by Roger Milne
The government’s goal to completely decarbonise the domestic heating sector by 2050 has major problems, according to a report commissioned by the Energy Networks Association.
Consultancy Delta-ee concluded that, to meet the target, over 60 per cent of UK homes would have to use direct electric heat or heat pumps and 34 per cent would have to be on district heating schemes. Oil and gas heating would have to be phased out entirely.
The report said this would involve high costs for consumers, demand a “challenging” retrofit programme and an extra 48MW of generation capacity.
The electricity distribution network would also need a significant upgrade.
According to the Edinburgh-based consultancy, similar carbon savings (90 per cent rather than 96 per cent) could be achieved by 2050 if the government adopted a “balanced transitional” approach. Under this scenario fewer homes are moved off gas (but more biomethane is injected into the gas network) and a high uptake of hybrid heat pumps is assumed.
The report said this approach could deliver significant investment savings compared with the electrification and heat networks scenario.
The consultancy calculated a reduction of between £8 billion to £14 billion on network investment, depending on how distribution network challenges were tackled. It would also halve the amount of extra generation capacity needed.
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 12th October 2012.
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