Re-Wiring the World: A Guide to Climate Smart Grid Design and Utilisation

The Energy Consulting Firm

Q. How can the power grid be strengthened to withstand the increasing threat of extreme weather events?

An effective strategy to strengthen the power grid against extreme weather events should encompass various adaptation measures. Infrastructure upgrades are essential, involving the modernisation of assets such as poles, wires, and transformers with enhanced design standards that account for the projected increases in the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events. 

Transitioning to an underground system can significantly enhance resilience by reducing exposure to weather hazards. Beyond physical interventions, improving the grid's performance during extreme weather can be achieved through measures that enhance its ability to recover and absorb impacts. While endlessly enhancing the physical strength of assets may be constrained by economic and technological factors, strengthening recovery capabilities is equally important. This includes sectionalising, integrating distributed energy resources, backup generation, and implementing emergency operation plans with stock materials to replace assets as needed. By combining these strategies, the power grid can better withstand and recover from extreme weather events, resulting in reduced disruptions and sustained functionality.

Top 3 Tech Solutions for Enhancing Grid Resilience

Distributed Energy Resources - They provide de-centralised small-scale power generation through solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage systems located close to the point of use. 

Grid-Enhancing Technologies - These include sensors, power flow control devices and analytical tools to identify fault locations, prevent wide-spread outages, and maximise electricity transmission. 

Extreme Weather Analysis - Effective solutions require measurable improvements. Understanding localised weather patterns for each electrical grid is crucial to establish a baseline and target vulnerabilities to extreme weather. This involves cloud computing and machine learning to analyse large amounts of historical and projected weather data.  

Q. Can the power grid be adapted to handle the rising electricity demand from widespread electrification while maintaining resilience and reliability?

Yes, by designing new investments with consideration for the anticipated extreme weather conditions throughout the projects' lifespan, we can ensure that the infrastructure required to meet electricity demand is also resilient.

3 Key Policy Measures Enabling a Resilient Grid in the U.S.

• Federal Funding through programs like the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP)
• In January 2025, an executive order declared a national energy emergency, emphasising the necessity for a reliable, diversified, and affordable energy supply. This directive presents a significant opportunity to develop resilient infrastructure for the benefit of the communities served. 
• Energy regulators in multiple states have mandated utilities to conduct vulnerability assessments that examine their potential exposure to extreme weather events. These assessments aim to identify potential risks to existing infrastructure and determine necessary adaptations.

Q. How can we improve grid resilience to address the challenges of integrating intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar?

Incorporating renewable energy sources into the mix of energy generation is a key strategy for enhancing resilience. Successful integration of renewable energy sources requires several key components. This includes investing in advanced battery systems to store excess energy generated during peak production times and release it when production is low. Additionally, new transmission lines dedicated to renewable energy sources are necessary to facilitate better integration into the existing infrastructure. Finally, policy and regulatory support that promotes renewable energy integration and provides incentives for these projects is essential. 

The Energy Not-For-Profit

Q. How can the power grid be strengthened to withstand the increasing threat of extreme weather events?

Today's power grid was neither designed to accommodate variable renewables nor for two-way communication. It is rapidly aging, with some components far exceeding their 25-to-30-year life expectancy, which makes it vulnerable to outages caused by hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and heatwaves. Furthermore, climate change highlights that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events place additional stress on the grid, resulting in power outages that can last from several hours to several days. 

Strengthening the grid requires a combination of measures that begin with supportive government policies and regulations emphasising rapid recovery and emergency preparedness strategies (such as vulnerability assessment, risk management, and establishing critical infrastructure protection plans). This should be complemented by investments in ‘hardening’ the infrastructure with robust materials, designs, and devices that can function under extreme conditions (for instance, flood-proof substations, fire-resistant pole wrapping, underground lines).

Furthermore, implementing strategic programs like demand response, predictive analytics, and workforce training for rapid recovery and emergency preparedness can help stabilise grids during periods of peak demand, including heat waves, wildfires, floods, or cold spells.

