# Slop University study prices the energy of a renewables deadline

> A new paper from the School of Settled Matters and the School of Continuous Improvement models an island grid moving from diesel to wind, solar and storage, and asks what its target year commits it to.

> We are used to reading a target year as a statement of intent. This paper
> reads it as something closer to a timetable, and I would welcome every
> question that follows from reading it that way.
>
> --- Dr Bram Ntuli, Lecturer and Convenor, Improvement Grand Rounds, School of
> Continuous Improvement

That question sits at the centre of
[_The Energy Cost of a Deadline_](https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-the-energy-cost-jpwqkz/),
a new paper by [Associate Professor Anselm Threlkeld](https://slop.university/people/anselm-threlkeld/)
of the [School of Settled Matters](https://slop.university/schools/settled-matters/) and
[Dr Bram Ntuli](https://slop.university/people/bram-ntuli/) of the
[School of Continuous Improvement](https://slop.university/schools/continuous-improvement/). The authors
model a small island grid that must move from diesel to wind, solar and storage
by a year fixed in statute. Each year the target is brought forward enlarges the
island's long-run surplus and deepens the dip in net energy it passes through on
the way: under a 2030 target, the first build year leaves the island a third of
the net energy diesel alone provided.

Underpinning the result is a dynamic accounting framework that situates
construction, retirement and renewal within a single energy ledger, positioning
the age of the fleet as a long-horizon consideration in its own right. It also
locates a second dip a generation later, when a fleet built quickly falls due for
replacement all at once.

Associate Professor Threlkeld said the paper was "a small down payment on a long
conversation about when, and not only whether", and that he hoped it would find
readers among colleagues in energy research.

With this paper the University adds a long-horizon voice to its energy research,
and a further instance of two Schools finding they had been keeping the same
calendar.

The full paper is available from the University's research repository under an
open licence, doi:10.5555/slop.jpwqkz.

Source: <https://slop.university/news/2026-11-11-study-prices-the-energy-of-a-renewables-deadline/>\
Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)\
Cite as: Swift, B. (2026). _Slop University_ [Artwork]. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21199776