Local Electricity Supply: Opportunities, archetypes and outcomes

This report investigates how new, system-wide value opportunities have arisen in the energy system and how local electricity1 business models can capture them. The research team was composed of Dr Stephen Hall and Dr Katy Roelich of the Schools of Environment and Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds. This report develops a detailed evidence base to explore the business models and value opportunities offered by the emerging field of local electricity supply. The purpose of this report is to offer evidence-based options for enabling the local electricity supply sector in the UK

Assessing the critical material constraints on low carbon infrastructure transitions

We present an assessment method to analyze whether the disruption in supply of a group of materials endangers the transition to low-carbon infrastructure. We define criticality as the combination of the potential for supply disruption and the exposure of the system of interest to that disruption. Low-carbon energy depends on multiple technologies comprised of a multitude of materials of varying criticality. Our methodology allows us to assess the simultaneous potential for supply disruption of a range of materials. Generating a specific target level of low-carbon energy implies a dynamic roll-out of technology at a specific scale. Our approach is correspondingly dynamic, and monitors the change in criticality during the transition towards a low-carbon energy goal. It is thus not limited to the quantification of criticality of a particular material at a particular point in time. We apply our method to criticality in the proposed UK energy transition as a demonstration, with a focus on neodymium use in electric vehicles. Although we anticipate that the supply disruption of neodymium will decrease, our results show the criticality of low carbon energy generation increases, as a result of increasing exposure to neodymium-reliant technologies. We present a number of potential responses to reduce the criticality through a reduction in supply disruption potential of the exposure of the UK to that disruption

Briefing: Resource scarcity and resource security – a suppressed civil engineering challenge

While natural and manufactured resources provide the raw materials with which civil engineers work, the term ‘resources’ should always be considered in its wider interpretation and then in the context that resources are in many cases limited. That they should be used wisely (resource efficiency) is beyond contention – we do this as a matter of course – yet considerations of where and how resources are obtained and refined for use are far less likely to feature in a civil engineer's psyche. Similarly, considerations of resource availability for others now, and importantly in the future, and the vulnerability of these resources to future supply disruption (e.g. for geopolitical reasons) are likely not to be in the forefront of our thinking when conducting our routine business. The ICE Research, Development & Innovation towards Engineering Excellence panel has chosen this topic as one of pressing importance across all the sectors that comprise civil engineering. Accordingly, the panel is promoting this topic for Research & Development Enabling Fund (R&DEF) proposals. This briefing note describes the prior work of the panel in exploring the extent of this issue, along with insights from current research, to raise awareness, encourage R&DEF proposals and prime debates on this topic

Efficient and service oriented infrastructure operation: the role of the Energy Efficiency Directive in driving change towards Multi Utility Service Companies

Infrastructure operation can be described as separate utility systems provisioning unconstrained demand, with higher throughput corresponding to higher profits. In contrast, an efficiency perspective would prioritize coordinated infrastructure operation focused on essential service delivery at the lowest possible resource use. We investigate how to accelerate the adoption of alternative infrastructure operation configurations which are: centred on the end-user and their demand for services; concerned with resource efficiency improvements; and consider multiple infrastructure streams. We call these alternative modes of operation Multi-Utility Service Companies (MUSCos). Market and system failures, that arise in privatised utility systems, present barriers to the adoption of MUSCos. This paper categorises these barriers and investigates the extent to which the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) overcomes them. The EED is analysed because energy is required to deliver the majority of household infrastructure services and as a result energy policy will have influence over the related infrastructure systems. Our research finds that the EED could increase adoption of service-oriented contracts in the public sector, potentially resulting in spillover to the domestic and commercial sector. However, without changes to accounting practices, financial instruments and standardisation of contracts, investment risks and transaction costs would remain high and it is unlikely that this spillover would occur. In addition, the continued fragmentation of policy and cross-sector information asymmetries augments existing barriers to more integrated infrastructure operation. We describe additional measures that might overcome these weaknesses; including measures to reduce contractual barriers and risks in the domestic sector, provide more appropriate financing and accounting arrangements and more explicitly address the interconnectivity of infrastructure systems in future policy

The role of governance in accelerating transition towards more integrated, service-oriented infrastructure operation

Infrastructure operation in the UK can be described as separate utility systems provisioning unconstrained demand, with higher throughput corresponding to higher profits. A more sustainable approach would prioritise coordinated infrastructure operation focused on essential service delivery at the lowest possible resource use. However, the presiding policy paradigm reinforces the current regime to such an extent that it constrains the necessary transition to a more sustainable infrastructure system. This paper combines the findings of existing case study research with insights from theories of multi- level governance, co-evolution and institutional dynamics to improve our understanding of how governance systems could accelerate the transition to more resource efficient, service-oriented infrastructure operation. We develop a governance analysis framework to improve the understanding of this transition and in particular the role that governance might take in managing its acceleration. The framework allows analysts to identify elements or relationships that are absent from a system of interest or that are constrained by the current governance system. This can be used to identify alternative approaches to governance that remove barriers to transitions or enable the creation of a necessary element and accelerate desirable transitions