Top 3 Tech Solutions for Enhancing Grid Resilience

There are many options to ensure energy resilience, and technology is continually advancing. Among the most commonly used solutions for energy resilience are backup generators. These have traditionally been a reliable energy resilience tool, usually powered by diesel or gas. However, using them for extended periods can be costly, negatively impact the environment, and may turn into a stranded asset if securing enough fuel for prolonged outages becomes difficult. 

In contrast, renewable microgrids that utilise distributed generation resources – including a mix of on-site technologies such as solar or wind, backup generators, energy storage, combined heat and power systems, along with energy resilience hardware and controls – can supply power as long as sunlight or wind is available. However, achieving this level of resilience comes at a high cost and should be weighed against the advantages of implementing such a system. Microgrids are particularly beneficial for organisations that would face significant losses (financial or otherwise) if an outage disrupts their operations and can clearly define the value of resilience (for example, hospitals, data centres, critical government facilities, etc.). Additionally, they may be ideal for organisations aiming for ambitious sustainability objectives – integrating solar and storage allows microgrids to be both resilient and sustainable.

Located between a backup generator and a microgrid, are ‘solar + storage’ systems. With some additional hardware and controls, these systems can provide power during outages. This energy resilience solution is most effective for organisations needing shorter resilience times or handling smaller critical loads.

Q. Can the power grid be adapted to handle the rising electricity demand from widespread electrification while maintaining resilience and reliability?

Historically, grid operators have ensured a balance between electricity supply and demand by adjusting the supply to align with varying demand throughout the day. As electricity consumption rises, additional resources are deployed to satisfy this need, which can be expensive and produce significant emissions. To bolster resilience and reliability, grid operators and utilities are prioritising cost-effective and less fuel-intensive methods for balancing supply and demand. By incorporating smart features and advanced communication technologies into the grid, utilities can utilise energy efficiency and demand-side management as crucial tactics to flatten demand curves, integrate renewable sources, and improve overall resilience. 

By perceiving customers as assets to the grid—rather than merely consumers—grid operators and utilities can develop a flexible, sustainable system that can expand alongside electrification. Strategies such as demand flexibility and demand response offer operational resilience and encourage organisations and consumers to temporarily lower their electricity use during times of grid strain, thus facilitating power flow in communities more efficiently and cost-effectively. Countries like the United States, France, Ireland, and the United Kingdom have implemented thorough demand flexibility programs, while other countries are at various stages of development. Achieving success depends on regulatory innovation, strategic investments, and inclusive program design.

3 Key Policy Measures Enabling a Resilient Grid in India 

India's electricity grid is facing increasing strains from a confluence of factors, including rapid economic growth leading to escalating power demand, the growing impact of climate change manifested in more frequent and intense extreme weather events, and the ambitious integration of variable renewable energy sources into the energy mix (500 GW by 2030). To safeguard the nation's energy security and provide an affordable and reliable power supply to all Indian citizens, proactive policy interventions are essential to bolster the grid's resilience against a spectrum of threats, ranging from natural disasters and cyberattacks to equipment failures. While significant progress has been made in reinforcing the transmission grid, there is still considerable room for improvement at the distribution level 

India should focus on three key policy measures to build a more resilient electricity grid: prioritising strategic investments in smart grid infrastructure and digitalisation; developing a comprehensive policy framework to promote grid flexibility; and establishing a strong and coordinated emergency response and disaster preparedness system. Strategic investment in smart grid infrastructure and digitalisation is a foundational policy measure that will provide the necessary technological backbone for a resilient grid capable of seamlessly integrating renewable energy, effectively managing increasing demand, and withstanding various threats. There is a noticeable absence of a holistic and integrated policy framework that explicitly addresses comprehensive grid resilience. Current policies tackle aspects of resilience indirectly through broader goals such as modernisation, renewable energy integration via battery storage, or the setting of reliability frameworks (Resource Adequacy framework) without a unified and overarching strategic vision for a truly resilient power system. The development of a dedicated national policy on grid resilience is therefore essential. Proactive disaster preparedness measures, including the hardening of infrastructure, mandating regular drills, investing in emergency restoration systems, demand response programs, mobile substations, and the implementation of effective early warning systems, can significantly reduce the vulnerability of the grid to various hazards and mitigate potential damage.

