Drawing on analyses from the public and private sectors, the study brings together key developments on the supply and demand sides,  providing a vision that is broadly shared across the energy community. The report demonstrates what the wider implications of large-scale deployment of selected technologies could be, and what the UK should be doing over the next few years to ensure the country isn’t locked-into an undesirable future.

Nick Winser, co-chair of ERP and Executive Director of National Grid, comments: “Innovation in energy technology is vital to meeting 2050 carbon targets.  Technologies that are available now or will be soon all have their part to play, but we cannot rely on these alone.  If we pick the right areas to focus our early research investment on now, we'll give ourselves the best chance of harvesting valuable new technologies in the future that will help us reach emission targets.”

ERP’s ‘innovation pipeline’ illustrates that the deployment of nuclear power, upgrades to the electricity grid, more efficient and hybrid vehicles, wind, smart meters and insulation of buildings are all expected to be making a contribution to carbon reduction goals by 2020. Over the same period  carbon capture and storage (CCS), deep offshore wind, smart grids and heating and transport technologies should be moving through the demonstration stage, ready to contribute to emission reductions in the following decade. More basic research and development also needs to be undertaken to deliver technologies that will help drive emission reductions beyond 2030.

The report concludes that these large scale demonstration activities need to be commissioned with some urgency. These will improve our understanding of how new technologies will perform and what impact they will have on other parts of the energy system. This is especially true for road transport and domestic heating options. There is almost an established orthodoxy that decarbonised electricity generation will provide the energy source for electric vehicles and heat-pumps in the home. Whilst this is the favoured option by many scenarios in the longer term, the transition to a low carbon economy may not be so straightforward and is dependent on how quickly new technologies develop.

For example, a failure to improve battery technology along with breakthroughs in low-carbon hydrogen production and storage, may make fuel-cells a viable low-carbon option in vehicles. Similarly, the performance of heat pumps in the UK’s climate and housing stock, and by real consumers, has not been fully tested. Domestic Combined Heat and Power may offer an alternative, but it too has yet to be proven on a large scale. An assessment of ‘real world’ performance in both of these sectors is required before wide ranging intervention policies on technology choices are taken.

Carbon capture and storage is an area where there are signs of progress, with the intention to build four demonstration plants. These commitments must be honoured without further delay, but we point out that the current focus on CCS from coal-powered generation is too narrow – gas will continue to be an important fuel and must not be neglected.

The role of biomass and biofuels in the energy system is currently quite uncertain. There are competing demands from energy and other sectors, with sustainable alternatives to current biofuels yet to be fully demonstrated. Addressing environmental concerns, and whether some uses should be favoured by policy, must be a priority.

Professor David MacKay, DECC’s Chief Scientific Advisor and co-chair of ERP said “This report highlights that the next ten years are crucial for developing energy technologies. We are faced with critical questions about the future cost and effectiveness of some technologies. Resolving these uncertainties could take years, so we need to press ahead with the demonstration of a range of technologies, including electricity generation, transport and retrofitting buildings, so that we identify technologies with the greatest potential over the longer term.”

Jonathan Radcliffe, Executive Analyst, Energy Research Partnership

The Energy Research Partnership (ERP) is a high level forum which brings together key players of the energy community to give strategic direction to UK energy research, development and demonstration and increase the level, coherence and effectiveness of public and private investment in innovation and commercialisation to achieve energy policy goals. The full report is available from ERP’s website www.energyresearchpartnership.org.uk.