scholarly journals Energy transitions and uncertainty: Creating low carbon investment opportunities in the UK electricity sector

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1387-1403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronan Bolton ◽  
Timothy J Foxon ◽  
Stephen Hall
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Markets ◽  
Electricity Market ◽  
Capital Intensity ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The Face ◽  
Incumbent Regime ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Low Carbon Technologies

This paper examines how actors in the UK electricity sector are attempting to deliver investment in low carbon generation. Low carbon technologies, because of their relative immaturity, capital intensity and low operational costs, do not readily fit with existing electricity markets and investment templates which were designed for fossil fuel based energy. We analyse key electricity market and infrastructure policies in the UK and highlight how these are aimed at making low carbon technologies ‘investable’ by reducing uncertainty, managing investment risks and repositioning actors within the electricity socio-technical ‘regime’. We argue that our study can inform contemporary debates on the politics and governance of sustainability transitions by empirically investigating the agency of incumbent regime actors in the face of uncertainty and by offering critical insights on the role of markets and finance in shaping socio-technical change.

scholarly journals Economic and Carbon Costs of Electricity Balancing Services: The Need for Secure Flexible Low-Carbon Generation

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 5123
Author(s):  
Mauro Lafratta ◽  
Matthew Leach ◽  
Rex B. Thorpe ◽  
Mark Willcocks ◽  
Eve Germain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Capital Investment ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Carbon Intensity ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Security Of Supply ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Low Carbon Technologies ◽  
Balancing Services

The electricity sector aims to achieve a balanced progress in all three dimensions of the energy trilemma: affordability, decarbonisation and security of supply. Separate strategies for decarbonisation and security of supply have been pursued; each with close attention to minimising costs, thus consistent with the affordability aspect of the trilemma. However, while it is evident that the pathway for decarbonisation increases pressure on security of supply, the pressures that cost-minimising security of supply measures are putting on decarbonisation goes unaddressed. The United Kingdom (UK) is a global leader in the transition towards a decarbonised economy and aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. As a major part of the UK, Great Britain (GB) has achieved greater than 50% of low-carbon electricity generation and the grid’s carbon intensity has dropped by 36% over the period 2015–2019. However, balancing services that provide security of supply uses only 8% of low-carbon generation. Their carbon intensity is double the grid’s average and this gap is widening. This is an effect of a systemic reliance on carbon-intensive fuels. Financial support for capital investment for flexible low-carbon technologies is much needed. The GB context suggests that an integrated strategy covering all three dimensions of the trilemma might achieve an improved balance between them and unlock an affordable, net-zero emissions and secure power system.

scholarly journals Sociotechnical imaginaries of low-carbon waste-energy futures: UK techno-market fixes displacing public accountability

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-641
Author(s):  
Les Levidow ◽  
Sujatha Raman
Keyword(s):  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Public Accountability ◽  
Energy Futures ◽  
Sociotechnical Imaginaries ◽  
Waste Energy ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Low Carbon Technologies

To implement EU climate policy, the UK’s New Labour government (1997–2010) elaborated an ecomodernist policy framework. It promoted technological innovation to provide low-carbon renewable energy, especially by treating waste as a resource. This framework discursively accommodated rival sociotechnical imaginaries, understood as visions of feasible and desirable futures available through technoscientific development. According to the dominant imaginary, techno-market fixes stimulate low-carbon technologies by making current centralized systems more resource-efficient (as promoted by industry incumbents). According to the alternative eco-localization imaginary, a shift to low-carbon systems should instead localize resource flows, output uses and institutional responsibility (as promoted by civil society groups). The UK government policy framework gained political authority by accommodating both imaginaries. As we show by drawing on three case studies, the realization of both imaginaries depended on institutional changes and material-economic resources of distinctive kinds. In practice, financial incentives drove technological design towards trajectories that favour the dominant sociotechnical imaginary, while marginalizing the eco-localization imaginary and its environmental benefits. The ecomodernist policy framework relegates responsibility to anonymous markets, thus displacing public accountability of the state and industry. These dynamics indicate the need for STS research on how alternative sociotechnical imaginaries mobilize support for their realization, rather than be absorbed into the dominant imaginary.

Formulating Industrial Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. R47-R53
Author(s):  
Tim Besley ◽  
Richard Davies
Keyword(s):  
Market Failure ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Executive Summary ◽  
Structural Weakness ◽  
The Face ◽  
Data Driven Approach ◽  
Economic Contribution ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

Executive SummaryAlongside the challenge of maintaining economic competitiveness in the face of great uncertainty, Brexit brings an opportunity for the government to set out a new industrial strategy. The case for doing so rests on the need to address areas of persistent structural weakness in the UK economy, including low productivity. But it is important that any new industrial strategy be based on appropriately granular data reflecting the real structure of the UK corporate sector: the overwhelmingly preponderant role of services as opposed to manufacturing, for example; the importance of young, fast-growing firms as opposed to SMEs; the relatively high failure rate of companies in the UK; and the relative lack of successful mid-sized firms. Such a data-driven approach might spawn an industrial strategy quite different from the piecemeal programmes of recent years.Internationally, the UK is a laggard in this area, and the recently-created Industrial Strategy Council does not look strong enough to change that position. To move forward, the government needs to make industrial strategy a central plank of economic policy, embedded at the heart of the administration with its own staff and funding, and operations based on a comprehensive review of the economic contribution and potential of various types of firm. Needless to say, it cannot be a substitute for a continuing commitment to competition and markets, or a stalking horse for protectionism: interventions should be justified by carefully-argued market failure arguments, be time-limited, and transparently evaluated.

scholarly journals How Does the Law and Policy Encourage Towards a Low Carbon Energy Transition in the Scotland?

