Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
UK distribution networks are feeling the strain of the increasing use of micro-generation, according to the Energy Networks Association’s (ENA).
ENA director of policy, Tony Glover, admitted to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee yesterday that areas of the UK distribution network are already “at saturation point” due to greater use of microgeneration such as solar panels by smaller businesses.
The comment came in response to The Federation of Small Businesses’ Allen Creedy, chairman of the environmental and policy unit, saying there is a growing desire by micro-businesses in remote areas to generate heat and power for their own needs and where possible sell it back to the national grid.
Creedy said this move was spurred by what is seen as “an inequitable access to the grid, excessive pricing, a lack of transparency and a lack of competition” in the energy industry.
Glover said the ENA was “fully aware of this issue”, is not complacent, and will be investing to improve the situation. But he added that it would “be a challenge”.
Glover said two of the main challenges currently facing the ENA are dealing with a much more electric world and a more diverse range of electricity sources. He said this move away from a centralised network will result in Distribution Network Operators becoming, in effect, mini national grids and will make the UK’s electricity supply more diverse and therefore more secure.
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee was looking at how the UK’s major infrastructure planned on adapting to climate change.
Glover said the ENA’s plan extends to at least the end of the century and that this has been taken into account in the 2023 price review.
The ENA currently see flooding of sub-stations as the main risk, but has just commissioned a study by the University of Newcastle into the future possible impact of wind on the UK’s distribution network. Subsidence and vegetation growth are also seen as having more of an impact in future years due to climate change.
Glover also said the ENA did not have any influence in where new building is located and would like to see a more joined up approach with where communities are planned in the future, saying “If you build on floodplains, and then those places flood, people will not be put back on until it’s safe”.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.