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It is encouraging to see real transformational change in the energy industry in Ireland. There is now a clear message of commitment and positive leadership in the form of the Climate Action Plan and a target of 70% renewable electricity by 2030. However, we need to be cautious as there are clear barriers to delivery in the form of grid deployment and access to grid capacity. What is Dispatch Down? For the avoidance of doubt, dispatch down refers to the combined levels of constraint and curtailment. Curtailment relates to situations where the output of generators may be reduced to keep the overall power system secure and is carried out on a pro rata, all island basis. Constraint, on the other hand, relates to local transmission network limitations, specifically the overloading of transmission lines, cables and transformers and can be considerably different depending on where a generator connects. Constraints can be

Like all businesses TNEI are taking the Coronavirus threat very seriously. We have already issued internal instructions to all of our staff about how to best safeguard their own health and safety and have a contingency plan in place, which we are live testing this week, to allow all of our staff from each of our offices to work from home if that is required. Our IT systems are secure and robust and any communications and file use will be done over a secure Virtual Private Network which will ensure security of data. All laptop hard drives are encrypted too. We are advising all staff against all non-essential travel and have enabled facilities to be able to communicate and meet virtually with clients where face to face contact is not possible. All of our clients remain very important to us and we will endeavour to be able to continue to

TNEI is delighted to announce the incorporation of TNEI Ireland Ltd, to support and expand our existing Irish client base. TNEI is a specialist consultancy in the energy sector, helping clients respond to the complex challenges of transitioning to a low-carbon future. Nigel Tate, CEO comments: “TNEI have been working in Ireland for over 15 years but with the major challenges and opportunities now facing Ireland to achieve its Climate Action Plan targets, we felt the timing was right to set up formally in Ireland by establishing TNEI Ireland Ltd. We’re very pleased to do so and look forward to establishing a thriving Irish business to support the Irish community, particularly in renewables.” This announcement comes at an exciting time for the Irish energy industry, as it seeks to deliver Ireland’s ambitious target of 70% renewable energy by 2030. With TNEI’s experience of working on every major offshore wind farm

Forecasts have always been essential to the operation of electrical power networks and have been used for many decades for purposes such as deciding the optimal sizing of cables, the required rating for transformers, and the amount of generation that should be dispatched at any given time. However, their role is rapidly becoming ever more important and the way they must be used is becoming ever more complex. Quantities being forecast range from the output of a wind farm 10 minutes ahead to the maximum active power demand on a transformer during the next winter, to the way most people will heat their homes in 30 years. Our Data Science team have been busy writing our latest technical paper “‘Forecasting 101 for the Electrical Networks Sector’ which looks at some of the reasons behind this rising importance and aims to de-mystify the topic,explaining the concepts in clear and simple terms.

On Tuesday 21stJanuary TNEI hosted a party to celebrate the opening of our new bigger Glasgow office. Our recent expansion has created the need for a larger Glasgow space and we took the opportunity to welcome some clients to join us in the celebrations. We were delighted to be joined by Claire Mack, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables who delivered an inspirational opening address to our guests. Claire commented: “It is an honour to help celebrate TNEI’s success. What is great about TNEI is that the skillset represents that nexus of technology, energy and the environment ““ we need to be smarter and more efficient than ever and those solutions come from the diversity of knowledge and skills which we have here”. Glasgow is hosting COP 26 later this year; with an international focus the gains here will benefit people all over the world. The UK has a commitment to

It’s that time of year again where attentions turn to the capacity market, with a flurry of activities over the coming months leading up to the T-1 & T-4 auctions held on 2nd and 9th March 2021, respectively. The Capacity Market was introduced by The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as part of the Electricity Market Reform programme to ensure the future security of our electricity supply. Prequalification closed in September 2020, with a total of 4.4 GW (de-rated capacity) of projects prequalifying, or conditionally pre-qualifying, for the 2021-22 (T-1) auction and 53 GW for the 2024-25 (T-4) auction. The charts below show the range of prequalified technologies for each auction. Coal operators will be looking to “‘sweat their assets’ in the T-1 auction ahead of the UK coal phase out by 2025. Whilst gas continues to account for a substantial percentage of the mix. Offshore wind has