Use of flexible energy technologies could halve network investment out to 2050, and shave tens of billions of pounds off the cost of decarbonisation, according to a new report.
Published by flexibility marketplace provider Piclo, the report suggests properly harnessing flexible demand and distributed resource, such as batteries, electric vehicles and heat pumps, would save up to £5bn per annum by 2050.
Report co-authors include UK Research and Innovation/InnovateUK, Local Energy Oxfordshire (LEO) and consultant Graham Oakes, a founder of aggregator Upside Energy.
It suggests a flexible approach would reduce the need for peaking plant by 15GW, cut use of dispatchable plant by 22TWh per annum, reduce curtailment of renewables by 22TWh per annum and lower the cost of network reinforcement by two thirds.
See the report here.
EV flex ‘the cheaper option’
The group also produced an accompanying report outlining the value of centralised and distributed storage. It explores the interplay, competition and cannibalisation between large scale storage and distributed storage technologies such as aggregated electric vehicles.
It centres around the risk of sub-optimal solutions – and excess cost – if large scale storage is allowed to take all the early spoils, thereby locking out more cost effective solutions.
The report suggests more distributed storage, such as that enabled by a nationwide electric vehicle rollout, “is required to maximise the value of flexibility, especially on the low voltage (LV) network”.
See the report here.
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