Modelling energy flexibility in Britain's future energy systems

The project will utilise a range of energy systems models developed by the Energy Systems Catapult to investigate the flexibility of energy systems at a national or regional scale. The research will focus on the amount of flexibility needed under a range of different future scenarios and a comparison of different options; in particular the research will consider the future role of gas networks in facilitating decarbonisation, and the use of thermal storage. The project sits within the School of Chemical Engineering, the Birmingham Centre for Energy Storage and the Birmingham Energy Institute.
A backbone of Britain's current energy systems is the natural gas network that provides much of Britain's non-transport energy demands, especially over the winter period when space heating demands are at their highest. Significant progress has been made in decarbonising the power sector (in 2018 Great Britain generated around 20% of its electrical generation from wind and solar sources) leading to the lowest per kWh power sector emissions.
The provision of heat is arguably the next greatest challenge for Britain, due to a number of energy system factors including the prevalence of the existing natural gas network (80%+ of homes connected to the gas grid), the seasonality of the demand (it is colder in the winter than the summer) and the within day swings of demand for natural gas. These engineering challenges are driven by consumers, who have a high level of expectation from their heating systems, and a familiarity with the current system. The natural gas system has inherent flexibility over a number of different timeframes such as the seasonal flexibility helped by international supply chains that provide greater amounts of natural gas in the winter than the summer. Linepack is the amount of gas contained in the natural gas networks, and this can be increased or decreased by changing the pressure in the higher-pressure parts of the gas network. This is used to balance significant demand swings within a day. The gas system provides the greatest amount of within day flexibility to Britain's energy systems - and this research will help to build knowledge of the levels and types of flexibility that future energy systems in Britain might require.