According to EU Skills, some of the hardest jobs to fi ll in the utilities industry today include: site managers, project managers, power systems engineers, commissioning engineers, overhead linespeople, substation engineers and, interestingly, design engineers. This is concerning because energy networks are becoming smarter and more complex, which is precisely when design skills come to the fore.
Make the future better by design Read More »
Local authority leaders from across the UK have been working to address the challenge of climate change since at least the early 1990s, with the advent of Agenda 21, the United Nations’ non-binding action plan on sustainable development, produced at the Rio Earth Summit 1992.
Making climate change local with UK100 Read More »
It has been widely estimated that more than four million excavations take place across Great Britain each year. In 2017, only 2.25 million of these involved a thorough search for pipes and cables before the work commenced. This means that 44 per cent did so without detailed examination for existing underground assets. This puts the critical utility infrastructure at constant risk of being accidentally damaged.
Making excavation safer Read More »
Decc’s key responsibility is making sure our families and businesses have the certainty of secure, affordable and clean energy supplies. For this very reason, I want the UK to vote to stay in the EU on 23 June – because it helps to deliver these objectives as well as helping us to tackle climate change more effectively.
Lord Bourne speaks out on Brexit energy risks Read More »
Bean Beanland argued that electricity-powered heat pumps are the most viable low carbon heat solution for new homes or retro-fits today, while widescale conversion of the gas grid to hydrogen is at least ten to 15 years away.
Low carbon heat must go electric in 2020, says GSHPA Read More »
The hiatus over Hinkley Point C only throws into sharper focus the question of how the UK can produce reliable low carbon power. Yes, solar and offshore wind are coming down in price, but to meet its carbon targets the country is going to need large scale, round the clock low carbon power generation.
Low carbon security of supply: the case for CCS is building Read More »
While we are used to the occasional power outage, lasting perhaps a few hours and limited to a small area, the electricity sector also has plans in place to deal with much more severe and widespread disruptions to power, and being able to restore supplies as quickly as possible. Peter Jones, technical manager at the ERP notes that, “while we are confident the current system is resilient to a wide range of extreme events today, looking forward we can see a number of significant long-term trends that may impact the system resilience in the decades to come.”
Maintaining a resilient energy system Read More »
Recently, I travelled around Cornwall. I visited amazing hotels, beautiful beaches and rugged countryside landscapes. I was not, however, on holiday, but visiting our Local Energy Market (LEM) project, which has installed a range of low carbon energy technologies into the businesses I visited, including the stunning Carbis Bay Hotel and the charismatic Olde House farm and holiday retreat.
Local energy in action Read More »
Traditionally, options for reclosing on mixed and underground circuits to locate faults have been limited. Mixed feeders are the most difficult to manage for reliability and protection, and they contribute highly to customer interruptions and customer minutes lost. They also are expensive to own and operate. Underground circuits have large numbers of customers, so utilities tend to prioritise repairing them for rapid restoration.
RTE, owner of the largest high and extra-high voltage electricity transmission network in Europe, spends more than €800 million on asset management every year. Confronting challenges to arbitrate between maintenance and renewal policies, RTE decision makers realised they needed to create a holistic business plan, allowing them to view the impact of their decisions across multiple systems.
Looking after your assets Read More »
