Report: Smart Systems for Clean Power
Why faster, better digitalisation is critical to Clean Power 2030 and beyond
A new report from the NEPC is calling on the government to prioritise digitalisation in its Clean Power 2030 goals. This report examines our current progress towards decarbonisation and makes a case for urgent prioritisation of digitalisation to reduce future costs incurred from an outdated and cumbersome energy system.
Fixing the electricity system
Find out why the Academy and NEPC are working to ensure government's approach to decarbonising the electricity system delivers clean, reliable and affordable power to homes and businesses.
How do we fix the electricity system?
What is happening in Phase two?
The ongoing policy work of the Clean Power Advisory is built around two pillars:
- Managing costs and delivery risks as we rapidly decarbonise the GB electricity system: successful delivery of Clean Power 2030.
- Resilience and optimal pathways beyond 2030: mapping and ensuring a resilient energy system.
The first output of Phase 2 is our report on the critical role of digitalisation in enabling Clean Power 2030 and beyond which sets out why digitalisation of the Great British electricity system is urgently needed, its role in enabling consumer-led flexibility, and our recommendations for the architectural coordination for delivery. The report also includes specific use cases to further demonstrate the value of digitalisation of the system.
Beyond this initial output, the Clean Power Advisory will utilise the expertise of the Working Group and wider engineering community in delivering complex infrastructure transformation to apply these lessons to the Clean Power 2030 target. Clean Power 2030 is itself a mega programme comprised of mega projects, with the aim of managing costs and delivery risks. Phase two will continue to look at:
Optimised consumer-led flexibility, enabled by digitalisation
Consumer-led flexibility provides the potential to reduce balancing costs and lower costs associated with running a more distributed network. We will make recommendations on how to optimise consumer-led flexibility across technology, people processes, providers and innovation.
Key principles and lessons from infrastructure delivery
We will draw on lessons from across infrastructure sectors and provided key case studies to illustrate key lessons and provide recommendations on minimising delivery risk for Clean Power 2030.
Effective systems integration in key areas of delivery risk
Such a complex system transformation project requires a focus on systems integration, to ensure that the result is a system that works together to deliver the right outcomes across decarbonisation, resilience, and affordability. We will outline ongoing and emerging areas where a lack of systems integration is putting Clean Power 2030 at risk, such as: effective management of a distributed system and control rooms of the future; skills availability in specific areas and reliance on private telecoms networks with multiple dependencies for a functioning system, or outage planning and system access.
The long-term plan for the Clean Power Advisory
In the longer-term, the Clean Power Advisory will focus efforts on the longer-term resilience of the post-2030 system. It will focus on the early 2030s when demand and electrification of heating transport is expected to increase significantly. Potential focus topics may include the role of a more distributed system of flexible assets and opportunities in affording greater security of supply and resilience in response to increased electrified demand and the impact of a changing climate on the system. Questions are emerging around the development of post-2030 challenges, particularly at the intersection of flexibility and resilience, system management of rapidly shifting demand profiles, strategic demand such as data centres, and mapping of the future system.
Acknowledgements
Phase 2 of the Clean Power Advisory is being developed by the Royal Academy of Engineering and partners in the National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC). This work is funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and will run until December 2028.
Phase 2 is being delivered by a National Engineering Policy Centre Working Group made up of the following experts:
- Professor Sir Jim McDonald GBE FREng FRSE FInstP FIET FIEEE (Chair), Co-Chair of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board, Vice-Chair of Scottish Power, and Former President of the Royal Academy of Engineering
- Dr Simon Harrison FREng CEng FIET FEI, Group Head of Strategy and Fellow, Mott MacDonald
- Dr Cathy McClay OBE FREng CEng FIET, Managing Director at National Grid DSO and GB Flexibility Commissioner
- Dr Graham Oakes CEng CITP FBCS, Independent Expert in Local, Community and Municipal Energy
- Professor Nilay Shah OBE FREng CEng FIChemE, Professor of Process Systems Engineering at Imperial College London
- Nick Winser CBE FREng CEng FEI FIET FIGEM, Independent expert and Clean Power 2030 Commissioner
- Dr David Wright FREng CEng FIET MIGEM, Chair of the Energy Research Partnership, Non-Executive Director, and Former Chief Engineer at National Grid
- Eric Brown CEng FIET, Director at Grid Scientific and Professor of Practice in Energy Systems at the University of Strathclyde
- Mark Apsey MBE CEng FIChemE, Chief Executive Officer at CivicNetZero and Past President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers
- Esther Barratt CEng FIMechE, Group Director at Amentum and Chair of IMechE Nuclear Power Committee