Recent Additions to the EDC

The 'Clean energy jobs plan' sets out, for the first time, the workforce needed to deliver our clean energy ambitions and how the government will work in partnership with industry and trade unions to deliver it. It explains how we will help workers in all parts of the country benefit from these opportunities - supporting our existing workforce to find new opportunities, training up the next generation, and helping our young people to get good jobs.

The increasing need for residential cooling in Great Britain due to rising temperatures could pose significant challenges to the electricity infrastructure. This study estimates the spatiotemporal cooling demand for residential buildings in Great Britain in 2050. A bottom-up methodology using a lumped parameter dynamic thermal model of building was applied to estimate half-hourly cooling demand and the electricity consumptions of cooling devices for representative dwelling archetypes in 41,726 local areas. The upper estimate for annual and peak electricity consumptions for cooling technologies have been estimated to be 9.3 TWh and 62.6 GW, respectively. The study highlights regional demand variations, correlations between the electricity consumption of cooling technologies and electricity generation by distributed photovoltaics, and the moderating effect of higher dwelling thermal capacities on cooling peak demand. These insights highlight the need for electricity infrastructure reinforcement, and integrated strategies for buildings retrofit and renewable energy to ensure system resilience. This is the data behind this study.

Energy consumption readings for a sample of 5,567 London Households that took part in the UK Power Networks led Low Carbon London project between November 2011 and February 2014. Readings were taken at half hourly intervals. The customers in the trial were recruited as a balanced sample representative of the Greater London population. The dataset contains energy consumption, in kWh (per half hour), unique household identifier, date and time. The CSV file is around 10GB when unzipped and contains around 167million rows. Within the data set are two groups of customers. The first is a sub-group, of approximately 1100 customers, who were subjected to Dynamic Time of Use (dToU) energy prices throughout the 2013 calendar year period. The tariff prices were given a day ahead via the Smart Meter IHD (In Home Display) or text message to mobile phone. Customers were issued High (67.20p/kWh), Low (3.99p/kWh) or normal (11.76p/kWh) price signals and the times of day these applied. The dates/times and the price signal schedule is availaible as part of this dataset. All non-Time of Use customers were on a flat rate tariff of 14.228pence/kWh. The signals given were designed to be representative of the types of signal that may be used in the future to manage both high renewable generation (supply following) operation and also test the potential to use high price signals to reduce stress on local distribution grids during periods of stress. The remaining sample of approximately 4500 customers energy consumption readings were not subject to the dToU tariff.

This project explored the development of policy and practice for local energy systems (LES) across England, Scotland and Wales. It aimed to provide evidence, and learning, about the role of more locally integrated energy systems, and the policy approaches being pursued in Great Britain. The research analysed policy mixes for local energy systems and developed a database of relevant government policies from 2010 to 2021 (deposited here). These policies were identified based on systematic analysis of published government energy strategies, alongside strategies specifically concerned with 'local', 'community' or 'area-based' energy. This resulted in detailed analysis of over 50 policy documents and identification of 105 policy instruments across the three jurisdictions. Documentation was retrieved primarily from Scottish, Welsh and UK Government websites. Details about individual instruments were then collated using government sources (for example, evaluation reports), or websites of managing organisations. If financial information about an instrument was obscure, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests were submitted to establish additional detail, but financial information for some instruments remained unclear. The authors each cross-checked the instrument database drawing on their expertise in Scottish, Welsh and UK Government energy policy. The instrument database was also verified through review by two external policy experts.

The purpose of this project was to explore the institutions and organisations that are shaping the development of local energy systems in Great Britain, comparing England, Scotland and Wales. The project was part of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC). Institutional mapping explores functional relationships and powers relevant to decision-making. It focuses on the key actors, their interactions, where power is located, who has the ability to influence and make decisions, and sources of funding. The objective is to create a (simplified) visual representation of the different groups and organizations within a community and their relationships and importance for decision-making. In order to explore the governance frameworks and actor networks for LES in England, Wales and Scotland governance mapping was carried out for the three jurisdictions. Draft institutional maps of local energy systems in England, Scotland and Wales were developed through a desk-based review of key organisations, (formal) institutions, rules, relationships and decision-making power based on a database of LES relevant strategy documents and policy instruments (data also deposited). These maps were validated based on interviews with energy system stakeholders to valuate accuracy, and explore informal agenda setting power, future policy needs and governance gaps. Interviews were carried out with a total of 21 people, across 18 organisations, including government, local authorities, distribution network operators, regulators, consultants and NGOs. Maps were revised and finalised based on interview outputs and published in September 2022. The institutional maps developed are deposited here together with the interview schedule.

Recent years have seen unprecedented shifts in global natural gas trade, precipitated in large part by Russia's war on Ukraine. How this regional conflict impacts the future of natural gas markets is subject to three interconnected factors: (i) Russia's strategy to regain markets for its gas exports; (ii) Europe's push towards increased liquified natural gas (LNG) and the pace of its low carbon transition; and (iii) China's gas demand and how it balances its climate and energy security objectives. A scenario modelling approach is applied to explore the potential implications of this geopolitical crisis. We demonstrate how integrating energy geopolitics and modelling enhances our understanding of energy futures. This is the data behind this journal article: Pye, S., Bradshaw, M., Price, J. et al. The global implications of a Russian gas pivot to Asia. Nat Commun 16, 386 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55697-7

Going Dutch? was a 2-year research project, led from the University of Sussex and funded by the UK Energy Research Centre, comparing governance arrangements for heat decarbonisation and natural gas phase-out in the UK and the Netherlands and investigating how these arrangements have been shaped by different political and institutional context. The UK and the Netherlands share a similar starting point for heat decarbonisation in that they are the countries most dependent on natural gas for heating in Europe and the OECD. However, they have taken different approaches to their heat transitions so far, with the Netherlands giving a much more central role to local government (municipalities). There are also differences within the UK, with Scotland adopting a governance approach that is closer to the Netherlands than England, where heat transition governance remains highly centralised. The project aimed to understand how wider political, administrative and economic institutions have shaped these different governance approaches, what the experience of the Dutch approach has been to date, and what lessons there might be for the UK. The topics of study included: the nature of climate governance; the roles and capacities of local government; the structure of multi-level governance; mechanisms for knowledge-sharing and learning; allocation of resources; organisation of technical support and knowledge, and public engagement and participation. The collection includes anonymised interviews with 16 observers of and participants in attempts to decarbonise residential heating in the Netherlands and the UK. The interviews were conducted between December 2021 and September 2022, and the focus of the research was on the governance arrangements for heat decarbonisation.

The decarbonisation of domestic heating is essential for the UK to achieve net zero carbon emissions, but requires significant changes in domestic infrastructure. Public participation plays a pivotal role in this transition, yet public attitudes towards decarbonised heating remain under-researched and poorly understood. We collected a nationally representative dataset via an online survey of 2,226 individuals in Great Britain, and an additional booster sample dataset of 1,378 individuals in Scotland and Wales specifically. The survey explored attitudes to three decarbonised heating technologies currently being trialled or entering the market: heat pumps, hydrogen heating, and district heating networks. A wide dataset of interrelated variables was collected, including heating system preference and usage, knowledge and support for decarbonised heating, environmental and energy security concerns, perceptions of trust and responsibility, financial considerations, and many others. Central to the study was an informed choice decision pathway element designed to investigate key factors underlying personal willingness to adopt each technology.