The term 'big price move' is used too liberally in relation to energy markets which have a relatively high level of ambient volatility.  But last wee ...

Note: Several hours after this article was published DECC announced that they had revised the 1st auction capacity target down.  The article has now ...

After being the poster child of post crisis European recovery, Germany is suddenly facing the combined threat of deflation and recession. German GDP c ...

The threat of a mid-decade capacity crunch in the UK power market made national headlines in 2013. Concern around this threat has diminished noticeabl ...

As the summer heats up spot gas prices have continued to slump.  Asian LNG cargoes are changing hands at under 11 $/MMBtu, price levels not seen sinc ...

The new Capacity Market may be set to turn UK generation investment on its head.  Power plant development in the UK has historically been focused on ...

Flexibility value has become a popular concept in energy markets.  At a qualitative level the benefits of flexibility are reasonably well understood. ...

The UK Capacity Market is currently being implemented to ensure new flexible capacity is built as older plants retire.  While generation investors ar ...

Earlier this month Centrica announced a major shift in its generation portfolio strategy.  Centrica intends to sell all of its larger CCGT assets and ...

The UK government has released further details of its intended approach for the 1st capacity auction, now scheduled for December 2014.  These provide ...

Comparisons between Germany and the UK are always an interesting exercise.  Germany is impressive in its efficiency, structured approach and longer t ...

It has again been a lively winter in the global LNG spot market.  Spot prices are following a pronounced seasonal shape as winter buying has driven A ...

2014 will mark the end of the energy only power market that has served the UK over the past two decades.  By the end of this year the energy market w ...

The value of European gas and coal fired power plants is a very different proposition to what it was 5 years ago.  Growth in renewable output has ero ...

The UK’s 2001 implementation of the NETA wholesale power trading arrangements marked the ideological peak of a push towards liberalised wholesale po ...

The increase in renewable capacity is eroding gas plant generation margins across Europe.  At the same time there is an increasing system requirement ...

CCGT power plant valuation has traditionally focused on intrinsic value, the value of dispatching the plant against prices observed in the forward mar ...

The uranium market is a quieter cousin to the larger global markets for gas and coal.  But despite the post Fukushima shift in public opinion away fr ...

As of June 2013, the official view of security of supply risk in the UK power market has increased again.  Ofgem’s recently released Capacity Asses ...

Conventional generation portfolios in Europe have had a tough two years.  The policy environment has been hostile and the slide in wholesale power pr ...

In a recent article we set out the impact of the rapid increase in renewable production on the German market.  Because Germany is at the core of the ...

Angela Merkel’s coalition government is under pressure from rising energy bills at the same time it is confronting a significant slowdown in the dev ...

The pain being suffered by owners of European gas-fired power plant has escalated over the last 12 months.  Weak power demand, subsidised renewable b ...

Foreign exchange market volatility has sprung to life over the Christmas break.  Over the last two months the EUR has appreciated 7% against USD and ...

This week’s article is the next in a series of Guest Posts written by Howard Rogers, the Director of Natural Gas Research at the Oxford Institute fo ...