This paper has been prepared by engineers from a range of disciplines, drawing on decades of industrial experience. It combines analysis of published energy-policy statements with a gap analysis of issues that are integral to implementation but are not always addressed explicitly. It also draws on the practical experience of contributors who have worked in electricity generation, transmission and distribution.
Executive Summary
The United Kingdom has committed to Net Zero by 2050, while electricity demand is expected to rise substantially as transport, heating and industry become more electrified. It is challenging to achieve the transition to low carbon electricity and deliver at the same time lower costs, system security and resilience.
Britain has some of the highest domestic and industrial electricity prices in the developed world.[11,24] Bringing those costs down should therefore be a central objective of energy policy. That means looking beyond the generating cost of individual technologies and asking a more important question: what does it cost to deliver reliable electricity to the consumer? Generation, networks, storage, balancing, constraint payments, backup capacity and system-security services all contribute to that final cost.