David Watson

I think it's correct to argue that data centre demand growth will create more of a need for gas power generation in the short term.

I also think it's correct to point to the barriers in building new gas power generation. It's neither quick nor cheap.

Energy giants under pressure to pass on £150 bill cut to fixed tariff customers EXCLUSIVE: Labour Ministers have asked energy firms to ensure bills fall from April.

Energy suppliers called on to pass through the full reduction in energy policy costs to those on fixed term deals.

Also begs the question: how do we prioritise between different demand-side connection requests?

Do we prioritise AI, industry or some specific commercial sector? Who decides who gets a yes and who gets told to wait?

On demand-side connections, Ofgem received 80GW of connection requests in six months. Unprecedented.

Connections queue paused for new connections. Question of what happens when unpaused.

Tension between network capacity, build-out and support for growth.

At the opening of the Utility Week Forum and hear the first keynote speaker Lawrence Gosden of Southern Water has been delayed on stage because of a citizens arrest in the lobby downstairs 😮

SSE seeks milestone extensions for projects affected by connection delays - Utility Week SSE has asked for transmission projects affected by delays to the re-ordering of the connections queue to be allowed equivalent extensions to the queue management milestones requiring them to make…

SSE's proposal to extend the time developers have to hit milestones by the same number of days NESO delay connection offers is sensible. It's unfortunate, but also unrealistic to expect developers to take the hit from delays implementing reform.

Strategic energy plan delayed by ‘several months’ - Utility Week The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has postponed the release of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan by “several months". NESO said the delay is necessary to incorporate fresh government data on…

NESO announce a delay of 'several months' to the release of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan - the centre piece blueprint for the sector. May have impacts for the other strategic and regional plans - and for development of network capacity.

Not good news.

This list of heat network projects in development, published today, shows the shift happening.

Projects underway: largely air / water source heat pump, EfW, biomass...

Projects cancelled: largely CHP...

🤯

Utilities being targetted by cyber hackers - Energy Live News Almost half of all small and micro utility firms were attacked this past year

People would be shocked if they saw how many cyber threats UK energy utilities deal with on a daily basis. It's huge.

The resources available are asymmetric, and a hacker only needs to win once.

We need to fund cyber security properly.

Energy network, heal thyself - Utility Week Self-healing grids present an enticing vision of a more resilient, efficient and affordable energy system, write Steven Steer and David Elliman of Zühlke.

Pilots. Trials. Feasibility studies.

Then one morning, sensors detect a fault, AI reconfigures things to fix it and no engineer leaves the depot.

The future stops being theoretical when it solves today's problems.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is well-intentioned but failing. Many homes will never be able to afford a heat pump.

We means test benefits. But a £7.5k heat pump grant goes to anyone who can already bridge a £5.5k gap. It's not a sustainable vision of heat decarbonisation.

Former cost of living tsar Buttress quits Ovo after 18 months David Buttress, who joined Ovo Energy in May 2024, is to step down as the company continues a quest to raise hundreds of millions of pounds in fresh capital from investors, Sky News learns.

Ovo Energy see the CEO and CFO step down. Former CEO Chris Houghton lined up for a return.

Eighteen months is barely enough time to understand the business. How much can really change?

buff.ly/fFnDImm

Tomato Energy has ceased trading today.

It had ~15k domestic customers and 8k non-domestic customers and had been the subject of a number of regulatory investigations, incl capital adequacy and liquidity.

A new supplier for their customers will now be found.

Ofgem publishes framework for coordinating energy system digitalisation.

Aims to align network investment with decarbonisation pathways. Whether new governance structures can accelerate decision-making remains to be seen.

Europe faces surge in negative power prices as solar output grows Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and France have each logged more than 500 hours of negative electricity prices this year, driven by excess renewable generation and volatile weather.

Five EU countries logged 500+ hrs of negative electricity prices this year, driven by record solar output.

