On 12th April 2018, the Midlands Power Group were delighted to welcome Beth Warnock, System Performance Manager at National Grid to deliver a talk on the future challenges of operating the transmission network as the nature of power generation changes into the future.An audience of around 40 delegates were treated to an insightful view of the rapidly changing world of electricity generation and how these changes impact on the operability of the power system under both steady state and fault conditions. The rapidly increasing volume of non-synchronous and non-despatched power generation in the form of wind and solar and the increasing amount of battery storage devices, coupled with the reducing number of large mechanically coupled generators is causing the transmission system operator (National Grid) to explore innovative ways to maintain system frequency and voltage. These changes, coupled with the anticipated increase in demand associated with electric vehicle charging and the decarbonisation of transport are driving change at a rate unseen since the original electrification of the country a century ago.
Beth described how the National Grid Control Room is seeing almost daily new records relating to solar and wind, coupled with the reduction in coal burn which saw a zero coal fired generation day this time last year, then went on to provide insights into how these changes are impacting on the operability of the system over the short to medium term. Beth then looked at the regional impact of the changing power generation landscape and how traditional power importing areas are now becoming net power exporters under certain weather conditions, effectively requiring both the transmission and distribution networks to operate very differently to the way they were originally designed.
Throughout the lecture, there was excellent audience interaction on the topic with Beth answering the many questions raised by the participants.
On behalf of the Midlands Power Group, I would like to thank Beth for a really interesting and engaging talk and to wish her and her team all the best as they strive to ensure the quality and security of electricity supply is maintained to the highest standards that we all take for granted.
Beth's slides form part of a broader System Operability Framework event held by National Grid on 26th March 2018. The full slide pack for this event can be found at https://www.nationalgrid.com/sites/default/files/documents/March%2018_Event%20Masterpack.pdf
