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The UK Electricity System and Its Resilience

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Book cover Global Energy Policy and Security

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Energy ((LNEN,volume 16))

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Abstract

Purpose

Security of supply is a relatively outdated concept for the twenty-first-century electricity systems in a low-carbon future. Resilience is proposed as an alternative, and application of the term to the UK electricity system is discussed.

Approach

Security of supply within the context of the UK electricity system is described. Key pressures on the UK electricity system to develop towards a low-carbon future are explained, and a justification is made that security of supply should be replaced with the concept of resilience. Resilience is described, along with technology transitions.

Findings

It is proposed that resilience as a concept offers greater flexibility to represent a changing concept of acceptable performance for an electricity system. Additionally, resilience as a concept incorporates all scales, from macro-level socioeconomic landscape to micro-level local issues.

Practical Implications

Further research is needed to provide a practical framework within which resilience of an electricity system can be described. This framework does not lend itself to a single indicator of resilience and the framework is likely to comprise qualitative as well as quantitative aspects.

This study investigates the policy approaches to electricity sector security in the UK and proposes electricity sector resilience as a more appropriate policy focus. Historical approaches to electricity sector security are described, approaches to resilience in other disciplines are considered, and a framework for the use of electricity sector resilience is proposed, all within the context of the UK as it makes the transition to a lower carbon energy future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of the Built and Natural Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK

    Sara L. Walker

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  1. Sara L. Walker
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Correspondence to Sara L. Walker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Research Centre for Energy Management, ESCP Europe Business School, ABM Analytics Ltd, London, United Kingdom

    Vlasios Voudouris

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Walker, S.L. (2013). The UK Electricity System and Its Resilience. In: Leal Filho, W., Voudouris, V. (eds) Global Energy Policy and Security. Lecture Notes in Energy, vol 16. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5286-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5286-6_6

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