Further information on publications and books that we produce and contribute to are available here.
Publications
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Paper: The UK’s Levy Control Framework for renewable electricity support
The UK’s Levy Control Framework for renewable electricity support: Effects and significance By: Matthew Lockwood Published in: Energy Policy (2016 – 97:193-201) Available online: July 2016 Abstract There is a long-standing debate over price vs. quantity approaches to supporting the deployment of renewable electricity technologies. In the context of a recent shift from quantity to price-based support, the UK has also introduced a new form of budgetary framework, the Levy Control Framework (LCF). The introduction of the LCF has been very important for investors but has received relatively little attention in the academic literature. The paper
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Submission: NIC – National Infrastructure Assessment, Process & Methodology
National Infrastructure Commission: The National Infrastructure Assessment, Process and Methodology Catherine Mitchell and Matthew Lockwood, Energy Policy Group, University of Exeter Introduction The University of Exeter’s Energy Policy Group (EPG) is very pleased to submit to the Consultation on the National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA) – Process and Methodology. The EPG submitted evidence to the National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC) Inquiry into Electricity Interconnection and Storage, which subsequently led to the very good NIC Report on Smart Power. The EPG has a project: Innovation and Governance for a Sustainable Economy (IGov). This has a small team working on
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Paper: Momentum is increasing towards a flexible electricity system based on renewables
Momentum is increasing towards a flexible electricity system based on renewables By: Catherine Mitchell Published in: Nature Energy 1, Article number: 15030 (2016), doi:10.1038/nenergy.2015.30 Available online: 1st February 2016 Abstract Total global energy use is rising, and remains based on fossil fuels. Yet, the challenge of climate change requires a deep decarbonization of our energy system. Here I argue that the global energy policy discourse is moving rapidly towards one of renewable, energy-efficient and flexible electricity systems. This is primarily because of a rapid take-up within a few countries of variable renewable electricity sources over the past
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Submission: National Infrastructure Commission call for Evidence
National Infrastructure Commission call for Evidence Catherine Mitchell, Energy Policy Group, University of Exeter Summary We, the Energy Policy Group of the University of Exeter, welcome the NIC’s investigation. We argue that the fundamental problem for GB energy infrastructure and the balancing of supply and demand within markets is that the current GB governance system is not fit for purpose. IGov, a project within the EPG, has put forward an alternative governance framework (as shown in Figure 1, 2 and 3). We believe if this governance framework were put in place, competition between the
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Paper: Governing for sustainable energy system change
Governing for sustainable energy system change: Politics, contexts and contingency By: Caroline Kuzemko, Matthew Lockwood, Catherine Mitchell and Richard Hoggett Published in: Energy Research & Social Science, Vol 12, Feb 2016, pp: 96–105 doi:10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.022 Available online: 31 December 2015 Abstract This paper offers a new, interdisciplinary framework for the analysis of governing for sustainable energy system change by drawing together insights from, and offering critiques of, socio-technical transitions and new institutionalist concepts of change. Institutions of all kinds, including rules and norms within political and energy systems, tend to have path-dependent qualities that make them difficult to change, whereas
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Submission: CMA Code Governance – info request to industry participants
CMA Code Governance: info request to industry participants Catherine Mitchell, Matthew Lockwood and Richard Hoggett, Energy Policy Group, University of Exeter Introduction The University of Exeter Energy Policy Group (EPG), and in particular the Innovation and Governance project (IGov) within the EPG, has been very involved in the ongoing CMA Energy Market Investigation. Our original submission to the CMA’s Statement of Issues paper highlighted the problem of Codes in relation to competition and innovation within the GB Energy System. We then gave oral evidence, the summary of which is now up on the CMA’s website
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Paper: Climate Change Benchmarking – constructing a sustainable future?
Climate Change Benchmarking: constructing a sustainable future? By: Caroline Kuzemko Published in: Review of International Studies, 41, pp 969-992 doi:10.1017/S0260210515000418 Available online: 25 November 2015 Abstract This article analyses discourses on climate change and mitigation through the deconstruction of European Union (EU) rhetoric and practices on climate benchmarking. It critically examines the motivations behind climate benchmarking, the methods used to construct international benchmarks, and the reasons for variety in domestic compliance. Germany and the United Kingdom are analysed as cases where domestic politics drive very different reactions to the practice of climate mitigation, differences that have
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Paper: Codes Governance and Reform Discussion Paper
Codes Governance and Reform Discussion Paper IGov Team, 24th November 2015* This discussion paper summarises some of the key points that were raised at a recent cross industry workshop run by the Energy Policy Group on the future of gas and electricity code governance in October 2015. More details of the event are available on IGov events page. The paper provides: Background context on the main energy industry codes and standards in Great Britain A history of reform efforts A summary of the key issues raised at the Codes Governance Workshop covering: 1) Access to Information; 2) Code Simplification
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Book Chapter: Politicising UK energy: what ‘speaking energy security’ can do
New book chapter from Caroline Kuzemko: Politicising UK energy: what ‘speaking energy security’ can do in M. Flinders and M. Wood (eds) Tracing the Political – Depoliticisation, governance and the state, published by Policy Press. For more information visit the Policy Press website. Over the past two decades politicians have delegated many political decisions to expert agencies or ‘quangos’, and portrayed the associated issues, like monetary or drug policy, as technocratic or managerial. At the same time an increasing number of important political decisions are being removed from democratic public debate altogether, leading many commentators
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Book Chapter: Electricity Markets and their Regulatory Systems for a Sustainable Future
New book chapter from Catherine Mitchell: Electricity Markets and their Regulatory Systems for a Sustainable Future. In Ekins, P., Bradshaw, M., and Watson, J. (eds) Global Energy: Issues, Potentials, and Policy Implications. Oxford University Press. September 2015. For more information visit Oxford University Press. Energy, and access to energy, are essential to human life, civilisation and development. A number of energy issues – including energy security, energy prices and the polluting emissions for energy use – now have high prominence on global agendas of policy and diplomacy. In addressing these and other global energy issues, the purpose
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