UPDATED 1 Sept: The EI library in London is temporarily closed to the public, as a precautionary measure in light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The Knowledge Service will still be answering email queries via email , or via live chats during working hours (09:15-17:00 GMT). Our e-library is always open for members here: eLibrary , for full-text access to over 200 e-books and millions of articles. Thank you for your patience.
New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Why we need a whole-system strategy for green electricity
15/6/2022
6 min read
More low carbon generation will fail to deliver sustainability, security and affordability without radical changes in the way in which energy is stored and distributed in the UK, writes Dr Vincent Thornley of grid technology specialist Fundamentals.
Smarter grid technologies and energy storage are essential for net zero carbon. The government’s British energy security strategy of spring 2022 rightly focuses on more renewable and nuclear generation of electricity. But it falls a long way short of a whole-system approach which would enable the electricity industry to deliver security of supply in a sustainable way and at an affordable cost.
The gaping hole in the strategy is how our transmission and distribution (T&D) sector can be re-engineered to cope with unprecedented changes in the ways in which electricity is generated and consumed, without the unacceptable cost of wholesale grid reinforcement.
The good news is that our existing T&D infrastructure has the potential to handle a dramatically changing generation mix without the need for wholesale rebuilding. But only if a wide range of initiatives are fast-tracked, to balance loads with more intermittent power sources (wind, solar etc) and more peaks and troughs on the demand side (electric vehicles (EVs), heat pumps, industry etc).