Letter from London: UK thermal generation economics in a spin
The country’s move away from market-based to subsidy-driven mechanisms is undermining both existing and new conventional generation
The June appointment of administrators for the UK’s Severn Power and Sutton Bridge combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plants owned by independent power producer Calon Energy was, unfortunately, no great surprise. Even when Calon bought Sutton Bridge from France’s EdF seven years ago, its commercial assumptions were optimistic. Calon plants may well have been negatively impacted by 2020’s UK power demand reduction due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It certainly would not have helped. Odds against But the brutal truth is that the power market of the UK (or, more accurately, that of GB, as Northern Ireland sits within the All-Island Energy Market) has never justified optimism for conventional g
Also in this section
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
3 March 2026
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in US–Israeli strikes marks the most serious escalation in the region in decades and a bigger potential threat to the oil market than the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis
