The paper, published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), considered changes to the power system which will be required to facilitate low-carbon technologies, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, demand-side response, and solar PV, and identified several modelling and input data gaps.
Adequate dynamic models do not exist in the current power system analysis tools for electric vehicles, heat pumps, demand side management, solar generation and all types of energy storage, it said, adding that a failure to address these electricity system modelling gaps could have “serious consequences” for the delivery of low-carbon targets.
IET Energy Policy Panel chair Simon Harrison said: “The report considers such things as a large increase in the number and locations of small generators such as solar panels and community energy schemes being connected to the grid. These modelling capabilities help us understand and identify what the implications and potential solutions could be to such scenarios.
“As our electricity system is undergoing major changes to deal with low-carbon challenges there is a significant need for new energy modelling capabilities looking into things that have not needed to be investigated before.
“Without these modelling capabilities we will struggle to adapt our electricity system effectively meaning costs and carbon emissions could go up and resilience could go down.”