Why bother writing about the history of energy?

Plus must read books for energy history enthusiasts

After my post on ‘How did Britain pay for the last Great Grid Upgrade?’ a friend asked, ‘what was the point of this blog’, as the content seemed to them to be somewhat random. It was a good question, to which I didn’t have an answer. I will try to answer below.

The purpose of this blog:

To help people in the energy industry today to think differently by delving into the history of energy.

I think this addresses a gap in what is in the public domain. There is an abundance of material about the technological and commercial aspects of Net Zero. But there isn’t much on the more old-fashioned questions of institutions, ownership, and political power. And net zero will require innovation in these areas as much as it will require new technology.

There is no shortage of gazing out to 2050. Everyday my LinkedIn overflows with new white papers, new scenarios, new forecasts.  But there is very little looking backwards. Without historical introspection we risk forgetting that things rarely play out as forecasted. We also restrict our view of the ‘solution space’. Many in the industry today have limited experience of anything other than the liberalised-privatised system. We have lived with it for roughly 40 years, which is longer than the 34-year lifespan of the nationalised system that came before it. The history of energy pre-privatisation is rich, interesting, and filed with ideas that can inspire and guide us today.

The focus of the blog will mostly be on British energy history. This choice mainly reflects the extent of my reading on the topic. However, it is also because I would like to go deep on the history of energy in one country rather than branch out. The content probably won’t get less random because I will only write about something on here if I find it interesting, and I have a tendency to meander. (Sorry Bas).

Figure 1: Nationalisation and privatisation in UK 1920-2020

Resources

History is personal. To help subscribers weave their own path through the history of energy I am going to constantly update the list below. I have split into (i) Books and articles to read, (ii) Places to visit, (iii) People to follow. Today I will start with the books I have enjoyed. It isn’t remotely comprehensive. It is very much British biased, and focusses on the economic, institutional, and political history of energy.

(Note: As many of these books are now quite rare, they are unfortunately expensive. I have copies I am happy to lend out if you don’t mind my scrawlings. Just message me in the comments.)

(i)  Books and articles to read:

Daniel Yergin, The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations (2021)

A good global overview of the post war period. Lots of good yarns, especially about the origins of fracking. A simplistic geo-political framework.

Thomas Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, (1982)

A classic. Beautiful images, maps, and graphs. A ‘system history’ orientated around the idea that technology and economics would root out ‘reverse salients’ that were preventing electrification. You can find the origins of many concepts that are at the heart of the system today (e.g. load factors, load diversity, system operations and control centres).

Trevor Williams, A History of the British Gas Industry (1981)

A wonderful illustrated history taking you through the history of Gas in the UK. The chapters on natural gas conversion are remarkable… they put the UK’s smart meter roll out to shame. Contains a foreword by Denis Rooke that shows remarkable hubris about how durable the nationalised industry structure was just before it was torn apart.

Leslie Hannah, Electricity before Nationalisation, (1979)

Leslie Hannah, Engineers, Managers and Politicians, The First Fifteen Years of Nationalised Electricity Supply in Britain, (1982)

If you want to know how to execute an energy transition at pace, on time and on cost, look no further.

Dieter Helm, Energy, the State and the Market: British Energy Policy since 1979 (2003).

If you really want to understand how the current privatized system came to be, this is the authoritative book. If you read Hannah volume 1+2, Trevor Williams and then this, you will have a brilliant understanding of energy in the UK since 1900.

Nicholas Stern, Why are we waiting: The Logic, urgency and promise of tackling climate change (2015)

Chapter 3 ‘Policies for Dynamic Change and transition, lessons from economic history and economic theory’ is a must read

Meredith Angwin, Shorting the Grid, the hidden fragility of our electric grid (2020)

I don’t agree with all of it, but the history of how the North American grid developed and how the institutional and regulatory structures got sooooo complicated is comical.

Robert Millward and James Foreman Peck, Public and Private Ownership of British Industry, 1820-1990 (1994)

Economic theory of networks made intelligible through history. You will also learn all about telecoms, railways, and water.

Robert Millward, Private and public enterprise in Europe: Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, 1830-1990 (2005).

A compelling case that technology and economics, not ideology, drove different patterns of energy system development in Europe. Read this and the mundane aspects of a holiday to Europe will become more interesting because you will understand why the gas, electricity and rail networks are all different.

Massimo Florio, The Great Divestiture – Evaluating the Welfare Impact of British Privatizations, 1979-1997, (2004).

Massimo Florio, Network Industries and Social Welfare: The Experiment that reshuffled European utilities.(2013).

Two very comprehensive assessments of privatisation.

David M Newbery, Privatization, Restructuring and Regulation of Network Utilities (2002)

A classic, and the other side of the argument to Florio

John Vickers and George Yarrow, Privatization: An economic analysis, (1988)