This Working Paper has been prepared in order to facilitate discussion at the initial meeting of the Expert Group that will advise the UKERC TPA assessment of the costs and impacts of intermittency. The paper’s aim is to highlight and deconstruct some of the key issues under debate, particularly areas of controversy, and hence provide an overview of some of the questions we are exploring in our initial work. It does not attempt to be comprehensive in its coverage or to summarise all of the literature being reviewed in the initial work on this assessment.

The note is aimed at informed commentators and therefore takes some knowledge for granted – for example of terminology, recent literature and the principal concepts. Its focus is on why and where opinions differ, and the objective is to highlight questions and disagreements, but not answer or resolve either. A more general introduction to the subject is provided in the project scoping note and protocol.