Greater collaborative innovation needed to reach low-carbon future

How best to accelerate the integration of low carbon technology into the UK’s energy network is something that seems to be occupying the minds of those charged with designing the network’s future.

The debates at ENA’s Low Carbon Technology Forum this month suggest this is due to the fact that that when we discuss the projected future of our energy network, “low carbon” is a term that encompasses pretty much all of it. The drive to decarbonise our economy could be told via statistics – electric vehicle car sales now make up over 20% of new registrations with that trend increasing rapidly and the UK is hopefully on track to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028 – but that’s just part of the story. Behind the obvious changes that customers notice, we heard about the innovations that are enabling our energy system to successfully adapt to the new demands being placed on it.

There was both pride and excitement in the room, as people discussed the progress being made around creating a smarter, more flexible grid. The UK’s energy market is already the most flexible in the world and this year we tendered record levels of local flexibility for the fourth year running.

If this pace is maintained, according to Ofgem, flexibility could save consumers £10 billion per year in energy costs by 2050 and reduce the total cost of the net zero transition by up to £70 billion. We’re still on that journey however; one quick poll of the room showed that of the gathered energy professionals, only 31% said they were personally participating in an energy flexibility service, though a further 63% said they would if they had the opportunity.

The investment to give everyone this option is already in the pipeline. The £450 million Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) is welcome, though debates suggested the Network Innovation Allowance (NIA) is equally needed as NIA funded projects to support technical innovations, greater data sharing and the further development of common standards are important for making greater flexibility a reality.

Voices from outside the energy section reminded people of the wider context and market conditions that need to be factored into our plans. It’s sometimes easy to forget that global trends, like the ongoing supply chain disruption for semi-conductors, are having knock on consequences for the production of technology essential for decarbonisation. We also heard from those engaged with the sector’s frontline staff, like installers and engineers, on what training, equipment and procedures they need to help accelerate the low carbon transition. It was clear that the optimisation of data management and the roll out of better tools for customers should go hand-in-hand with infrastructure improvement, if we are going to keep up the pace of deployment.

One cross cutting theme for the day was need to continue our focus on smart integration. We discussed the particular example of digitalising the connection process for low carbon technologies via a new national platform developed by ENA. It is a perfect example of a situation where the energy industry has the necessary technology, data and procedures in place – they just need to be linked together to simplify and standardise a process that sometimes struggles to deal with the increasing volume of registrations as these connections become the new norm.

Throughout the day, as people shared their projects and experiences, I was reminded of the statement, generally credited to writer William Gibson, that the future has arrived — it’s just not evenly distributed yet. Likewise, the UK’s low carbon future can already be seen in innovative schemes right around the country.  It’s now our job in the sector to collaborate with government, investors, local communities and each other to ensure the UK can deliver it.