Q. How can we improve grid resilience to address the challenges of integrating intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar?

Wind power generation relies on wind speed, while solar energy is contingent on sunlight exposure; both are subject to changes caused by weather and daily cycles. This variability leads to unpredictable power output, resulting in periods of surplus and shortage. Managing fluctuations in renewable energy is generally straightforward when supply and demand shift together, but complications arise when they diverge, leading to higher grid balancing costs.

The rapid and often unpredictable changes in power injection from renewable energy sources can cause unstable grid frequency. Unlike conventional power plants, which have a rotating mass that provides inertia to the grid, wind and solar generators- especially those connected through inverter-based interfaces- lack this inherent inertia. This reduced inertia makes the grid more vulnerable to frequency fluctuations, requiring fast-response mechanisms to maintain stability.

The fundamental mismatch between the availability of wind and solar energy and the continuous demand for electricity necessitates advanced forecasting and balancing mechanisms to ensure a stable and reliable power supply. A multifaceted approach that decouples energy generation from consumption, combining advanced grid technologies, virtual power plants, energy storage solutions, demand-side management strategies, supportive policy and regulatory frameworks, and compartmentalisation of the grid into smaller, manageable sections- each capable of operating independently- is a key strategy for improving grid resilience.

The EU Trade Association

Q. How can the power grid be strengthened to withstand the increasing threat of extreme weather events?

There are a number of ways to strengthen electricity grids to be more resilient against the threat of an increasing amount and the increasing severity of extreme weather events. It is worth noting, however, that different forms of extreme weather require different mitigation strategies. When protecting against significant wind events and extreme heat or cold, undergrounding overhead lines is a good way to protect these cables. However, undergrounding lines is expensive, in some cases it can cause technical issues, does not protect against flood risk, and depending on what materials are used to encase underground lines, they may increase the carbon footprint of Distribution System Operators (DSOs).

Where undergrounding is not the best option, simple reinforcement of lines (like using aerial cables, increasing the degree of insulation, and increasing the mechanical strength of conductors, cross-arms, and insulators), innovative pole and line design, and proper vegetation management in overhead line corridors are all great alternatives to ensuring fewer outages and weather-related damage to the system.

Top 3 Tech Solutions for Enhancing Grid Resilience

Automated distribution grid components, like switches, sectionalisers, reclosers, and sensors, which can automatically reconfigure supply restoration within a few minutes and be piloted remotely. These components can enact fault detection to reduce the number of customers affected and, with remote control, can limit the necessary amount of field work in dangerous conditions.

Communication tools for emergency response. It is crucial to have communication technology in place to be able to let customers know what is happening and when the power is expected to be back. This is sometimes even more important than cutting the interruption time. Our members have found that customers are more accepting of power cuts if they have clarity on how long the outage will last. Being prepared to send SMS or push notifications to customers in that area, making sure the communication ICT systems are still running to the extent possible, and quickly publishing information on their websites is key.

System meshing which incorporates a reasonable level of redundancy can provide alternative paths for supply to reach customers and limit those affected by damage to the system.

Q. Can the power grid be adapted to handle the rising electricity demand from widespread electrification while maintaining resilience and reliability?

Absolutely, but it will require dedicated investments and a longer-term mindset by policymakers and regulators to achieve. Eurelectric’s Grids for Speed report found that we will need to invest at least around 4 billion EUR per year in EU27+Norway on targeted resilience measures to harden the grid against increasing extreme weather events. However, in many Member States, the regulatory framework could do more to incentivise investing in climate adaptation measures.

