New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
New subsea cables to connect UK generators and consumers
26/10/2022
7 min read
Feature
As the energy landscape evolves, great successes in offshore wind and other renewable and low carbon generation assets often gain the spotlight. But, asks Ed Walker*, how is our energy system evolving to move clean energy from the point of generation to the point of demand?
The UK energy system is rapidly evolving – we are one of the world’s largest markets for offshore wind, with more than 10 GW of installed generating capacity. Building on this, in August this year The Crown Estate announced its Offshore Wind Round 4 plan, a major new leasing opportunity with the potential to unlock up to 7 GW of low carbon energy.
Dotted around the UK are an increasing range of generating stations spanning a variety of technologies, such as OGCT/CCGT gas-fuelled plants, energy from waste, nuclear and biomass. As we shift to a deeper mix of renewable and low carbon sources of energy, the energy system is moving away from the conventional approach of the past (large centralised generating stations contributing huge amounts of energy into the national grid).
Instead, there are a greater volume of generally smaller stations, providing renewable and low carbon sources of electricity, frequently with greater flexibility to help balance out generation from intermittent sources. Looking at the suite of proposals for new power stations around the UK, this is only set to increase.