Financing the UK Power Sector: is the Money Available?
Dr Rob Gross, Imperial College, London Dr William Blyth, Imperial College The electricity sector needs to renew its ageing generation fleet, and shift towards capital-intensive low-carbon forms of generation. Over the past few years, various organisations and commentators have suggested that the sector may be unable to deliver, questioning whether there will be a sufficient flow of money into the sector to finance these investments. This report examines the evidence for these claims, looking at three key issues: · The size of the gap between required and current levels of investment, · The ability of energy companies to scale up their capital expenditures, · The ability of financial institutions to provide the necessary funds, and the mechanisms by which they might do so. Estimates of the size of the investment challenge range from the DECC / OFGEM figure of £110bn by 2020 to between £200bn to over 300bn by 2030 from organisations such as National Grid, the Committee on Climate Change and London School of Economics. These scenarios are assessed on a like-for-like annualised basis to understand the reasons for Read more…
Categories: Academic Papers, Electricity and nuclear, Finance and investment
Tags: UK
Blyth-Financing-the-UK-Power-Sector-BIEE.pdf 1.25 MBSep
2014