A BESS whodunit: the knowledge premium

An attempt to catch up to UK goings-on

A beautiful recent contribution from bessanalytics is titled “optimisation has not commoditised.” It’s a breathless, rapturous read. Bridgerton for Batteries, exclaims the first comment. I haven’t watched Bridgerton, but gather it’s a period costume drama. I’d say the post is closer to a whodunit thriller: Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie for BESS.

Bessanalytics analyses how a particular optimiser seems to have created exceptional value through good decision making. The lesson, as I see it, is that in a setting where the building blocks of a service are commoditising, and the customers for the service are increasingly struggling to find an edge, situational awareness and decision making are what separates the wheat from the chaff.

So I agree with the title of the post in the sense that “good situational awareness and good decision making are always valuable, and especially so when the basics are commoditising.” Human knowledge and creativity are the antidote to commoditisation. Learn more. Think harder. Combine more creatively.

Witz ist Bemerkung des Verhältnisses zwischen entfernten Ideen; Tiefsinn Bemerkung des Verhältnisses zwischen den nächsten. Jean Paul

The post assumes more knowledge about the UK energy system than I have. Bessanalytics apologises somewhat haughtily for its use of abbreviations. This reader felt the need to catch up. So here goes a couple of hours of bingeing on the UK energy market… Should I have gone with Bridgerton instead? You be the judge!

Here’s a glossary of the UK energy market terms mentioned with my first attempt to get across them with some references.