3 Key Policy Measures Enabling a Resilient Grid in Belgium

We have recommendations for what could be changed at European level to foster the necessary regulatory revision at national level:

1. Add a climate adaptation dimension to the National Climate & Energy Plans which includes targets for enhanced resilience and reliability of energy supply.
2. Amend the Governance Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2018/1999) to explicitly include climate adaptation within the responsibilities of NRAs vis-a-vis energy infrastructure resilience.
3. Including climate adaptation among the Net Zero Industry Act’s environmental criteria for public procurement.

Q. How can we improve grid resilience to address the challenges of integrating intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar?

Again, this has to be achieved through a favourable investment framework which allows DSOs to invest both in physical build out to meet this increasing generation, but also in technological solutions, like predictive software to track weather patterns, so grid operators can make the best use of variable renewable energy sources while they are available. Another important tool in the toolbox is to develop both implicit and explicit flexibility measures so that DSOs can contract flexibility services to get customers through the times they are not. 

The Policy Meets Tech Think Tank

Q. How can the power grid be strengthened to withstand the increasing threat of extreme weather events?

The grid can—and in many places must—get bigger. But writ large, we are still overbuilding an inefficiently utilised, under-optimised system. Across the U.S., we have invested heavily in poles and wires while underbuilding the solution stack and tech stack needed to use the grid more intelligently—especially outside of peak demand. We are not scaling distributed assets—solar, batteries, flexible load, microgrids—at the speed resilience requires.

Some utilities are starting to lead, but the dominant compensation model still rewards investment in just two things: transmission and generation. Most utilities are not incentivised to enable third-party capital, deploy distributed control platforms, or facilitate market signals that would accelerate private investment in resilience. That’s a core policy gap.

To withstand extreme weather, we need thousands of distributed nodes—homes, clinics, community centers—with solar-plus-storage systems that operate through outages and reduce stress on the grid year-round. Programs like the DERP proposal I’m developing in New Orleans show what’s possible when distributed capital and utility investment are paired to stretch ratepayer dollars and deploy faster.

Resilience is not a line item in ratebase—it’s a national security strategy. And it requires our wires and generation companies—regulated or not—to treat each other as partners. The Department of Defense doesn’t cluster its assets in one place; it distributes risk across supply chains. Our grid policy must do the same. If we don’t reform how we plan, operate, and pay for resilience, we will keep building the wrong grid for the problems we face.

Top 3 Tech Solutions for Enhancing Grid Resilience

In my work, I focus on three things: reducing energy system costs so we can make and do things cheaper in America, keeping AI infrastructure domestic, and delivering cheaper power—meaning lower-cost power delivery infrastructure—for everyone. Technology only matters if it advances all three.

1. AI-enabled orchestration platforms that unify legacy utility systems.
Utilities don’t need to build new control centers—they need to integrate what they already operate. Orchestration platforms that bridge SCADA, AMI, outage management, DER telemetry, and forecasting allow operators to manage distributed assets, flexible loads, and grid disturbances in real time. These systems reduce soft costs, streamline dispatch, and delay or avoid capital upgrades. Critically, they also allow third-party participation—bringing in cheaper private capital and driving down the cost of delivered power system-wide.

2. Climate-hardened, grid-synchronous storage at all scales.
Batteries are grid infrastructure. When sited and integrated properly, they support voltage, frequency, ride-through, and peak shaving—especially in extreme heat or storm events. They also extend the life of thermal plants and defer transmission upgrades. This lowers system costs and enables more resilient service for all ratepayers.

3. Optimal power flow (OPF) tools for complex and flexible loads. To meet hyperscale AI demand and identify lower-cost non-wires alternatives, planners need tools that model real system behavior. OPF software lets us plan for hybrid sites, fast-acting load, curtailment avoidance, and system congestion. These tools are how we win both the AI race and the cost-reduction race.

Q. Can the power grid be adapted to handle the rising electricity demand from widespread electrification while maintaining resilience and reliability?

It can—but only if we stop trying to solve it with siloed, one-dimensional solutions. We adapt the grid by using it smarter, not just building it bigger.

