It's All About Grids: The Importance of Transmission Pricing and Investment Coordination in Integrating Renewables

In Great Britain, it is projected that an unprecedented amount of transmission investment will take place in the next decade and that these investments will be the largest transmission network reinforcements since the post-World War II expansion. In Figure 1, the projected range, to 2030, of onshore, offshore, and crossborder investments is presented against the estimated asset values. The value of the transmission assets is expected to more than double to 2030 with investments projected between 20 billion and 50 billion pounds across onshore (main transmission system), offshore (connecting mainly offshore wind farms) and cross-border interconnection transmission projects. The exact level and cost of these transmission investments will depend on a number of factors, including the location of new conventional and renewable energy sources (RES) plants (considering on- and offshore developments); decommissioning of existing ones; demand growth; cross-border trading of energy and ancillary services; and uptake of distributed generation, energy storage, demandside response, and other smart grid technologies.