This modules reviews the motivating factors and aspirations for transforming the electricity system to a more sustainable form and provides an overview of the enabling technologies and system-level considerations. Knowledge of the basic operation of the low carbon energy technologies (such as wind, solar, hydro, heat networks etc.) and their impact on the system is provided. The planning and operational challenges posed by decarbonisation of the electric power sector are described in terms of the network integration of low carbon sources.

On successfully completing this module you should be able to: 1) appraise the changes foreseen in a low to zero-carbon electric power system 2) consider the limitations of current network planning and operation with high fractions of renewables 3) assess the basic operation of various low carbon technologies 4) analyse key features such as intermittency or resource dependency 5) calculate the energy yields from low-carbon sources

1 Context, drivers and policy 2 Sustainable energy technologies - Wind power - Solar photovoltaic power - Hydro power - Heat networks - Offshore transmission 3 Network integration issues - Intermittency study: modelling of capacity credit, reserve and balancing - Technical Issues for Distributed Generation: modelling of voltage rise and power loss issues - Network Planning for Distributed Generation - Smart Grids