Any move to low-carbon energy in the UK using new and more varied sources of electricity generation will need investment and an upgrade of the network infrastructure, according to the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI).
In a new report – ‘UK Networks Transition Challenges – A Systems View’ – ETI highlighted the challenges and opportunities facing the UK’s energy networks.
“There will be a need to adapt and enhance existing networks to cater to changing energy supply, create efficient and effective new networks to deliver energy in new ways and integrate those networks to optimise performance across energy vectors,” ETI said.
The report said current governance and regulatory frameworks are not designed to enable and incentivise the transformation that will be needed to move to a low-carbon system.
It recommended that the UK should incentivise and target investment to allow it to adapt and enhance existing networks.
Clear decisions will also be required on what new networks are needed and where they should be located to allow investment decisions to be made.
The UK should also design network infrastructures to ensure they “work together efficiently across multiple vectors in real time – providing an economic and consumer solution to the delivery of low-carbon energy”, ETI said.
Image: sxc