Here’s a representative sample of the work I’ve done, year over year, to move us in that direction:

I helped unlock the Tesla Megapack market in Texas by leading a one-year effort to update metering, telemetry, and settlement rules—changes that helped catalyse the battery boom now delivering over 12 GW of storage capacity across ERCOT. I also helped prove the value of SCED-dispatchable residential batteries through a pilot with 65 homeowners, showing the grid operator that behind-the-meter systems can respond in real time, like any other capacity resource.

In Puerto Rico, I orchestrated the regulatory approvals for the island’s first residential battery VPP—one that’s now actively preventing outages. I drafted the policy architecture for DERP in New Orleans, which—once implemented—will enable distributed solar and storage to defer central generation and reduce local outage risk.

I advised Base Power on building a home battery rental and retail energy business model in a complex deregulated market. Right now, I’m supporting companies like Emerald AI on workload orchestration, and working with developers of sustainable data center campuses to deliver grid-forming capabilities and flexible load strategies that help the grid, not just take from it.

This is what adaptation looks like: making every part of the system more intelligent, more flexible, and more cost-aware.

3 Key Policy Measures Enabling a Resilient Grid in the U.S.

1. Redesign utility incentives to reward enablement, not just ownership.

Most utilities still earn regulated returns for building wires and generation—not for performance, coordination, or integration. That leaves third-party resilience solutions—storage, microgrids, VPPs, flexible load—structurally underutilised.

We need to reward utilities that enable smarter data center buildouts, community-scale resilience, and scalable distributed energy programs—not just infrastructure they own. That means aligning earnings with outcomes: utilities that lower peak-driven investment, improve reliability, and enable market participation should be allowed to earn for that enablement. This includes capital-light, performance-based models and shared-savings mechanisms that link revenue to grid benefit, not just capital deployed.

2. Align AI infrastructure incentives with grid resilience outcomes.
AI and data center load is not just demand growth—it’s an opportunity to build the most flexible, efficient, and resilient load the grid has ever seen. But today’s policy frameworks, at best, treat AI as a burden—not a partner—and at worst, impose punitive structures that stifle investment in sustainable, grid-supportive site design.

In every region I’ve worked—where we have had successes, challenges, and breakthroughs—it comes down to one thing: price signals. We need tariffs and legislation that send clear, high-impact signals for grid participation and support. That includes workload shifting, power factor correction, site-level energy efficiency, local backup, and congestion mitigation.

I work directly with developers to embed all forms of flexibility and efficiency into site design—not just workload orchestration, but smart thermal management, UPS integration, and active demand management. If we want AI to reduce—not worsen—the cost of serving load, we must design regulation that motivates that behavior.

3. Enable DER and hybrid sites through real participation pathways.
Frameworks that allow batteries, solar, and flexible loads to deliver real grid value must dominate how we think about power systems moving forward—across regulation, investment, and planning. This includes fast-track interconnection, telemetry standards, dispatch integration, and compensation mechanisms for grid services. We need to do more for hybrid load-to-generation sites—whether it is homes self powered with solar and batteries that can share their energy with the grid, or data centers or industrial facilities with onsite generation and storage that can serve their own load and stabilise the grid. That’s how we unlock low-cost, localised resilience that supports both national security and economic security objectives.

Q. How can we improve grid resilience to address the challenges of integrating intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar?

The real threat to grid resilience isn’t wind or solar—it’s our institutions clinging to legacy assumptions while the generation mix transforms beneath them. We are navigating mass thermal retirements, selective new gas buildout, rising electrification, and more frequent, longer climate-driven disruptions—all while still treating storage, load flexibility, and hybrid capacity as afterthoughts rather than core infrastructure.

We need a rapid policy shift that bakes storage and flexibility into utility and regulatory frameworks by default—across all chemistries, durations, and applications. This isn’t just about four-hour lithium batteries. It’s one-hour batteries for voltage stability, long-duration storage for capacity, hybrid sites that stabilise net load, dispatchable demand that balances variability in real time, and yes—UPS batteries now powering oscillating AI compute loads that require precision and ride-through.

