Policy and regulation for smart grids in the United Kingdom

The UK has adopted legal obligations concerning climate change which will place increased stresses on the current ‘traditional’ model of centralised generation. This will include the stimulation of large volumes of intermittent generation, more distributed generation and larger and more variable loads at grid extremities, potentially including large volumes of electric vehicles and heat pumps. Smarter grids have been mooted as a major potential contributor to the decarbonisation of electricity, through facilitation of reduced losses, greater system efficiency, enhanced flexibility to allow the system to deal with intermittent sources and a number of other benefits. This article considers the different policy elements of what will be required for energy delivery in the UK to become smarter, the challenges this presents, the extent to which these are currently under consideration and some of the changes that might be needed in the future.