WE’RE GOING TO GET EVEN SMARTER FOR OUR GREEN ENERGY

EVERYONE accepts the importance of moving to renewable power urgently, but few people have considered how this will impact our National Grid.

With our electricity needs predicted to double by 2050, not only has it never been more important to upgrade Britain’s energy system to one that is less reliant on fossil fuels, it’s also crucial that we update the National Grid to a new digitised Smart Grid.

Until those collective moments when we all pop the kettle on at the same time and create a “power surge”, no one really stops to think about the National Grid – or even knows what it is exactly.

It’s a complex system made up of high-voltage power lines, gas pipelines, interconnectors and storage facilities that together enable the distribution of electricity.

And the grid ensures that all areas of the UK always have enough power.

When the National Grid was first created in 1926, connecting power stations to provide households and industry with a reliable and affordable supply of electricity, it depended upon carbon fuel.

But the UK’s seven remaining coal power stations are all set to close by 2025 and the Government has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK to net zero by 2050.

The outdated National Grid is now being upgraded to a smart grid to accommodate our transition to more sustainable energy sources.

Within a few short years, green energy will power the cars we drive and how we heat our homes.

But renewable energy is intermittent – we can’t control when the wind blows or whether it is a cloudy or sunny day – so a digitised smart grid helps the network better understand, plan for and balance out peaks and troughs in demand.

The smart grid will help us manage the ebb and flow of our energy needs and will also help families, businesses and individuals track their energy use and become more efficient.

ScottishPower is leading the way in decarbonising the whole energy system and has also developed technology to help monitor energy usage and availability.

New technology such as VisNet monitors help manage increased demand from low-carbon technologies to avoid strain on the network.

And as we move towards decarbonised home heating, SP Energy Networks has invested in the Heat-Up modelling tool.

This predicts future demand from low-carbon forms of electric heating so the company can plan future investment on its network.

Meanwhile, EV-Up has been developed to analyse the predicted uptake of electric cars across the country as we move towards Net Zero.