The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) is seeking partners for a project which aims to understand the opportunity for and implications of moving to more integrated multi-vector networks.
The ETI will invest up to £300,000 in the Future Networks Multi Vector Integration Project in its Energy Storage and Distribution technology Programme area.
The UK’s energy networks will require substantial investment in new capacity, technology development and innovation to accommodate low carbon generation sources to ensure that they are fit for purpose to meet predicted future demand.
Networks must have the capacity to not only meet peak flow demand, but also build in extra capacity.
The project will identify the ways in which different networks could interact, examine what the effects on each of the networks would be and identify any technology or operational opportunities that would lead to increased integration between vectors.
In the energy system of the future there could be increased interdependence between the different energy networks that currently, and will in future, supply the nation’s energy with several individual energy vectors such as electricity, gas or hydrogen capable of delivering multiple services.
Currently the networks themselves are operated independently and regulated in such a way that restricts wider system benefits being delivered.
New networks are set to emerge and the role of existing networks is expected to evolve. Closer and more complex interactions between these different vectors, including partial or complete transitions from one vector to another, are a distinct opportunity.
Susie Winter, project manager for energy storage and distribution at the ETI said: “There is a developing body of evidence both within the ETI and from other research that there is value in employing a multi-vector approach to energy supply.
“This will create specific challenges for network infrastructure and it will be important to identify those and to see how they can be overcome.
“This project aims to increase the understanding of the opportunities and implications of moving to more integrated multi-vector networks.”
The request for proposals for the FutureNetworks: Multi Vector Integration Project will close on 29 January 2015. The deadline for notification of intention to submit a proposal is 15 January 2015.
The request for proposals can be viewed at http://www.eti.co.uk/category/proposals/
