The UK electricity system and its resilience

Abstract

Purpose: Security of supply is a relatively outdated concept for the twenty-first-century electricity systems in a low-carbon future. Resilience is proposed as an alternative, and application of the term to the UK electricity system is discussed. Approach: Security of supply within the context of the UK electricity system is described. Key pressures on the UK electricity system to develop towards a low-carbon future are explained, and a justification is made that security of supply should be replaced with the concept of resilience. Resilience is described, along with technology transitions. Findings: It is proposed that resilience as a concept offers greater flexibility to represent a changing concept of acceptable performance for an electricity system. Additionally, resilience as a concept incorporates all scales, from macro-level socioeconomic landscape to micro-level local issues. Practical Implications: Further research is needed to provide a practical framework within which resilience of an electricity system can be described. This framework does not lend itself to a single indicator of resilience and the framework is likely to comprise qualitative as well as quantitative aspects. © Springer-Verlag London 2013.