UK can be at the forefront of the decarbonisation of the energy system

Newcastle University’s Professor Phil Taylor says the substantial changes on how we make and use energy are paving the way for the transition to a 100% renewable electricity system.

Chronicle live reports Prof Taylor commenting: “In the years to come, every household appliance will have its own IP address linking it to the internet and allowing it be controlled from an app on our smart phones,” he said. This so-called ‘internet of things’ will allow us, and the network operator, to tailor demand to accommodate the unreliability of renewable energy.”

Prof Taylor outlined an example where all 20m homes in the UK switched off the equivalent of one bar on an electric fire. This would equate to 2GW of electricity which is greater than the capacity of Hartlepool nuclear power station.

Rather than the old ‘fit and forget’ model of large fossil-fuel generating power stations transmitting electricity to homes and businesses through a network of pylons and wires the new system will be ‘smart’.

Prof Taylor and Newcastle University are currently working with a transmission company and are trialling the ‘smart’ plug across 250 homes across the region to help assess ‘smart’ electricity supply potential.

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