Consumers must play a greater role in decarbonising the UK’s energy system by 2030

Flexibility in the use of electricity in households and industry will be critical to the UK achieving its goal of a decarbonised energy system by 2030, the National Energy System Operator is expected to say in a statement on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. .

The UK Labor government is now aiming to decarbonise the energy system by the end of the decade, betting on the growth of renewable energy, especially wind power. And the new operator of the public system believes that flexible behavior of consumers taking into account demand will help achieve the goal.

In the 2030 clean energy model NESO is set to release on Tuesday, one of the scenarios includes increasing demand flexibility to 12 gigawatts (GW) from the current less than 3 GW, FT sources said.

Last month the government launched the Clean Energy 2030 Advisory Commission to help accelerate the UK’s mission to decarbonise the electricity grid.

A month earlier, Cabinet created a new National Grid Operator (NESO) as part of a new, more strategic approach to help deliver clean electricity by 2030. The Government has reached an agreement with National Grid to acquire the Electricity System Operator. , which will be transferred to state ownership.

“We need to move the UK away from expensive and unsafe fossil fuel markets and towards clean, cheap, home-grown electricity that we control,” Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said in September.

Jonathan Brierley, chief executive of energy regulator Ofgem, said at the time: “The creation of NESO is a huge step forward in ending Britain’s dependence on unstable energy markets and delivering clean, renewable energy to every one of us.”

NESO’s official recommendations are now expected to include additional actions by consumers to increase their electricity consumption during off-peak periods. The operator encourages households to defer electricity use during periods of reduced overall demand through a payment scheme. Last month NESO proposed that the scheme, which was limited to winter peak periods, should be implemented all year round.

Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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