Whole system thinking: power market drivers for releasing benefit to the whole system by increasing network headroom

An increasing volume of renewable generators are connecting to UK distribution networks using curtailable connections to avoid costly reinforcement upgrades. A consequence of this is the growing curtailment of renewable energy. The hypothesis explored in this paper, is whether there is a financial and environmental value of increasing distribution network capacity to release the benefit this low cost, low carbon generation could bring to the whole energy system. The second stage of this project has concluded that the potential benefits of reducing distribution network curtailment in our ‘best view’ scenario is £2.5bn, incorporating wholesale system costs, emission costs, and ancillary services.