Urgent call to meet energy ‘trilemma’

In line with regulations set out in the 2008 Climate Change Act, the UK needs to deliver a reliable, affordable and decarbonised energy system to meet future emissions requirements, as a matter of urgency, the report suggests.

Updating the UK energy to meet the ‘trilemma’ of decarbonisation, security and affordability is a massive undertaking

Energy report group leader David Clarke

David Clarke, the report’s group leader, said failure to plan the development of the whole energy system carefully would result in significant increases in the cost of delivery at best, or at worst, failure to deliver at all.

“Updating the UK energy to meet the ‘trilemma’ of decarbonisation, security and affordability is a massive undertaking,” he said.

It was feared there would be a winter blackout following a spate of power plant closures in 2014.

However, to cover UK energy demand requirements this winter, which stands at about 54.2GW, the National Grid has procured an additional 2.4GW of power, which will help supplement times of peak demand.

The report found cheaper new technologies, such as solar photovoltaics (PV), could become unexpectedly significant, but large-scale deployment of novel technologies would take decades as the system cannot be planned “on aspirations alone”.

Instead, the RAE calls for a combination of known techniques to be scaled-up to unprecedented levels and integrated in what it describes as “smarter” ways.

Clarke said these include decarbonising heat and transport, potentially through electrification, and adapting transmission and distribution networks.

Meanwhile, the RAE study says that because it already has secure and diverse supplies of hydrocarbons, the addition of shale gas or tight oil is unlikely to have a major impact on the evolution of the UK’s energy system.

It suggests four key actions the government must undertake to create a secure and affordable low carbon energy system for 2030 and beyond:

• Enable a local or regional whole-system, as large-scale pilot projects will establish real-world examples of how the future system will work
• Drive forward new capacity in the three main low carbon electricity-generating technologies; nuclear, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and offshore wind
• Develop policies to accelerate demand reduction, particularly in domestic heating, and must introduce smarter demand management
• Clarify and stabilise market mechanisms and incentives in order to give industry the confidence to invest, according to the report.