Highlights need for storage and demand flexibility to capture value from abundant renewable generation.

Success creates new challenges.

British energy policy – not cheap, not home-grown and not secure - Dieter Helm Some people – and some politicians – seem to believe that if you keep repeating claims eventually they will be believed, even as the evidence unfolds that they are obviously just not true. Any…

Dieter Helm argues British energy policy delivers neither cheap, secure nor home-grown energy.

Points to system costs and import dependence despite renewable expansion.

Challenges claims that transition automatically reduces bills or improves security.

ScottishPower and Panasonic joint heat pump offer | theenergyst.com ScottishPower and Panasonic have joined forces in a bid to make the adoption of green technology in GB homes more affordable.

SPower and Panasonic offer £1k heat pump discounts - plus £300 bill credits.

Combines with £7.5k govt grants to improve upfront economics. Question remains whether bundled offers can shift demand at scale beyond early adopters.

NESO opens consultation on connecting 50GW offshore wind to the grid. x37 projects need transmission infrastructure.

Scale requires coordinated planning rather than project-by-project connections. Infrastructure strategy now follows deployment ambition.

Govt plans to remove planning permission reqs for cross-pavement charging gullies, potentially saving drivers £250 in application fees.

Could reduce charging fees for those without driveways to as low as 2p per mile vs public charging at 10x the cost.

NESO calls on industrial and commercial sector to sell flexibility services | New Power The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has called on large industrial and commercial companies to get involved in electricity Demand Side Flexibility services. Demand Side Flexibility means…

NESO is calling on large businesses to participate in demand-side flexibility services.

Supermarkets, airports and data centres can earn revenue by adjusting consumption to help balance the grid.

A growing and unexplored opportunity.

China is building a 400km solar wall in the Kubuqi Desert with 100GW capacity to power Beijing.

Elsewhere, floating solar and agrivoltaics are growing to reduce land use conflicts.

Clean tech innovation at scale.

Chinese Oil Buyers Reduce Russian Purchases | OilPrice.com Chinese refiners have canceled Russian oil cargoes and paused new purchases after fresh U.S. sanctions, reshaping trade flows and pushing Russian crude prices lower.

US sanctions are having an impact. Chinese refiners are cancelling Russian oil cargoes.

Around 45% of Chinese imports from Russia have been affected, approximately 400,000 barrels daily.

Sinopec and PetroChina have stopped orders to avoid penalties.

In a Telegraph editorial, the paper makes the argument that stopping renewables needn't expose us to volatile international fossil fuel markets, because we can still rely on North Sea oil and gas.

The facts do not bear this out.

Miliband Drops Promise to Cut Energy Bills by £300 In Red Ed's new carbon budget and growth delivery plan, there is net zero mention of the promise to bring down energy bills by £300, instead swapping in a

Guido Fawkes highlighting the lack of mention in the Carbon Budget delivery plan of the commitment to reduce bills by £300...

Energy Select Committee launches new inquiry on managing the future of UK oil and gas, details via the link 👇

Nuclear was supposed to be finished. Fukushima ended the dream. Cheap gas killed the economics.

Google just signed a 25-year deal to power data centres with atoms.

AI isn't just changing computing, it's starting to rewrite energy.

buff.ly/xcZuKbq

Demolish the illusion that politics can stop technological inevitability.

Solar costs down 90%. China produces 8 out of 10 panels. Renewables beat coal globally.

The US can rage against clean energy or join it. But it cannot stop it.

buff.ly/7daGg2O

In 2005, less than 5% of global emissions had a carbon price. Today it's 28%.

The EU created the world's first carbon market. Now they're showing others.

Climate diplomacy isn't about speeches. It's about the spreadsheets 🤓 buff.ly/9QxuGpH

Setting the rules of investment and then retrospectively changing those rules several years later would be bad regulation and bad for investment.

Better to learn and adjust for the current regulatory negotiations with networks.