Like the simplicity of this 'Bailouts for by-elections' policy for Metro Mayors as their powers and responsibilities grow. Couldn't be clearer where the buck stops - good for Mayors but as important if not more so for setting a clear boundary for central government attempts to interfere.
![Dieter Helm - The price of energy and system cost of renewables - 26 August 2025
Are renewables cheap?
The argument is that exposure to gas prices is a temporary affair. Why? Because, it is argued, soon the renewables will be supplying most of our electricity, and they are "cheap". It is utopia postponed, but not cancelled. Go faster, build more wind and solar, and the UK's cheap global clean-energy superpower competitive advantage lies just around the corner.
It is here that the confusions about the concept of "cost" come into their own. The most simplistic argument is to point out that the marginal costs of wind and solar are close to zero. This is indeed the case, and in many respects it is uninteresting. Comparing the marginal cost of gas with wind and solar is comparing apples with oranges. Wind and solar are intermittent; gas supplies both firm and flexible power.
In the "Cost of Energy Review",[1] | set out how to ensure that the system could deliver the required firm power capacity through equivalent firm power (EFP) auctions. The renewables industry (and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, DESNZ) went into a frenzy of lobbying against this idea. Why? Because it goes to the heart of the problem: a unit of solar or wind power is not of equivalent value to a unit of gas (or nuclear). Although the lobbyists keep trotting out that each new wind farm is enough to power x number of homes, they never put in the press releases "when the wind blows". Even the Financial Times repeats these misleading press statements without exception.
Solar and wind are intermittent, low-density, geographically distributed generating technologies. No modern economy could rely solely upon them. There has to be back-up. This back-up is an additional cost of renewables, and it would be reflected in the discounted EFP prices that renewables would achieve. No wonder the lobbyists for renewables hate the concept. To be clear, renewables don't pay the costs of the intermittency…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:w7nkrapgm5omwngnebll3fvg/bafkreiaxkek7t6rohw4mhevknj5diaixhjqysyqtcwat76dbalhdo65tha)
![Passage from El Pais article:
The president’s stance is paradoxical. Sheinbaum studied physics and energy engineering. Before entering politics, in the 1990s, she published several articles in specialized journals that established her as a pioneer in climate change studies in Mexico. Years later, she served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where she co-authored a study on greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector. In 2007, the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its contributions to understanding climate change, which was already considered to be one of humanity’s greatest challenges.
Even during her 2024 presidential campaign, Sheinbaum pledged to maintain the fracking ban implemented by her predecessor. In December 2023, she stated that the activity “requires large quantities of water.” She added that “the water used [for fracking] is difficult to reuse.”
As president, however, Sheinbaum has had to put those environmental concerns on the back burner and give way to pragmatism, prioritizing Mexico’s energy sovereignty vis-à-vis the United States. This transition has been quiet. One of the first signs of change — though it was difficult to understand at the time — was when, in Congress, Morena rejected a constitutional amendment through which López Obrador wanted to prohibit hydraulic fracturing. A legislator from Morena — with access to the National Palace — confirmed to EL PAÍS that this refusal was intentional, meant to keep open the window that now allows the government to fully embrace fracking.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:w7nkrapgm5omwngnebll3fvg/bafkreigzepmfjc7z6g6gkaeadlnt5kaeykhjyamzykgaeasicpks5tqwi4)