This shift isn’t about more technology—it’s about reforming law, tariffs, and planning tools so that storage and flexible assets are treated as infrastructure, not pilots or edge cases. Through my work on VPP deployment, industrial BESS strategy, and DER policy design, the pattern is clear: we are under-planning and under-valuing the tools we already have.

I think it’s an act of patriotism to call this what it is: a national risk—and to fight like hell to build a grid that operates dynamically, equitably, and affordably for a 21st-century America.

The AI Non-Profit Research and Development Lab

Q. How can the power grid be strengthened to withstand the increasing threat of extreme weather events?

With the global increase in renewable energy sources, the electricity grid itself is changing in nature. As the climate changes alongside our energy systems, the key to building resilience against extreme weather events lies in the ability to predict and anticipate the impacts of these events. The more accurate our predictions, the better global responses will be, improving efficiency and saving lives. 

In addition, the growth in renewable sources of energy plays an important part in making our power systems more resilient. With renewable sources such as rooftop solar, much more of global generation is now distributed - we have moved from dozens of large generators to literally millions of generators spread across far reaching geographical locations.

Top 3 Tech Solutions for Enhancing Grid Resilience

Predictive AI modelling tools that are trained to forecast impacts on grid infrastructure. These models are trained using historical weather and incident data, which means they are able to predict where, when and how severe hardware damage could be. This allows network operators to notify and dispatch maintenance teams to expected hotspots ahead of time. This can deliver faster repair times, reduce the strain on personnel and lower costs. 

Advanced grid modelling and forecasting tools. With the rise of distributed generation, wind farms, rooftop solar and home batteries, grid operators need granular forecasts of demand and distributed generation so they can understand where power sources are that could be impacted by weather-driven events. This will allow the optimal decisions to be taken, keeping any load shedding (when grid operators reduce electricity supply to avoid overwhelming power systems) to a minimum. 

Commercial and communication solutions. Communicating with users and devices to mitigate the effects of weather outages is an exciting new possibility for the modern grid. The flexibility provided by turning down demand has already been deployed to maintain system stability, but commercial agreements with end users need to be established ahead of time, and communications with end users will be vital.

Q. Can the power grid be adapted to handle the rising electricity demand from widespread electrification while maintaining resilience and reliability?

With the rise in electrification, it is estimated there will be a 50% increase in electricity demand. Alongside the building of new infrastructure to accommodate this increase in demand, global grids will require extensive upgrades to existing hardware. Traditional control measures on electricity grids are mostly manual and designed for a time where grid systems were much less complex. Increased digitalisation and the penetration of controllable devices can enable the grid to be more flexible and intelligent. By using dynamic controls of the grid, we can reduce required infrastructure upgrades while still maintaining grid reliability, ensuring significant financial savings. The catch: This will require a huge increase in the amount of accessible data, as well as our ability as a global ecosystem to use that data.

3 Key Policy Measures Enabling a Resilient Grid in the UK

1. For a more innovative and resilient UK grid, the government needs to start developing legislation that allows for increased data sharing. For a grid to take advantage of the digitalisation opportunities, it is essential that both metadata (static data) and dynamic power flow data is shared as much as possible, while respecting legitimate privacy, security or commercial concerns. Policy makers will need to work with regulators and industry to push through deeper requirements for industry bodies (private and state) to share energy data within the ecosystem. 
2. Regulation that ensures transparency in grid operators’ scenario planning and operational plans. By sharing scenarios with industry, grid operators will receive better feedback and refine responses. 
3. To support modern grid resilience, the UK needs to continue investment in innovative technologies like artificial intelligence. At Open Climate Fix, we understand that AI is essential to build solutions that enhance our global power grids, making them more resilient, efficient and cost effective.

Q. How can we improve grid resilience to address the challenges of integrating intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar?

