{"id":256,"date":"2020-07-17T15:08:49","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T14:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/?p=256"},"modified":"2020-07-17T15:23:47","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T14:23:47","slug":"the-energy-sector-and-uk-recovery-in-the-wake-of-the-covid-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/2020\/07\/17\/the-energy-sector-and-uk-recovery-in-the-wake-of-the-covid-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Energy Sector and UK Recovery in the Wake of the COVID Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About the Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Sara Walker is currently\u00a0a Reader in Energy and Director of The Centre for Energy<\/a> as well as Director of the National Centre for Energy Systems Integration<\/a> and Deputy Director of the Supergen Energy Networks<\/a> Hub\u00a0in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University. Her research is on energy efficiency and renewable energy at the building scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resilience and the need for Change?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The COVID pandemic has, for some sectors of UK society and\nbusiness, brought into sharp relief the need for change. Resilience is today\u2019s\nbuzzword, along side opaque phrases such as \u201cbuild back better\u201d. How can we put\nsome detail to the call for a \u201cbetter\u201d future? And what does this mean for the\nUK energy sector as we look to transform towards 2050 commitment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate Change Emergency<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many are likely to be redefining their understanding of key\nworker as our vital infrastructure keeps the wheels of society turning. The\nenergy sector is a critical infrastructure for the UK, confirmed by the UK\nGovernment at the height of the COVID lockdown[1]<\/a>.\nWhilst our energy utilities focus on keeping the country supplied with electricity,\ngas, oil and LPG, for example, they do so in a period of uncertain customer demand,\nsince there is no historical precedent for the extent of economic lockdown\nwhich the UK has experienced. Whilst we deal with these pressures in the short\nterm, longer term issues of climate change and the Government target of net\nzero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 cannot afford to be ignored. The\nConference of the Parties 2020 in Glasgow may have been postponed for a year,\nbut there is no pause in the evidence of climate change as May 2020 was 0.95\u00b0C\nabove the average[2]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to address these long term issues? To look for win-wins\nwith the short term COVID-recovery issue is a start. The lockdown has resulted,\nacross the UK, in dramatic reduction in traffic and air pollution (see, for\nexample, https:\/\/covid.view.urbanobservatory.ac.uk\/#intro). In the mobility\nspace, the need for physical distancing has opened up conversations about\npavement widths, safe space for cycling and redesigning our spaces to enable\nwalking and cycling and to enable sufficient physical distancing.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1. Proposed increase in public walking and cycling space in Newcastle city centre <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Figure 2. Novel analysis by Newcastle University of pedestrian spacing, to evaluate adherence to physical distancing guidelines and identify locations where physical distancing is constrained. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Energy Sector Pressures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With vast numbers working and studying at home, the\nelectricity sector has seen overall demand drop (as industrial and commercial\nloads reduce) but increases in use at home. At particular times during the\nCOVID lockdown, we have had periods of relatively low demand for electricity\nand relatively high proportions of inflexible electricity generation (for\nexample nuclear, wind and solar). This is an issue for supply-demand balancing\nfor electricity in particular, since balancing is needed in order to keep the\nsystem frequency within certain quality boundaries. The UK power sector is seen\nas a world-leading industry, and solutions here have relevance to power systems\nacross the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balancing is likely\nto be an issue moving forward with more renewable generation, and so we need to\nidentify appropriate sources of flexibility for our energy systems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two possible sources of flexibility which we would\nlike to highlight here. Integration with the gas network, and active buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

