Memorandum submitted by the Energy Research
Partnership
The Energy Research Partnership (ERP) is currently
working in the area of innovation in electricity infrastructure
and would like to make a submission to the Committee's inquiry
into the future of Britain's electricity networks.
However, our work programme is not due to make its
conclusions until April 2009, so we are not in the position to
submit formal evidence at this point. To highlight our intentions
to interact with your Committee, this letter outlines the remit
and structure of the ERP and provides the objectives and scope
of our activity on innovation in electricity infrastructure. Preliminary
findings from this project will be formally submitted to the Select
Committee when they are available.
INTRODUCTION TO
THE ERP
The Energy Research Partnership (ERP) is a high-level
forum bringing together key funders of energy research, development,
demonstration and deployment (RDD&D) in Government, industry
and academia, plus other interested bodies, to identify and work
together towards shared goals. The ERP has been designed to give
strategic direction to UK energy innovation, aiming to increase
the level, coherence and effectiveness of public/private investment
in innovation.
The Partnership is not a formal advisory or executive
body, and its wide ranging membership[64]
extending across government, industry and the research community
will sometimes mean that the views of its members diverge. Consequently,
any outputs from Energy Research Partnership commissioned projects
are not the official point of view of any organisation or individual,
are independent of Government and do not constitute government
policy.
ERP plays an important role and is well positioned
to act as a forum for strategic dialogue and analysis, including
the consideration of policy development issues and options where
these set the context as drivers for technological innovation.
Government has found it a valuable sounding board for policy ideas,
alongside more formal bodies and processes.
The ERP, established in 2005 at the instigation
of the Chancellor, is jointly chaired between public and private
sectors. Nick Winser (Executive Director for Transmission, National
Grid) is the current industry co-chair. Willy Rickett (Director
General for Energy, Markets & Infrastructure, DECC) is the
current public sector co-chair.
ERP ELECTRICITY INFRASTRUCTURE
PROJECT
Project Context: The renewable (and low-carbon)
technology deployment required to reach the 80% reductions in
CO2 by 2050 will precipitate an equivalent change in the electricity
infrastructure to support this emerging system. The UK power infrastructure
(both transmission and distribution) needs to be fit for purpose
and ready to meet the needs of a dramatically different power
landscape. Recent experience shows that delivery of large scale
infrastructure projects takes a significant amount of time from
planning through to delivery. Given this, timely appraisal of
the necessary system capacity improvements and infrastructure
innovation developments is needed to ensure that the network infrastructure
will not become a brake on achieving the 80% CO2 reductions.
This project is led by the ERP member from National
Grid and supported by a working group (consisting of appropriate
representatives from the ERP membership—E.ON, Technology
Strategy Board, Carbon Trust and Energy Technologies Institute).
It will provide an overarching review of the technical challenges,
solutions and RDD&D landscape for electricity infrastructure.
Aim, Objectives and output: The aim of
this project is to identify and prioritise areas of electricity
network innovation requiring further attention and/or support.
Note that the project remit does not include evaluation of whether
the scope and focus of existing activities is most effective,
in terms of contributing towards meeting our energy goals. The
key objective is to assess the likely technical challenges presented
to the electricity infrastructure by the emerging low-carbon system
such as ensuring system reliability and security, maintaining
system flexibility and meeting the 2020 and 2050 emissions reduction
target. Then to identify solutions and approaches required to
address these challenges; to analyse the current UK capabilities
for fulfilling these solutions; and to identify gaps and prioritise
action for RDD&D support for electricity infrastructure related
activities. The output from this activity will be a report detailing
this analysis, highlighting the main challenges for innovation
in electricity networks and drawing appropriate recommendations
to strengthen the RDD&D landscape to support these new technologies
and approaches.
March 2009
64 A full list of current ERP Members is provided as
an addendum to this letter. Back
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