Page 17 - Gi flipbook June/July 2018

be reinforced due to the adoption of the gas system, using gas-powered
electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps. boilers for heating, hot water and gas
to cook. Some are using gas to
DECENTRALISED ENERGY generate their own electricity via
AND MICROGRIDS micro-combined heat and power (CHP)
The UK is becoming a nation of energy plants, a spin-off from the spare
producers. Between 2020 and 2030, capacity in the internal combustion
the electricity system became engine manufacturing sector. Many
increasingly decentralised. Now, customers have switched to hydrogen
small-scale generation at the gas, which offers the same
distribution level and behind the functionality as natural gas but has no
meter provides close to half the CO emissions at the point of use.
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country’s generation capacity. Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and
Demand-side response and batteries Glasgow (and surrounding towns and
are widespread in commercial and cities) were the first to be converted to
residential properties and have shifted hydrogen, being close to the North Sea
the load profile of demand and facilities that store the CO produced
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generation. Industrial parks, universities, by the steam methane reformation
airports and new towns have developed process used to produce H . The
2
microgrids reducing the load on the conversion to hydrogen was centrally
national grid – though they still retain a managed and remarkably similar to the
connection to the distribution grid. UK’s conversion to natural gas in the
Special deregulated enterprise zones for 1960s. None of the technical solutions
large-scale commercial trials promoted needed were actually new. Cooling is
innovation that enabled the move to a also important, particularly in urban
distributed system operator, and by a office blocks, retail and data centres.
review of network charging initiated as During summer months, the heat
part of the RIIO-ED2 price control pumps that have been installed are
period (2023-2031). It was fully switched to provide cooling. Industries
completed for the new regulatory and buildings with a high demand for
framework for RIIO-ED3 – called RIIO cooling have been recruited as
3.0, which also covered aspects of the providers of waste heat for local
new heat infrastructure. district heating projects.

HEAT TRANSPORT
The heat sector is in the midst of a Transport has been transformed, with
transformation with heat, cooling and personal ownership of vehicles dying
energy production combined efficiently out and transport-as-a-service (TaaS),
at a local level. The sector has become using autonomous electric vehicles,
fragmented, with heat networks in the now the way the majority of people
dense inner cities, electrification in the choose to travel. A large proportion
2020s. While combined cycle gas rural areas and hydrogen replacing of pure internal combustion engine
turbines (CCGTs) are still on the grid, natural gas in the suburbs. vehicles have been replaced. All new
they are mostly used to provide By 2030, the heat sector was well vehicles are now either electric,
flexibility and to balance the system. on its way from one based primarily on plug-in hybrid or hydrogen-powered.
Another issue that was not as significant natural gas (methane) to a multi- Smaller, purely electric personal
as expected was the intermittent nature sourced system varying by location and vehicles and taxis are used in towns
of renewable energy. type of building or customer. Fossil- and cities for local travel. Mostly
There is now between 50-77GW of derived natural gas has also been charged at home overnight, they are
intermittent solar and wind generating displaced or supplemented by green sometimes topped up at the numerous
capacity on the system, compared to gases such as biomethane and fast charging points. A number of
27GW in 2018. Intermittency has bio-synthetic natural gas. In high- journeys, particularly within towns and
largely been overcome by different density urban areas, district heating is cities, are by autonomous electric
types of storage: widely used, mostly for new residential vehicle. Rather than owning these
■ At the point of generation to developments and public buildings vehicles, consumers pay transport-as-a-
enable dispatchable power to be such as schools and hospitals. Natural service (TaaS) companies for their
matched to times of demand gas or hydrogen provides the base load journeys. As a result, the number of
■ On the grid to enable improved for these systems. In rural and some vehicles on UK roads has declined
network stability suburban areas, there are electric significantly, particularly in towns and
■ In homes and businesses to shift heating systems with ground-source cities. Larger vehicles such as buses
times of demand and enable and air source heat pumps, as well as and lorries, plus consumers who make
consumers to benefit from lower space heating. Electric boilers provide regular long distance journeys (such as
real-time tariffs. hot water and cooking is all-electric. those in more rural areas), use plug-in
The distribution network has had to Most consumers, however, remain on hybrid or hydrogen power. Hydrogen is

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