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Energy planning: Difference between revisions
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Reasons why system planning is needed for the electricity system include: | Reasons why system planning is needed for the electricity system include: | ||
1. The existing arrangements for government planning of the electricity system is that proposals for action are drafted by ministers and civil servants. Detailed justification for what is proposed is not required and ministers therefore can and do make decisions based on proposals that have not been adequately assessed. The electricity system is a very complex technical entity and even with a high standard of assessment there will be risk of unsatisfactory outcomes. Accepting proposals for action for the electricity system made by people with no experience in power systems engineering who can include their own untested preferences, makes no sense. It is like requiring a lawyer or an accountant to prescribe treatment for a complex medical condition. For example, the continuing closure of coal, gas and nuclear generation in favour of intermittent wind and solar generation without planning to ensure that demand will be met at all times, will result in a dangerously unreliable system - see article on [[ | 1. The existing arrangements for government planning of the electricity system is that proposals for action are drafted by ministers and civil servants. Detailed justification for what is proposed is not required and ministers therefore can and do make decisions based on proposals that have not been adequately assessed. The electricity system is a very complex technical entity and even with a high standard of assessment there will be risk of unsatisfactory outcomes. Accepting proposals for action for the electricity system made by people with no experience in power systems engineering who can include their own untested preferences, makes no sense. It is like requiring a lawyer or an accountant to prescribe treatment for a complex medical condition. For example, the continuing closure of coal, gas and nuclear generation in favour of intermittent wind and solar generation without planning to ensure that demand will be met at all times, will result in a dangerously unreliable system - see article on [[Reliability and resilience of the electricity system with high levels of renewables|Reliability and Resilience]]. | ||
2. The objectives are dominated by public good issues: the need for reliability, the need to have low emissions. Markets do not address public good issues but system planning does. | 2. The objectives are dominated by public good issues: the need for reliability, the need to have low emissions. Markets do not address public good issues but system planning does. | ||