Tuesday, March 21, 2023, 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM GMT

This is a hybrid event. Attendance can either be in person or online.

If you would like to attend in person, please use this link.

For online registration, please use this link.

Location

Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) 1 Birdcage Walk London SW1H 9JJ

The need for Net Zero is clear to most. The “Energy Sector” is not the only contributor to man-made greenhouse gas emissions but ultimately it is the way that we use energy that dominates these emissions.

Low/zero carbon generation such as wind turbines, PV panels, nuclear power, natural hydro, and related renewable-energy generators are clearly essential to our transition to net zero emissions. This was recognised early and put incentives in place that have been hugely successful in driving down generation costs, shortening project timescales, and eliciting private investment. The UK’s CfD has been a particularly noteworthy success.

As the penetration of low-carbon generation rises in the electricity system, a different challenge is revealed – ensuring that the energy consumer receives the energy when and where it is wanted. Coal, oil, and gas gave us flexibility at very low cost and that flexibility is not easy to replace. Energy storage is one of the leading solutions to the problem of reconciling supply and demand. The state of policy development around energy storage is very far behind where it should be to meet political commitments, including the UK’s net zero grid target of 2035.

This event sets out to expose some of the main issues behind why the policies around energy storage and other flexibility technologies are less developed than they might be. The key objective is to unearth and share what possible directions exist and what good practice is already established that can be adopted more broadly. The event will comprise some six formal talks in the morning, some five short ideas-stimulating pitches in the early afternoon, and a final open-format plenary session.

Event Chair - Michael Liebreich

Michael Liebreich is an acknowledged thought leader on clean energy, mobility, technology, climate, sustainability, and finance. He is the founder and senior contributor to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a member of numerous industry, governmental, and multilateral advisory boards, an angel investor, a former member of the board of Transport for London, and an Advisor to the UK Board of Trade.

EVENT AGENDA

09:15 – 09:30 Opening remarks by the event Chair, Michael Liebreich

09:30 – 11:00

Prof. Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith (Oxford University) Renewables, energy storage, and Net-Zero UK

Prof. Goran Strbac (Imperial College London) - Role and value of energy storage in supporting the cost-effective transition to resilient zero-carbon energy future

Prof. Paul Ekins (UCL) - Energy policy and uncertainty

11:00 – 11:30 Break

11:30 – 13:00

Mr. Rupert Pearce (CEO of Highview Power) - How policy shapes an energy storage OEM

Prof. Keith Bell (CCC) - Delivering a reliable decarbonised power system

Hannah Bronwin ( SSE) - SSE and Energy Storage.

13:00 – 13:45 Break

13:45 – 15:15 Semi-structured discussion

Some very-short discrete presentations are available to stimulate this session with possible contributions from National Grid, The UKERC, Energy Systems Catapult, SunAmp, and Energy UK.

15:15 – 15:30 Break

15:30 – 17:00 Plenary discussion and summary outcomes

A directed discussion combining perspectives from many different quarters to try to establish key learnings for policy making into the future.