By Paul Homewood
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/ecj-quashes-uks-capacity-market-auctions/
I reported yesterday about the ECJ judgment that the UK’s capacity market scheme was illegal. The scheme is designed to ensure that there is sufficient power capacity in future years, to act as standby for intermittent renewable capacity.
The case was originally begun by an outfit called Tempus Energy, who as several have pointed out have some dodgy characters on board.
According to their website:
We are revolutionising electricity systems with our unique software that unlocks demand flexibility in connected customers.
Our technology uses AI and smart algorithms to control and optimise when flexible assets use energy. By predicting volatility in carbon intensity and market prices we allow customers to reduce their energy costs – while simultaneously enhancing their use of renewables.
In other words, they want to make money out of a power grid that is inherently unstable. In contrast, there would be no demand for their products with a grid that could reliably supply power as and when needed – in other words, what we have been used to.
Everybody wants to make money, but it gets much worse when you see who is behind all of this.
Sarah Bell is CEO and founder, and Tempus give her profile:
Sara founded Tempus Energy in 2012. Her background combines a financial markets systems risk career with energy system innovation. She is a Director of the Association of Decentralised Energy, a member of the High Level Group of i24C, the Industrial Innovation for Competitiveness initiative, a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for Energy for the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council and an Innovation Ambassador for Innovate UK.
Although she no doubt has some bright ideas, she also clearly has a bee in her bonnet about decentralising energy.
Non exec director is Molly Webb:
Molly has 10+ years of market acceleration and advocacy for global innovation in tech, climate change, smart cities and energy, working in partnership with companies and cities at The Climate Group and multiple UK think tank demos. She is also a Green Innovation Strategy adviser for Skype-founder’s Zennström Philanthropies; a jury member for numerous cleanweb and cleantech awards; and she holds MSc in Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics.
To which all I can say is – heaven help us all.
The third member of the team is banker, Garry Sharp.
The Advisory Board is no better.
Curiously it includes Steve Holliday as Chair. Holliday was CEO of the National Grid from 2007 to 2016. During this time he played an integral role in the government’s Electricity Market Reform (EMR), launched by Ed Davey. An integral part of the EMR was, of course, the capacity market.
Indeed, it was only last year that Steve Holliday was emphasising the need for the capacity market, as the BBC reported:
The UK has enough energy capacity to meet demand – even on the coldest days when demand is highest, says Steve Holliday, the man who ran National Grid for a decade.
He said news stories raising fears about blackouts should stop.
His optimism is based on the government’s latest auction of capacity for power generation, which starts later today.
Firms will bid for subsidies to provide back-up power when needed.
The stand-by plants will run for a few days a year during extreme conditions.
Much of the back-up will be provided by old gas and coal plants that would otherwise be scrapped. Funded by the bill-payer, they will offer a sort of power insurance policy.
Mr Holliday told BBC News: "It’s time for the headline of Blackout Britain to end – it’s simply wrong. We’ve been talking about blackouts for 15 years every time it gets cold, but it’s a scare story.
"The lights haven’t gone out yet and thanks to the measures the government is putting in place this week they definitely won’t go out in future. The UK has one of the most stable supplies of electricity in Europe."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38791572
I wonder if he still feels the same?
A second member of the Advisory Board is Dimitri Zenghelis. According to his profile:
Dimitri Zenghelis is Co-Head Policy at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. In 2014 he was Acting Chief Economist for the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. While he headed the Stern Review Team at the Office of Climate Change in London, he was one of the authors of the Stern Review report on the Economics of Climate Change
Am I the only one to worry, when I see links with Grantham and Stern?
Also on the Board is Bryony Worthington, who did her best to wreck the UK, when she wrote the Climate Change Act for Ed Miliband.
Quite why we should trust any of this lot to have the best interests of the UK at heart is a mystery.
There is one further question. Who actually paid for this legal action to be taken in the first place?
When the action started in 2014, Tempus was little more than a year old. According to its Annual Accounts, it still has little in the way of tangible assets.
It is unbelievable that Tempus would have committed to a legal case at that time, that could potentially cost tens, and maybe even hundreds, of thousands of pounds.
Which begs the question – who put them up to it?
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November 16, 2018 at 12:04PM
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