August 16, 2024
Can the UK government meet its solar and wind power targets?
New analysis puts the government behind schedule for solar and wind generation. But solutions are out there. The latest projections from energy research company Cornwall Insight state that the UK government is well behind its targets for solar and wind power generation, which is part of its plan to decarbonise the power grid by 2030. This is bad news for the new Labour government and its flagship energy policy, but help could be at hand
July 30, 2024
Smart meters overseas
Each country is at a different stage of smart meter adoption. Let’s grab our passports and find out how other countries are managing the transition to smart meters. We’ve discussed the ups and downs of the UK’s smart meter rollout many times. Due to be completed in 2019 but still in operation, the rollout has been beset by technical and budgetary problems, as well as a global pandemic that slowed it down. But how does
June 28, 2024
A £60 billion power-up for National Grid
It’s all change at National Grid this month with a significant cash injection and some organisational change. In the UK, we use the term ‘national grid’ for the electricity transmission network. It’s the infrastructure that gets the energy from the power station into the plug sockets in our homes. However, behind the national grid, there’s National Grid, a multi-billion pound, multinational company. National Grid, headquartered in London but with additional operations in the US, is
May 24, 2024
Futureproofing the UK’s wind farm capacity
The UK is a leading global player in renewable energy, but to stay on top, it has a lot of work to do. That’s the verdict from a recent report by The Crown Estate, the body responsible for the monarch’s public property. Ironically, because the UK was such an early adopter, constructing large offshore wind farms as early as 2003, there are problems on the horizon as those turbines come to the end of their
While efforts to use less power in the UK are paying off, many opportunities remain to become more energy efficient. As a nation, we’re using less energy than ever. The last time the UK consumed less power over the course of a year, Harold Wilson was Prime Minister and Roger Moore was James Bond. However, while this is good news for the industry and consumers, we could still go so much further. There are many