CESI Partner Event - Electricity system change

CESI Partner Event: Electricity System Change: flexibility and costs

The electricity system’s technology has changed substantially and that change is accelerating. Is the engineering of the system, and the associated commercial and regulatory mechanisms keeping pace to ensure reliable future operation at a manageable cost?

A number of recent initiatives address aspects of this question. Among them are UKERC’s review of costs of intermittency, National Grid’s consultation on system needs and products, recent BEIS statements on the future energy system, Ofgem working papers on network access and charging. These all sit alongside interest in what a Distribution System Operator might be like, the Cost of Energy Review by Dieter Helm, and ongoing debate in Scotland about security of supply.

This 1 day conference in Glasgow was hosted by the University of Strathclyde and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).

Programme

Managing changes to the system’s characteristics: what is the cost of intermittency and are changes needed to the ancillary services that are bought and the way they are procured?
System resilience: what new reliability risks are we facing and how can their impacts be contained and recovered from?
Enabling distributed energy resources (DER): what challenges and opportunities does DER introduce for operation of the whole electricity system? How should institutional arrangements between transmission and distribution change?
A panel discussion: what should be the next steps to enabling a safe, affordable electricity system transition?

The event closed with a networking and drinks reception.

Invited speakers

Invited speakers included senior stakeholders from National Grid, Scottish Power, SSE, UKERC, Flexitricity, Frazer Nash and Ofgem