Whole system thinking: reducing curtailment of renewables and increasing societal value via targeted network reinforcement

Amidst a backdrop of increasing prevalence of Distributed Generation and growing curtailment of renewable energy, the hypothesis posed within this report seeks to understand if there is financial and environmental value on the whole energy system through increasing distribution network capacity. The modelling concluded that the potential cost and carbon benefits of reducing distribution network curtailment ranges from £324 million and £116 million to £17 billion and £753 million to cost and carbon respectively from 2023 to 2034 based on two network modelling methodologies.