Further information on publications and books that we produce and contribute to are available here.
Publications
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Submission to DECC Consultation on the draft Strategy and Policy Statement
University of Exeter Energy Policy Group submission to DECC consultation URN 14S/271: Strategy and Policy Statement: a consultation on the draft statement Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft Strategy and Policy Statement (SPS). This comment is set out in the following way: an introduction to our view; responses to your three questions; and a conclusory section of our view what a SPS should include. Introduction A key criticism of the Draft SPS is that it does not clarify how the Government wishes to prioritise its goals, or how the trade-offs between them
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Paper: Governance and disruptive energy system change
Governance and disruptive energy system change By: Catherine Mitchell, Antony Froggatt and Richard Hoggett Abstract: This paper explores the biases towards the conventional energy system currently in place in GB; it looks at potentially destabilising factors at work in the GB energy system; it looks at disruptive influences at work in the wider energy system; and it asks whether those wider factors are sufficient to force change in the GB energy system. Type: Draft Conference paper, delivered to International Workshop on Incumbent – Challenger Interactions in Energy Transitions, September 22-23, University of Stuttgart, Germany Download Paper: Stuttgart conf paper &#
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Paper: Environmental politics in a cold climate
Environmental politics in a cold climate By: Matthew Lockwood Published in: Juncture 21.1 (89-96): Summer 2014 Introduction Ten years ago, in early 2004, the chief scientist David King went on the record as saying that climate change was a far greater threat than international terrorism. That spring Tony Blair said that ‘there is no bigger long-term question facing the global community’, and pledged to make tackling climate change a priority for the 2005 G8 meeting, which the UK was hosting. Over the next five years, environmental issues (most obviously climate change) climbed the political agenda, with a surge in media coverage
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Submission to CMA energy market investigation
University of Exeter Energy Policy Group response to the CMA Energy Market Investigation Statement of Issues 1. Introduction The EPG welcomes this CMA investigation. The Statement of Issues (henceforth the Statement) states that the investigation (para 2) ‘is required to determine whether any feature or combination of features of each relevant market prevents, restricts or distorts competition in connection with the supply or acquisition of any goods or services in the UK or part of the UK’. The Statement sets out its initial theories of what might be adversely affecting competition and what those adverse
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Submission to ECCC call for evidence on electricity demand-side measures
University of Exeter Energy Policy Group response to ECCC call for evidence on electricity demand-side measures Submitted by (alphabetically): Richard Hoggett, Matthew Lockwood, Catherine Mitchell and Tom Steward – Energy Policy Group, University of Exeter. 9th July 2014 We welcome the opportunity to submit evidence to the inquiry. As the inquiry particulars set out, reduction in demand can be temporary (known as demand-side response (DSR)) or permanent (known as electricity demand reduction (EDR). We use this nomenclature throughout this response. We have primarily directed our responses to three main questions set out in the terms of reference. Overall, our view is that the
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Paper: Achieving energy transitions – Which RES policies are best applied when?
Achieving energy transitions: Which RES policies are best applied when? Reducing risk and creating an enabling environment By: Lena Kitzing and Catherine Mitchell Submitted to: “ENERGY TRANSITIONS” international conference, UEF Law School, Joensuu, Finland, 3-4 March 2014 Abstract: The transition to a sustainable energy system is desired by many countries around the world. Financial support for the deployment of renewable energy technologies is the choice of policy in most countries. We argue, drawing from transition theory and the multi-level perspective, that an energy transition evolves in two phases: A first phase with a focus on
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Paper: Politicising UK Energy: What Speaking Energy Security Can Do
Politicising UK Energy: What Speaking Energy Security Can Do By: Caroline Kuzemko In: Policy & Politics Abstract: This article explores one set of conditions under which a policy area, energy, became politicised. It also explores the relationship between concepts of ‘speaking security’, which claim that the language of security is politically potent, and notions of (de-) politicisation. It explains that framing energy supply as a security issue influenced an opening up of UK energy, which had been subject to processes of depoliticisation since the early 1980s, to political interest, contestation and deliberation. It is noted that speaking
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Paper: Technology scale and supply chains in a secure, affordable and low carbon energy transition
Technology scale and supply chains in a secure, affordable and low carbon energy transition By: Richard Hoggett In: Applied Energy Abstract: This research explores the relationship between technology scale, energy security and decarbonisation within the UK energy system. There is considerable uncertainty about how best to deliver on these goals for energy policy, but a focus on supply chains and their resilience can provide useful insights into the problems uncertainty causes. Technology scale is central to this, and through an analysis of the supply chains of nuclear power and solar photovoltaics, it is suggested that smaller scale
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Presentation & Paper: Smart grid-lock?
Smart grid-lock? The role of ideas, interests and institutions in contestations over the future of electricity networks in Britain From: Matthew Lockwood To: Constructing and contesting spaces for low-carbon energy innovation, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 26-28 November 2013 Introduction: – Contesting and constructing space for innovation in sustainable energy: the case study of the ‘smart grid’ in the UK – Three aims: – Account of contestations over electricity distribution regulation since 2000 – Evaluate how far regulation to date will foster a smart grid – Explore why regime not destabilised given landscape and niche changes – In regulated networks, selection
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Paper: Exploring the Politics of Low Carbon Energy Transition
Exploring the Politics of Low Carbon Energy Transition By: Caroline Kuzemko Presented at: Innovation, technology and regulation – Exploring new modes of energy governance. At 7th ECPR General Conference, Sciences Po, Bordeaux, 4 – 7 September 2013 Introduction Profound structural change is an area of active and current debate within the political sciences. A variety of different conceptualisations of how and why change as a process occurs have been offered, albeit usually constructed with the benefit of hindsight. We are currently, however, living within a period of profound crises within, and changes and challenges to,
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