ETI: Investing in the future possibilities of energy infrastructure
Energy Technologies Institute
The Energy Technologies Institute announces a £300,000 investment to discover how integrating energy networks could reduce costs and support ‘a future low carbon energy system.’
The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is investing £300,000 into an energy infrastructure analysis project to better understand the ‘full benefit’ of integrating different energy vectors such as electricity gas and hydrogen.
As part of its Energy Storage and Distribution programme, ETI has appointed Element Energy, the strategic energy consultancy specialising in the analysis of low carbon energy, to lead the 11 month project in conjunction with Baringa Partners, CNG Services and Liwacom.
Its aim is to improve the understanding of the opportunity for, and implications of, moving to more integrated multi-vector energy networks in the future.
Susie Winter, project manager for Energy Storage and Distribution at the ETI said: “Currently the networks themselves are operated independently, but their role in the future energy system is expected to evolve and new networks are also set to emerge.
"Closer and more complex interactions between these different vectors, including partial or complete transitions from one vector to another, are a distinct opportunity,” she added.
Future energy systems could use infrastructure very differently to how they are employed today. Several individual energy vectors - electricity, gas and hydrogen - are capable of delivering multiple services and there are other services that can be met or delivered by more than one vector or network. This project will explore how this could become a reality over the coming decades.
"The full benefit of employing a multi-vector approach to energy supply will only be clear once the impacts on each part of the energy system are understood,” said Winter. “So far multi-vector energy systems analysis has focussed on generation or demand side technologies. Understanding the implications for networks and their ability to contribute to multi-vector energy systems will help to provide a more complete picture.
"The results of this project will help to inform the best way to deploy new networks alongside existing networks, how best to transition from existing to new networks and what opportunity there is to make use of existing assets.”
This project is part of an ETI series “Future:Networks” which forms a body of analysis to understand the nature, implications and evolution of energy networks as they adapt to manage fundamental long-term changes in energy generation type, geographic location, demand patterns and energy use requirements, all in the context of a 2050 low-carbon future within the UK.
Director at Element Energy, Alex Stewart, said: “We are very pleased to be working with the ETI on this timely project, which will increase the understanding of how tighter integration of different energy networks can reduce costs and improve the resilience of a future low carbon energy system.
“The project will provide valuable insights to network operators, technology developers and policymakers on the technical viability of this integration and the actions required to unlock these benefits in the future.”
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