Engineering challenges in a competitive electricity market

To meet the challenges of operating in a competitive electricity market NGC (National Grid Company) has adopted an engineering life cycle analysis, which focuses on the four stages of plant and system life, namely, design, buy and build, operate, and monitor and maintain. NGC's R&D programme uses the same principles in focussing on day-to-day engineering issues so as to improve system reliability and flexibility, through the incorporation of new plant and technology, as well as, increasing the capability and availability of existing plant, and planning for the future. Some examples are given, from all four stages of the plant/system life cycle curve, in which NGC is actively pursuing research to meet the challenges it faces operating in an ever changing and competitive electricity market.