Supergrid: projecting interconnection capacities for the UK

Interconnected electricity networks, supergrids, are being considered in Europe as a way to help tackle two current global challenges – rapidly increasing energy demands and rising carbon dioxide emissions. As with any new approach, there is a range of risks associated with developing interconnections, not least the availability of surplus electricity for exportation between various candidate countries. While the future is never certain, the process of generating a range of possible capacities for these interconnections should be considered as a necessary precursor for mitigating risks within decision-making processes. In facilitating this objective, this paper proposes a step-wise methodological framework for assessing the probabilities of achieving surplus capacity provision within a UK pan-European supergrid. This includes application of a newly developed tool for proposing a range of energy supply/demand scenarios in conjunction with the @Risk assessment tool. Through example scenarios it is shown how...

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