System Integration and the Role of Gas and Hydrogen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The future UK energy system is of course uncertain, it is\ndifficult to predict what it will be like in 2050. But we do know that system\ninvestment now will still be part of the 2050 operational system. So it is\nvital that our decisions are with 2050 in mind, rather than interim targets on\nthe journey to net zero. Scenarios by a multitude of organisations generally\nsee a greater role for electricity in the space heating and transport sectors,\nand decarbonisation of electricity through greater use of renewable energy\ntechnologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to address the issue of balancing for the electricity sector, in this future of greater demand and greater use of renewables, is to better integrate electricity and gas<\/strong>. This would then enable the two energy vectors to mutually support one another in times of stress. In particular, there are options to enable the generation of hydrogen using electricity at time of excess generation compared with demand. This hydrogen can then be stored in the gas network, which could be hydrogen ready by 2030[3]<\/a>. Hydrogen is of significant interest for the UK Government for applications in industry, in transport (particularly marine, long distance and heavy road, air and rail transport).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repurposing of the existing natural gas network has benefit\nof reduced stranded assets, and substitution of hydrogen into the gas system at\nmixes of up to 20% can enable the UK to begin the demonstration phase prior to\nfull scale roll out of a hydrogen system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

InTEGReL<\/strong>\nis a new integrated energy test and demonstration facility in Gateshead, north\neast England. Led by Northern Gas Networks and in partnership with Northern\nPowergrid and Newcastle University, the facility is a second phase demonstrator\nfor the HyDeploy project, to test the blend of hydrogen in natural gas networks\nfor a range of customers and networks.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flexibility in Demand – The Role of Active Buildings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

10% of UK households (2018 figure) are classed as being in\nfuel poverty, although up to date figures are unavailable. Longer term impacts\nto incomes of households during an economic downturn, and increased energy use\nby households, are likely to push numbers of fuel poor upwards. The UK faces a significant\nrisk, as we move towards colder winter months, of a growth in cold-related\nillness and excess winter deaths at the same time as our NHS struggles to\nrecover from COVID. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A win-win is to address the poor housing stock in the UK.<\/strong> A retrofit stimulus aimed at the construction sector has a significant advantage in terms of job creation. Furthermore, these are local jobs, contributing to the Government\u2019s ambition to \u201clevel-up\u201d the regions and nations of the UK. Retrofit investment has the potential to move households out of fuel poverty. Energy efficiency has been highlighted by a number of organisations as a vital element of a green economic recovery for the UK[4]<\/a> [5]<\/a>. By improving our housing stock in a way which enables the building to play an active role on energy networks, the buildings can also provide flexibility<\/strong> to those networks. This might involve using more energy at times when it is abundant and cheap, charging up electric vehicles and filling heat and electrical storage in the home. It might also involve demand reduction at times of network stress and demand peak. So this might involve using local generation, home energy storage, and turning down or off certain loads (such as heat pumps).
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The case for change in our energy sector was powerful pre-Covid, it is even more so today.\u00a0 In light of the Government\u2019s own 2050 target, we must not lose this catalytic moment to take action.\u00a0 There is much to do, and taking urgent action trumps more debate and prevarication.\u00a0 The energy transition is no longer an aspiration, it is an imperative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full article is available to view<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision\/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/www.ncei.noaa.gov\/news\/global-climate-202005<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> Iron Mains Replacement Programme is replacing gas mains iron pipework with polyethylene pipes, which can be used with hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/business-functions\/sustainability\/our-insights\/how-a-post-pandemic-stimulus-can-both-create-jobs-and-help-the-climate#<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> https:\/\/www.ippr.org\/research\/publications\/faster-further-fairer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About the Author Dr Sara Walker is currently\u00a0a Reader in Energy and Director of The Centre for Energy as well as Director of the National Centre for Energy Systems Integration and Deputy Director of the Supergen Energy Networks Hub\u00a0in the School of Engineering at Newcastle University. Her research is on energy efficiency and renewable energy … Continue reading The Energy Sector and UK Recovery in the Wake of the COVID Pandemic<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6716,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,24,23,19,17,18,22,20],"class_list":["post-256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-active-buildings","tag-centre-for-energy","tag-cesi","tag-climate","tag-covid","tag-reslience","tag-supergen-energy-networks","tag-system-integration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6716"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/supergenenhub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}