The actions are similar to the challenges for a weather resilient grid. 

1.  High quality forecasting of demand and weather dependent generation on the grid (solar and wind). 
2. The ability to model the power flows through the grid with scenarios of demand, weather dependent generation and other outages (whether of plant or transmission). 
3. The ability to effectively marshall flexibility of demand and storage through the electricity grid - specifically programmes focused on demand side flexibility, where customers turn down or up their use of electricity.

The Independent Public Body

Q. How can the power grid be strengthened to withstand the increasing threat of extreme weather events?

Traditionally, the solution was mainly through power grid infrastructure and monitoring enhancement. In recent years, there has been more focus on improving energy supply, energy balancing (balancing supply and demand of energy) and system reliability (stabilising voltage, inertia, etc.) through flexible technologies such as distributed energy resources (DERs), demand response (DR) and energy storage that is necessary during extreme weather events.

Moving away from a top to bottom, centralised grid where the source of energy was only big power plants and hence any infrastructure damage meant energy cuts for a large number of customers towards a decentralised energy grid, relying on local sources such as DERs, DRs, batteries, microgrids and community energy has also been recognised as the necessary additional solution to improve grid resilience.

Top 3 Tech Solutions for Enhancing Grid Resilience

Digitalisation of the grid is the absolute necessary technology to monitor and operate a resilient grid. Flexibility in particular. Batteries are currently contributing to balancing and stabilising the grid, while easing congestion on the grid. Smart demand will be a top solution as we move toward electrifications, as there will be more challenges on the distribution level. It is important to mention in some cases grid enhancement will still be necessary as we move forward.

Q. Can the power grid be adapted to handle the rising electricity demand from widespread electrification while maintaining resilience and reliability?

Moving toward electrification at the same time as clean power has introduced challenges to power grids across the world, such as increased demand, change of demand patterns, demand/supply imbalance and reliability (voltage, inertia, etc.) challenges.

While enhancing the power grid can solve this problem, this solution is sometimes more expensive and time consuming (in some cases, it's not even possible to align with the speed of electrification) compared to relying on the utility programmes that are designed to move towards smart grids. These programmes take advantage of supply and demand flexibility such as distributed energy resources, batteries, demand flexibility to shift the demand patterns, balance demand and supply and also help with the reliability and resilience of the grid.

This decentralised smart grid enables local control of production and demand, necessary for electrification that puts pressure on low voltage distribution infrastructure.

3 Key Policy Measures Enabling a Resilient Grid in the UK

Currently there are different policies pushing for a more resilient grid, driven by the 2030 clean power action plan and the 2050 net zero emission target. Investing in new infrastructure, transmission and distribution system upgrades are part of the UK action plans to achieve a resilient grid ready for the government’s targets.

System wide digitalisation, cyber security enhancement and automation of the grid is another policy that will enable safe transfer of data/signals and automation needed to operate a resilient grid connected to millions of small assets across the distribution level.

The Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA) is the government’s flagship policy to enable a net zero power sector by 2035, subject to security of supply. As we move away from high carbon technologies, REMA explores how investment signals and markets signals can be reformed to incentivise decentralised low carbon flexible technologies and consumer flexibility so that the system can cope with the variability of intermittent renewables and other balancing and system reliability challenges, while providing back up power.

REMA is also considering different locational pricing to ensure new assets consider their impact on the grid. Locational signals also ease grid congestion by diversifying the locations of renewable generation (in some cases) and incentivising assets to consider real time locational constraints.

The UK’s whole system approach is another transition to plan and operate cross-sector energy infrastructures across electricity, gas, heating, transport, etc. This will ensure the whole system is considered for investment, operation, digitalisation, etc resulting in a secure, resilient net zero system at a minimum cost to the consumers.

There are other policies that introduced new functions across the UK energy system such as future system operation, market facilitator, regional strategic planning. This is to ensure efficient cross-sector planning, digitalisation and operation of the system that is necessary to effectively design a resilient grid across energy system.