Impacts of COVID-19 on the Energy System

This Briefing Paper explores the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the UK’s energy sector over the course of the first government-mandated national lockdown that began on 23 March 2020. Research from several aspects of the Integrated Development of Low-carbon Energy Systems (IDLES) programme at Imperial College London is presented in one overarching paper. The main aim is to determine what lessons can be learnt from that lockdown period, given the unique set of challenges it presented in our daily lives and the changes it brought about in energy demand, supply, and use. Valuable insights are gained into how working-from-home policies, electric vehicles, and low-carbon grids can be implemented, incentivised, and managed effectively

Value of point-of-load voltage control for enhanced frequency response in future GB power system

The need for Enhanced Frequency Response (EFR)is expected to increase significantly in future low-carbon GreatBritain (GB) power system. One way to provide EFR is touse power electronic compensators (PECs) for point-of-loadvoltage control (PVC) to exploit the voltage dependence of loads.This paper investigates the techno-economic feasibility of suchtechnology in future GB power system by quantifying the totalEFR obtainable through deploying PVC in the urban domesticsector, the investment cost of the installment and the economicand environmental benefits of using PVC. The quantificationis based on a stochastic domestic demand model and genericmedium and low-voltage distribution networks for the urbanareas of GB and a stochastic unit commitment (SUC) modelwith constraints for secure post-fault frequency evolution is usedfor the value assessment. Two future energy scenarios in thebackdrop of 2030 with ‘smart’ and ‘non-smart’ control of electricvehicles and heat pumps, under different levels of penetration ofbattery energy storage system (BESS) are considered to assessthe value of PEC, as well as the associated payback period. Itis demonstrated that PVC could effectively complement BESStowards EFR provision in future GB power system