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James Macnaghten
CEO Caldera - Decarbonising Industrial Heat
James Macnaghten is an experienced CEO, entrepreneur, and engineer who co-founded Caldera Heat Batteries Ltd in 2017.1 He currently serves as the company's CEO.3
Background and Education
James received his engineering education at the University of Cambridge.12 This prestigious academic background has undoubtedly contributed to his expertise in the field of energy research and development.
Professional Experience
With over 15 years of experience in energy research and development and more than 25 years in business, James has built an impressive career.1 Some notable achievements include:
- Building and owning Cambridge's largest tourist business
- Serving as CEO of Isentropic for 10 years, where he developed a large-scale thermo-mechanical electricity storage system
- Co-inventing or solely inventing numerous thermal energy storage patents, with over 20 patent families to his name1
Current Role at Caldera
As CEO of Caldera Heat Batteries Ltd, James leads a British manufacturing start-up focused on reducing the use of fossil fuels.3 The company has developed a 100% renewable heating solution, demonstrating James's commitment to decarbonization and sustainable energy solutions.
Personal Interests and Values
James is passionate about finding the right technological solutions for problems and is deeply committed to helping decarbonize society.1 He believes that many of the answers to current energy challenges are already available. In his spare time, James enjoys cycling in the South Downs.1
James Macnaghten's LinkedIn profile can be found under the username james-macnaghten-7aaa65a, where he shares insights and updates about industrial heat and its potential for flexible demand in energy systems.4
Highlights
Latest results for new renewable generation in the UK.
The AR6 strike prices are out and they are pretty disappointing, but not unexpected, with prices coming in quite a bit higher than a few years ago. This is predominantly the result of higher interest rates and higher inflation of core materials. In offshore wind it is also further impacted by what were some overly optimistic expectations of future price reductions from both customers and manufacturers of wind turbines.
Solar PV and Onshore wind both came in around £50/MWh, which is £75/MWh (7.5p/kWh) today allowing for inflation (the price is based on 2012 figures).
The main chunk of new offshore wind was at £58/MWh or £85/MWh in today's money. In addition I believe that you need to add the cost of grid connection to shore from the wind farm, which normally adds another £20/MWh.
Where does that leave us versus nuclear? Well Hinkley C is £136/MWh if generating today. Their grid connection is free as it is an existing site, so in total it is about £30/MWh more expensive than offshore wind.
Renewables easily win on speed of deployment, but there are some additional grid costs around back up generation for renewables that are not that easy to price. My view is that for the UK the price difference we saw a few years ago, with renewables clearly being cheaper, is being eroded. That being said I suspect any new nuclear that needed to go to the market for finance would also be significantly higher than £92.50.
Are volatile and negative electricity prices a function of a well run electricity market?
For 51 hours this week the wholesale price of electricity was less than 3p/kWh - which is the same price as gas. Yes it is the summer and it is windy, but this trend of low and even negative pricing is set to accelerate as more offshore wind farms get connected to the UK grid.
My view is that the wholesale market is working pretty well and doing what it is meant to do. When there is excess renewable generation the price drops to zero and in a well functioning market that would then stimulate extra demand.
The problem is the retail market design, where none of these low or zero price signals get through to the end customer. If you don't benefit from low pricing then you won't change your behaviour - basic economic theory.
Electricity demand in the UK is 30GW and gas demand is about 20GW at the moment. This gas is used almost exclusively for heating (I have excluded gas for power generation) so it is easy to see how you can increase demand for electricity by switching to electric heating when it is cheaper than gas. There are almost no downsides to fuel substitution - reduced carbon emissions, less wasted electricity and better revenue for all electricity generators.
The big losers will be the gas companies where I can see their summer demand evaporating as it is cannibalised by low cost renewables.
The current government has promised to prioritise reforming the electricity market and I completely support this. To my mind they will have succeeded if consumers can access cheap electricity at times when it would otherwise be wasted.
Prices courtesy of Nordpool
Morten Frisch - carrying on our discussion about functioning markets.
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