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Md. Raisul Islam Sourav
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transition ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

This article contains a doctrinal analysis of the law and policy encouragement towards a low carbon energy transition in the Scotland. To do this, the present article is primarily focused on electricity sector of the Scotland and its commitment towards a low carbon transition in this sector in coming years. This article analyzes the existing significant laws and policies in Scotland that encourage towards a low carbon transition. However, it also evaluates international obligation upon the Scotland and the UK, as well, towards this transition. Subsequently, it assesses the UK’s legal framework in this regard. However, Scotland is firmly committed to achieve its targets towards a low carbon transition in the power sector although it needs more incentive and tight observation of the government to smoothen the process.

scholarly journals Modelling Socio-Environmental Sensitivities: How Public Responses to Low Carbon Energy Technologies Could Shape the UK Energy System

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brighid Moran Jay ◽  
David Howard ◽  
Nick Hughes ◽  
Jeanette Whitaker ◽  
Gabrial Anandarajah
Keyword(s):  
Risk Aversion ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

Low carbon energy technologies are not deployed in a social vacuum; there are a variety of complex ways in which people understand and engage with these technologies and the changing energy system overall. However, the role of the public’s socio-environmental sensitivities to low carbon energy technologies and their responses to energy deployments does not receive much serious attention in planning decarbonisation pathways to 2050. Resistance to certain resources and technologies based on particular socio-environmental sensitivities would alter the portfolio of options available which could shape how the energy system achieves decarbonisation (the decarbonisation pathway) as well as affecting the cost and achievability of decarbonisation. Thus, this paper presents a series of three modelled scenarios which illustrate the way that a variety of socio-environmental sensitivities could impact the development of the energy system and the decarbonisation pathway. The scenarios represent risk aversion (DREAD) which avoids deployment of potentially unsafe large-scale technology, local protectionism (NIMBY) that constrains systems to their existing spatial footprint, and environmental awareness (ECO) where protection of natural resources is paramount. Very different solutions for all three sets of constraints are identified; some seem slightly implausible (DREAD) and all show increased cost (especially in ECO).

Responding to NAMAs and preparing for INDCs/NDCs

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-20
Author(s):  
Jui-Chu Lin ◽  
Wei-Ming Chen ◽  
Ding-Jang Chen
Keyword(s):  
Electricity Market ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Carbon Trading ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Carbon Reduction ◽  
Ghg Reduction ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Trading Scheme

Purpose In this paper, the international progress of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are reviewed. The content of Taiwan’s NAMAs and INDCs are also investigated, especially with reference to actions for the electricity sector. To better understand the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction contribution from the electricity sector, this paper aims to examine challenges and solutions for implementing a carbon trading mechanism in Taiwan’s monopolistic electricity market under the newly passed Greenhouse Gases Emissions Reduction and Management Act (GHG ERMA). Design/methodology/approach Carbon reduction strategies for the electricity sector are discussed by examining and explaining Taiwan’s official documents and the law of GHG ERMA. Findings This study finds that market mechanisms should be utilized to allocate appropriate costs and incentives for GHG reductions to transform Taiwan into a low-carbon society. Originality/value This study identifies strategies for the electricity sector to reduce GHG emissions, especially the operation of a carbon-trading scheme under a non-liberalized electricity market.

scholarly journals Analysis of the BRICS countries’ pathways towards a low-carbon environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 77-102
Author(s):  
Agyemang Sampene ◽  
Cai Li ◽  
Fredrick Agyeman ◽  
Robert Brenya
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Electricity Markets ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Brics Countries ◽  
Nationally Determined Contributions ◽  
Low Carbon Technologies

Global climate change has emerged as humanity’s greatest challenge, affecting both the natural security of the earth and the long-term growth of human society. Protecting the environment and fostering long-term growth while reducing carbon emissions has become a global concern. The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are participating in the fight against climate change through the promotion of low-carbon environment (LCE). In this study, we use content analysis to discuss some of the policies, plans, and programs outlined by the various governments in the BRICS that can help them implement an LCE. The study indicates that currently Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are rated as “insufficient,” “critically insufficient,” “compatible,” “incompatible,” and “highly insufficient” respectively in their commitment to nationally determined contributions (NDC) to the Paris Agreement. The paper recommends that the BRICS countries achieve an LCE through expanding low-carbon investments and financing, focusing on taxation that goes beyond energy, investing in low-carbon cities, adapting to a circular economy and low-carbon technologies, expanding electricity markets, and promoting climate-friendly international trade among the BRICS countries.

scholarly journals Carbon Pricing and Complementary Policies—Consistency of the Policy Mix for Decarbonizing Buildings in Germany

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (21) ◽  
pp. 7143
Author(s):  
Sibylle Braungardt ◽  
Veit Bürger ◽  
Benjamin Köhler
Keyword(s):  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Electricity Sector ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Policy Mix ◽  
Carbon Pricing ◽  
Pricing Scheme ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

While it is widely acknowledged that carbon pricing plays an important role in driving the transition towards a low-carbon energy system, its interaction with complementary instruments is discussed controversially. The analysis of combining carbon pricing with complementary policies has been mostly focused on the electricity sector, while the role of carbon pricing in the buildings sector has received only minor interest. In view of the newly introduced carbon pricing scheme for the buildings and transport sector in Germany, we analyze the interactions between the carbon pricing scheme with the existing policy instruments and assess the consistency of the policy mix for decarbonizing the buildings sector. Our analysis finds that the introduction of carbon pricing has a reinforcing effect on the instrument mix and adds to the consistency of the policy mix. The results highlight the importance of complementary policies in order to achieve deep decarbonization in the buildings sector. We conclude that carbon pricing, preferably implemented as a tax with a predictable and increasing price level, needs to be supplemented with a powerful mix of complementary measures.

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