3. ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
to test the potential for development of CCUS industrial decarbonisation clusters. In November 2018, the government published its CCUS Action Plan, which set out a new approach for industry and government to enable the development of the first CCUS facility in the UK, commissioning from the mid-2020s, to achieve the government’s ambition to have the option to deploy CCUS at scale during the 2030s, subject to costs coming down sufficiently.
As for international collaboration, in May 2018, the United Kingdom took on leadership (with Saudi Arabia and Mexico) of the Carbon Capture Challenge under Mission Innovation and hosted in November 2018, together with the IEA, a high-level international CCUS Summit in Edinburgh.
Adaptation to climate change
Legal and institutional framework
The 2008 Climate Change Act includes a requirement to conduct a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) every five years, followed by a National Adaptation Programme that will address the risks identified in the CCRA. The ASC under the CCC is responsible for evaluating progress on the adaptation programme; it reports to the UK Parliament every two years.
The Climate Change Act also provides the government with the so-called “adaptation reporting power” to require public bodies and infrastructure operators to report on their actions to address the impacts of climate change. The energy sector companies – electricity transmission and distribution, gas transportation, and energy generators – are required to report on risks such as flooding, high river flows and bank erosion, high winds and lightning, storms and high waves (for offshore infrastructure), etc. The energy regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), also reports on the risks from climate change relevant to its responsibilities.
BEIS works to increase cross-sector understanding of energy interdependencies as part of the resilience planning and risk management strategies. The Infrastructure, Resilience and Security Working Group under the National Security Council is tasked to produce a tested methodology by which the government can identify cross-sector interdependencies. The group has reviewed several models and is working to clarify some of the issues identified, such as the high level of data input required by the models and security challenges (Defra, 2018b).
Evaluation of impacts and risks
The second CCRA, prepared by the ASC/CCC in 2017 after a request from the government, identified significant risks to the infrastructure (including the energy infrastructure) from flooding, rising sea levels, and increases in the frequency and severity of extreme weather. This resulted in the second National Adaptation Programme (NAP). According to the CCRA 2017 (CCC, 2017):
Networks near rivers will become more vulnerable to higher flows and, along with coastal infrastructure, could become impacted by greater levels of erosion. Increases in maximum wind speeds would have significant implications for many infrastructure networks. Changes in temperature and rainfall will place additional pressures on infrastructure across all
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3. ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
sectors. Climate change combined with population growth may also put greater pressure on water availability and increase risk of drought. Interdependencies, where infrastructure providers rely on each other in order to provide their services, are not well understood. It is important to build a clearer picture of what the risks are and how these are mitigated.
In the power sector, it is estimated that 550 of 589 significant substations are currently at risk and will become resilient to floods with permanent defences in place by 2021 under current plans. All sites where defences are not yet built have been surveyed for their suitability for temporary defences.
The CCRA also identified high winds as a significant cause of disruption to overhead electricity lines because of falling trees and branches that can damage the infrastructure. CCRA highlighted the need for a better understanding of the implications of increased vegetation growth rates on future risks of damage from falling trees during storms.
In the gas sector, there is an inherent resilience of the gas networks because most of them are located underground. There could be an impact on some key above-ground assets, however these are unlikely to lead to supply disruptions. However, natural gas plays a major role in electricity supply, in 2017 amounting to 40%, which will require the closer integration and coordination of extreme weather events (winter peak demand for both gas and electricity).
The CCRA recommended further research to understand climate risks to existing and planned offshore renewable energy infrastructure.
Response measures
Taking into account the risks identified in the CCRA-2017, the government developed the second NAP published in July 2018 (UK Government, 2018e), which sets out the actions that the government and other actors are taking, the expected outcomes, and the means for measuring the progress made towards achieving the objectives.
According to the second NAP, both electricity and gas sector companies well understand the risks posed by climate change and take appropriate adaptation measures. BEIS collaborates with other departments to enhance cross-sector understanding of the interdependencies between different networks as part of the resilience planning and risk management strategies.
In power transmission |
and |
distribution, |
electricity |
network |
companies |
spent |
||||
GBP 130 million |
on flood |
defence work |
from |
2010 to |
2015 |
and |
will |
spend |
another |
|
GBP 100 million |
before 2021. |
Electricity |
network companies |
finance |
the activities to |
|||||
manage water flooding through the regulated tariffs. The current substation flood protection guidance is being strengthened further in line with National Flood Resilience Review recommendations. BEIS monitors the implementation of the adaptation programmes by network companies to ensure progress across the sector. As regards the possible risks related to falling trees during storms, the government does not currently list this issue among research priorities in view of the maturity of the electricity sectors’ programmes to manage vegetation growth.
In the gas sector, river and coastal erosion continues to be monitored around infrastructure that is recognised to be at risk, and investment strategies are implemented where needed. As regards the downstream oil sector, BEIS is examining the benefits of further investigation into climate change adaptation and will discuss this with the relevant stakeholders.
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