Tools for future energy systems - Andrew Haslett considers the role of new technology in the UK's transition to a low carbon energy system

Over the last ten years improved information technology has enabled markets to provide people with more inclusive, consumer centric services. This change in consumer behaviour and the response by service providers highlights an opportunity to revolutionise the UK’s energy system.

Andrew Haslett looks at the challenges and opportunities in transitioning from the UK’s current energy system architecture to a low-carbon, energy system of the future.

The last decade has witnessed an internet revolution that has changed the way in which we shop, bank, communicate, access entertainment and keep up with the news. This has meant that industry has had to innovate - adopt or fail. We have seen the innovations that improve services for consumers, providing greater control and choice at competitive prices, have been the most successful. This significant change in information technology and trend for greater consumer participation has arrived as we face the challenge to decarbonise our energy supply.

We are now looking at transforming our energy system architecture in the context of a world that is moving rapidly towards greater consumer centric services. Services that give people more control and information over the things they purchase. However, the supply and use of energy is very different from books and electronics, news or groceries. Information technology alone does have the potential to change the current energy system. It will therefore take time to develop critical infrastructures as we work out how to integrate different technologies that work well together within a whole low-carbon energy system.

We know that the UK’s existing energy system architecture, doesn’t currently have the capacity to make the transition from the current dominant system based upon liquid-based fuels for vehicles and gas for heating, industry and power generation to a more diverse supply system. We also cannot pinpoint exactly how decarbonisation of the UK energy system will proceed, but we can predict that it is likely to displace the reliance on the use of fossil fuels and position electricity to play a much larger role in transport and heating.

This said, electrifying transport and heating will present the UK with new and unfamiliar challenges. In this unpredictable world, it is vital that we revise the current architecture of our energy system whilst it is still operating, so that it can evolve to meet changing needs and adopt new technologies. Post privatisation, our energy system architecture has been operating on incremental investment whilst maximising its capabilities. With increasing pressure from advancements in IT in the hands of consumers, there is a question over how quickly and effectively our energy system can respond in its present form, whether led entirely or partially by the state.

In terms of making key decisions for a complex system of energy services, we see a number of mechanisms through which it will be delivered. Investment in cars and heating will be left to the market, whilst networks will still need some regulation or direct state investment. There is a strong argument that future local network decisions should be integrated into local energy plans, involving local residents for a more effective outcome. Decisions around the construction and delivery of a new energy system, as well as control of assets and architecture need to be made explicitly and up front if we are to mitigate risk for all stakeholders.

Though some modern IT systems have only just started to penetrate the energy sector we see huge potential for sensors to capture data and software tools that transform data to produce information and insight that is easy for consumers to grasp. As part of work commissioned and funded by the ETI, the Energy Systems Catapult has prototyped various Home Energy Management functions designed to present heating and heating information in a new way to consumers. We have seen that these systems have significant opportunity to create greater consumer involvement. The data that these type of systems capture will become a major resource to improve the design and operation of energy systems and help to shape better services matched to consumer needs and preferences.

The move to decarbonisation will not be easy. From a whole energy systems perspective we see the most cost-optimal solution involving decarbonising power first, then heat with transport in parallel to both as it is a more complicated sector and will take longer. And this should be through a blended mix of complementary technologies as decarbonisation does not depend on new revolutionary ideas, more the development, commercialisation and integration of known but currently underdeveloped technologies.