just so glad I'm here for it!!' wrote another. The Dean's quest long outlasted the long-defunct homewares brand, which once dotted Greater Boston in cities such as Revere, Malden, and Lynn. In 2001, Dean's Home Furniture, as well as the owner of a Connecticut-based liquidator, landed in hot water with the Massachusetts attorney general for creating 'fictitious 'original' prices and phony 'mark down' prices on more than $800,000 worth of new merchandise at a 'going out of business' sale.' In 2003, Weinstein did not respond to a call or text from a Globe reporter. According to his public LinkedIn profile, since his time as a furniture magnate, he cofounded a pet waste removal company in Brockton called Poop Away. Though Dean's is firmly in the rearview mirror, for Slye, the hard-won triumph of confirming its battle cry felt 'surreal.' Sometimes, after all, the benefit of the doubt pays off. 'It felt like I gathered people, like-minded people, Bostonians, to search this out, and we did it,' he said. 'It was nostalgia, personified.' Dana Gerber can be reached at
Boston Globe
24-03-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Titans replace one former Patriots kicker with another by signing Joey Slye
Slye has big shoes to fill with Folk leading the NFL in field goal percentage in each of the past two seasons making 96.7 percent of his kicks in 2023 and 95.5 percent in 2024. But Folk, who turns 41 in November, missed three games as the Titans went 3-14 last season. Slye turns 29 on April 10. After playing at Virginia Tech, Slye started in the NFL in 2019 with the Panthers. In 2021, he kicked for three different teams starting with three games for the Texans, three more with the 49ers, and six with Washington. He made a career-long 63-yard field goal last season for the Patriots and a 61-yarder in 2023 for Washington. Advertisement He has made 81.7 percent of his field goal attempts for his career. Slye made 26 of his 41 attempts from 50 yards and out last season, missing only one extra-point attempt. Folk played 15 seasons with five teams. The Titans already have changed punters, signing 17-year veteran and four-time Pro Bowler Johnny Hekker for Ryan Stonehouse, a former undrafted free agent who turned in the top two single-season gross punting averages in NFL history. Stonehouse also was first with a 52.2-yard average between 2022-24. Bringing in Hekker reunites him with new special teams coordinator John Fassel. Tennessee also claimed linebacker Curtis Jacobs off waivers from the Patriots.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tennessee Titans are signing kicker Joey Slye
One of the highlights for the Tennessee Titans in 2024 was kicker Nick Folk, who appeared to turn back the clock and was one of the best in the league. It appears that Folk will be moving on from the Titans in 2025 after word broke that the team has reached an agreement with former New England Patriots kicker Joey Slye. The #Titans are adding a kicker, as they are signing former #Patriots and #Commanders kicker Joey Slye, per agent Glenn Schwartzman of Shark Sports Management. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 24, 2025 Slye spent one season with the Patriots, hitting on only 26-of-33 field goal attempts (78.8 percent), ranking near the bottom of the NFL in field goal success. He connected on a career-best 25-of-26 (96.2 percent), but that still ranked in the middle of the league. The 28-year-old kicker has bounced around the league over his six-year career, spending time with six different franchises over that span. Originally an undrafted rookie free agent by the New York Giants in 2019, he couldn't latch on out of camp and eventually made his NFL debut with the Carolina Panthers. Slye has kicked in 95 games while connecting on 147-of-180 field goals (81.7 percent) and 163-of-182 extra point attempts (68.1 percent) with the Patriots, Washington Commanders, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, and Panthers. This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Tennessee Titans sign ex-New England Patriots kicker Joey Slye
