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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 Great Britain is going towards a ‘whole system’ network transmission approach to energy operations
15/5/2024
8 min read
Feature
To deliver a ‘net zero carbon’ economy, Great Britain has to remake its energy system, both physically with expanded networks and economically with new markets. A new National Energy System Operator (NESO) will have responsibility for delivering the change across both electricity and gas, reports Janet Wood FEI.
At the start of the 21st century, Great Britain’s energy delivery systems looked in good shape. The electricity network was delivering energy from centralised nuclear and gas stations. Contributions from elderly coal stations were gradually being replaced by new renewables projects, supported by flexibility from pumped storage plants. All bid into a single Great Britain market covering the Scottish, Welsh and English landmass, enabled by a 400 kV and 275 kV transmission network. Meanwhile, the gas grid reaches four-fifths of household consumers, and in the previous decade several LNG import terminals had been added to its existing North Sea import terminals, allowing for more diversity of supply. (Northern Ireland, while part of the UK, has separate energy markets with limited interconnection with Great Britain.)
That was before the energy world changed. Some changes were headline news: the UK met the urgency of addressing climate change by committing to an economy with ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2050. Other changes were more obvious within the industry: so-called ‘distributed’ energy technologies began to roll out across Great Britain, some low-carbon (such as onshore wind and solar), some of them low-cost (such as small gas engines which could respond quickly to grid fluctuations) and some adding fast flexibility (with a rush to build batteries). The owners and operators of these plants wanted new ways to buy and sell electricity and gas, as well as other services required to keep energy flowing, and this was made possible by digital technologies.
In this fast-evolving world, Great Britain’s electricity networks were no longer fit for purpose. New physical infrastructure, governance and market structures were required. This change has been incremental and slow to support decarbonisation. Now the government has decided to try to cut through barriers with a new delivery body, the National Energy System Operator (NESO). The government-owned organisation will have responsibility for market design, long-term plans and strategy for both gas and electricity – and will continue to be the ‘real-time balancing’ market operator for electricity.