23 June 2010
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is backing EDF Energy Networks’ bid for funding to reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s capital city in the fight against climate change.
London’s electricity distributor has submitted its initial bid to seek funding from Ofgem’s £500million Low Carbon Networks Fund to create a smart electricity distribution network that would help London cut its carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.
‘Low Carbon London – A Learning Journey’ is a major collaborative project which would involve working with communities and businesses to create a blueprint for a future electricity distribution system to support the Government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan. The proposed project would encompass smart grid technologies and carbon-cutting commercial arrangements to encourage customers to play a key role in helping to match London’s electricity demand with available low carbon electricity production. It would also look at ways to accommodate the anticipated growth in micro-generation while managing higher demand for electricity created by the switch to electric cars.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “The key to becoming a cleaner, less polluted and more energy efficient city is to utilise clever new technologies. I want London to be a pioneer in the introduction of ingenious solutions to crack the environmental challenges we face. This is being demonstrated in our work to encourage the mainstream use of zero-polluting electric vehicles and in the delivery of innovation programmes taking place in ten low carbon zones across the capital. We are pleased to support EDF Energy Networks’ bid, which if successful, will deliver significant funds to help us to accelerate the introduction of smart ways to improve Londoners' quality of life.”
EDF Energy Networks plans to work with the Greater London Authority, the London Development Agency, Transport for London and the Institute for Sustainability on some of the Mayor’s flagship programmes to make London more energy efficient, reduce energy bills, deliver new infrastructure and create ‘green collar’ jobs. These programmes include the ten low carbon zones that were awarded a share in £3million by the Mayor for reducing their carbon emissions by 20.12 per cent by 2012, as well as plans to make London the electric car capital of Europe. These plans are set to deliver 7,500 electric vehicle charging points by spring 2013 with a target for 25,000 by 2015, supporting 100,000 electric vehicles.
Low Carbon London would provide the vital information link, matching models of the electricity distribution network of the future with real customer behaviour, and finding the best ways of empowering customers to reduce their electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Working directly with London communities and businesses, EDF Energy Networks would seek to help them learn how to manage their electricity demand.
Laurent Ferrari, EDF Energy Networks’ Managing Director, said: “We welcome the support of the Mayor for our bid. The low carbon economy is around the corner and electricity distribution network companies must radically change the way they run their networks to play their part in making it happen. If we are successful in our bid, the Low Carbon Networks Fund will give us a fantastic opportunity to work closely with our partners and customers in London to help facilitate a low carbon future and generate vital new knowledge for the whole industry.”
EDF Energy Networks is not proposing a ‘quick fix’; the purpose of the project is to help identify the main challenges that all distribution network operators will have to face in delivering a future low carbon electricity system. The learning from the project would help to form a long-term low carbon strategy, together with a clear view of the new skills and training needed. A ‘Low Carbon London Learning Laboratory’ would capture and share information about the important role that electricity distribution companies will need to play in working with customers and partners to reduce CO2 emissions and drive real changes in electricity demand and local generation. EDF Energy Networks’ Low Carbon Networks Fund project submission has benefitted from the expertise of partners including Siemens, Logica, National Grid and Imperial College London, plus Smarter Grid Solutions, EnerNOC and Flexitricity.
The full bids for Ofgem’s Low Carbon Networks Fund will be submitted on 3 September 2010 and Ofgem will announce the winning projects in early December.
If the bid is successful, the funding will support a series of innovative measures in London:
• Matching London’s electricity demand with low carbon electricity production: EDF Energy Networks would examine the scope for matching London’s electricity demand with the available output from green generation. This would enable London to develop innovative ways to increase its use of low carbon and renewable energy and reduce the requirement for centralised fossil-fuelled generation to feed into the transmission system.
• Smart grids: New information and control systems would monitor and co-ordinate all the electricity flowing in and out of the power grid and integrate local and renewable generation, including solar and wind. The goal would be to provide affordable, low carbon, secure electricity.
• Electric cars: With 7,500 electric vehicle charging points planned for London by spring 2013, EDF Energy Networks would support the electrification of transport to improve air quality, reduce carbon emissions and noise. Through smart control of electric vehicle charging points, we would seek to avoid the risk of all electric vehicle owners arriving at work and charging their vehicles at about 9am, creating a large increase in demand on the network. Smart controls would make better use of existing local network capacity, avoiding the need for network reinforcement, and hence making electric car infrastructure cheaper to install. EDF Energy Networks would also help to inform TfL’s strategy for future charging point deployment. The Mayor has plans to support the introduction of 25,000 charge points by 2015 and to deliver 1,000 electric vehicles into the GLA group fleet by the same year.
• Local generation: The electricity grid need not be a barrier to new decentralised and renewable electricity generation. EDF Energy Networks would use ‘smart grid’ technology to monitor the output of small electricity generators, such as solar photovoltaic, wind and micro combined heat and power based systems, connected to its London network. This would help determine how more low carbon and renewable generation could be accommodated in the future without requiring conventional network investment. The project would target the GLA’s ten low carbon zones where energy efficiency measures and local generation, including renewables, will be introduced across a range of buildings. The Mayor has set each zone the target of cutting carbon emissions by 20.12 per cent by 2012.
• Customer participation: EDF Energy Networks would work with electricity suppliers to install smart meters in thousands of homes across the ten low carbon zones. The aim would be to explore how to encourage customers to be more efficient and flexible in their electricity usage, wherever possible reducing consumption at times of national or local network peak demand. This would make better use of network capacity and reduce the need to call on higher carbon generation.
• Commercial arrangements: New commercial arrangements would be explored to encourage business and commercial customers to use electricity more flexibly, for example by offering financial incentives to customers willing and able to reduce demand on request. This would free up network capacity to enable more low-carbon technologies such as electric vehicles to use the electricity network. It would also cut carbon emissions by reducing consumption at times of national high demand. Such arrangements would help provide the necessary balancing services to mitigate the variability of wind generation.
Ends
For further information contact Niamh Arnett, in EDF Energy’s press office, on 01293 509153.
1. EDF Energy is one of the UK’s largest energy companies, producing around one-fifth of the nation's electricity from its nuclear, coal and gas power stations, as well as combined heat and power plants and wind farms. The company provides power to a quarter of the UK’s population via its electricity distribution networks and supplies gas and electricity to more than 5.5 million business and residential customers. It is the largest supplier of electricity based on volume supplied to major business in Britain.
EDF Energy’s safe and secure operation of its eight existing nuclear power stations at sites across the country makes it the UK’s largest generator of low carbon electricity. EDF Energy is also leading the UK's nuclear renaissance and has published plans to build four new nuclear reactors, subject to the right investment framework. These new plants could generate enough low carbon electricity for about 40% of Britain’s homes. They would make an important contribution to the UK’s future needs for clean, secure and affordable energy. The project is already creating business and job opportunities for British companies and workers.
Through Our Sustainability Commitments, EDF Energy has launched one of the biggest environmental and social programmes of any UK energy company. EDF is the official energy utilities partner and sustainability partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The company is also helping its customers and others use energy more sustainably through products and initiatives such as Team Green Britain.
EDF Energy is part of EDF Group, one of Europe’s largest power companies. Following the integration with British Energy in 2009, the company employs nearly 20,000 people at locations across the UK.
2. Ofgem’s Authority will announce the winning bids for the Low Carbon Networks Fund in early December 2010.