Lords investigating long-term electricity supply to explore issues of storage and demand management
Could storage hold the key to long-term electricity supply? Is under-sea transport of electricity between the UK and other countries reliable? What role can demand management play in providing resilience?
These are some of the questions to be put to a range of experts on energy issues by the Lords Science and Technology Committee on Tuesday 2 December.
Their inquiry examining the resilience of the electricity system continues with a close look at storage, interconnection and demand side response.
Witnesses giving evidence at 10.40am will be Anthony Price, Director, Electricity Storage Network; Dr Charlotte Ramsay, Project Director for NSN Link, National Grid; and Professor Goran Strbac, Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London.
Then at approximately 11.40am the Committee will hear from Professor Gordon Walker, Co- Director, The DEMAND Centre; Dr Howard Porter, CEO, BEAMA; and Michael Ware, Partner for New Energy and Environment, BDO LLP.
Questions that the Committee will put to the witnesses include:
- How much of a role does electricity storage play in balancing the electricity system?
- What are the prospects for the future of large scale energy storage?
- What are the UK's plans for interconnection, enabling energy to flow between the UK and other countries?
- How reliable will interconnection be in the future?
- Have we been focussing on the supply of electricity at the expense of demand?
- How is demand being managed at the moment?
- How effectively could demand be managed in an increasingly de-carbonised world?
- As electricity systems become increasingly ‘smarter', does this increase the risks from cyber-attack?
The Committee evidence sessions will take place at 10.40am and 11.40am in Committee Room 4 in the House of Lords, on Tuesday 2 December.
The sessions will be webcast at www.parliamentlive.tv and are also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
