Adaptation and Resilience In Energy Systems (ARIES)

Completed

Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Energy system analysis)
Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Other oil and gas)
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution)
Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Environmental, social and economic impacts)

Basic and strategic applied research

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Geography and Environmental Studies)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Economics and Econometrics)
SOCIAL SCIENCES (Business and Management Studies)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Systems Analysis related to energy R&D
Systems Analysis related to energy R&D (Energy modelling)

Professor GP Harrison
Energy Systems
University of Edinburgh

Standard

EPSRC

01 November 2011

31 October 2015

48 months

£771,708

Energy

Scotland

Energy Multidisciplinary Applications

Professor GP Harrison, Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh

Dr J Chick, Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh
Dr RLH Essery, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh
Dr A Kerr, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh
Dr V Venugopal, Energy Systems, University of Edinburgh

Project Contact, ETI (Energy Technologies Institute)
Project Contact, Scottish Power Renewables Ltd
Project Contact, National Grid plc
Project Contact, British Hydropower Association
Project Contact, The Scottish Government

The energy supply sector is undergoing massive technological changes to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the climate is progressively changing creating new challenges for energy generation, networks and demand. The Adaptation and Resilience in Energy Systems (ARIES) project aims to understand how climate change will affect the UK gas and electricity systems and in particular its 'resilience'. A resilient energy system is one that can ensure secure balance between energy supply and demand despite internal and external developments such as climate change. The physical changes in climate up to 2050 coincide with the energy sector moving towards a low-carbon future, with massive renewables targets, new smart grid infrastructure and more active demand management. As such, it is of importance to identify whether new technology and policy strategies for reducing emissions also imply changes in energy system resilience. A particular concern is that increasingly large renewable energy targets aimed at decarbonisation may create new vulnerabilities given the weather-dependency of renewable energy sources. With affordable, secure energy critical to the UK economy it is imperative to fully understand the risk posed by changing climate for the energy supply sector and its infrastructure. ARIES will develop new methods to model the impacts of climate changes on current and new energy generation technologies and understand its effect on gas and electricity demand. It will identify the impacts that these new supply and demand patterns have on energy system resilience and will suggest changes or adaptation that can 'build-in' resilience

28/11/11