GB Grid to 2030 and European Integration: Future Network Visions

Session A10 | Day 3, Thurs 27 Oct, 13.30-15.00 | Exchange Auditorium, Ground Floor


The British grid is no longer an island.  Interconnectors increasingly facilitate electricity imports when there is too little generation in the GB, and exports when there is a surplus.  The development of off-shore windfarms raises the prospect of sub-sea grids connecting to Europe.  European rules under the Third Energy Package are being implemented to establish more open and fairer markets.  The session will ask what we want from Europe to ensure a secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system in GB, and what we need to do to get it. 

• Chair: Paul Gardner, GL Garrad Hassan
• Peter Jones, ABB
• Sue Harrison, Department for Energy and Climate Change
• Nick Molho, WWF UK
• Hugo Chandler, International Energy Agency

Chair: Paul Gardner, Principal Engineer, GL Garrad Hassan Paul Gardner trained as an electrical engineer and has worked in wind energy since 1984. He led the electrical engineering group at Garrad Hassan, working on wind turbine electrical systems, network connections, and grid integration issues. He now works in the Strategy and Policy Studies Group, providing strategic advice to government bodies, NGOs, established companies in the renewables industries, and new entrants.

Speaker: Peter Jones, Engineering Manager Grid Systems, ABB Dynamic Energy Storage meets the Power Grid Stability Challenge The increasing penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources is a significant source of instability for transmission and distribution grids that are already operating close to their limits, especially in periods of peak demand. Energy storage systems, operating in combination with fast-acting electronics, can maintain stability by providing the optimum mix of active and reactive power to support highly stressed grids. This paper describes DynaPeaQ,  the first dynamic energy storage solution  to become commercially available. It then reports on practical experience with a pilot system installed on an 11kV radial distribution network operated by UK Power Networks in East Anglia. Peter Jones is Engineering Manager Grid Systems for ABB UK, a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET, he has over 10 years of commercial and business development experience in renewables and smart grid technology. Peter leads a multi-disciplined engineering team, responsible for high capital value, smart grid infrastructure initiatives such as embedded large scale network energy storage, dynamic distribution and transmission network control systems. His team is implementing smart grid transmission solutions based on HVDC and FACTS technology to maintain the stable operation of the UK transmission system in the presence of very high levels of intermittent onshore and offshore renewable generation.

Speaker: Sue Harrison, Head of European Energy Markets, Department for Energy and Climate Change North Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid Initiative and the Third Package The North Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid Initiative was launched in December 2010 by 10 countries around the North, Irish and Baltic Seas. This paper explains the rationale behind the Initiative, outlines its work programme and explains what it aims to achieve by the end of 2012. It then sets out the background to the technical codes and guidelines in the EU Third Package of internal energy market legislation, describes the process for adopting them and explains how industry stakeholders can contribute to their development. Sue Harrison is Head of European Energy Markets in the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. She has led for the UK the negotiations in Brussels of all the European Union (EU) Directives and Regulations on the Internal Market in Electricity and Gas and related EU instruments. Sue has also worked in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Consumer Affairs Division and was for many years the Head of the DTI’s Translation Service.

Speaker: Nick Molho, Head of Energy Policy, WWF UK WWF's Positive Energy Report: 2030 Outlook for Renewables in the UK Nick will provide an overview of WWF UK's latest energy report, Positive Energy, which is based on technical analysis from GL Garrad Hassan. Nick will present various renewable energy scenarios out to 2030 and will in particular highlight how a coherent and ambitious policy on renewables, energy efficiency and interconnection could lead to a much greater share of renewable energy in the UK's 2030 electricity mix than suggested by other recent reports, including the CCC's Renewables Review. Nick Molho is WWF UK's Head of Energy Policy. Nick works on a wide range of energy policy areas, focussing in particular on power generation and transmission issues both at the UK and EU level. Prior to joining WWF, Nick spent 6 years with city law firm CMS Cameron McKenna, working as an energy solicitor for a range of governments, energy companies and energy regulators. As an energy lawyer, Nick worked on a wide range of legal and policy issues relating to electricity market restructuring projects, the development of power projects, onshore and offshore transmission projects and emissions trading.

Speaker: Hugo Chandler, Senior Analyst, International Energy Agency Variability – No Showstopper Power systems must be actively managed to maintain a steady balance between supply and demand. This is already a complex task as demand varies continually. But what happens when supply becomes more variable and less certain, as with some renewable sources of electricity like wind and solar PV that fluctuate with the weather? To what extent can the resources that help power systems cope with the challenge of variability in demand also be applied to variability of supply? How large are these resources? And what share of electricity supply from variable renewables can they make possible? Hugo Chandler leads the IEA’s Grid Integration of Variable Renewables Project. In May 2011, he completed Harnessing Variable Renewables – a Guide to the Balancing Challenge, the IEA’s first book on renewables integration issues. He also authored the IEA’s 2008 Wind Energy Technology Roadmap. Previously Mr. Chandler worked at the European Wind Energy Association in Brussels where he led the establishment of the European Technology Platform for Wind Energy. In prior positions, he has worked at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, and as an MP’s researcher in the House of Commons.