Vision 2050

Challenges and Recommendations
We are going to need investment to extend and modernize
electricity grids to cope with increased loads and different energy
sources. We need to transmit power efficiently from wind turbines,
solar parks, biomass plants or remote geothermal plants to factories
and urban centres – while minimizing the impact of new power
lines or subterranean cables. Efficient regional networks will also
help to balance variable renewable sources from different regions.
In fact, electricity exchange of this kind is already happening:
Norway stores excess Danish wind power production in its dams
during windy periods, and exports electricity to Denmark during
less windy days.
Capacity markets and demand response also help to improve the
efficiency of the power sector (see private sector section).
While solar and wind have the potential to supply
an effectively unlimited amount of power, this is
constrained by the capacity of electricity grids to deliver
it. Our existing grid infrastructure can only manage a
limited amount of these variable, supply-driven sources.
Grids, whether at large, regional or local scale, need to
keep electrical voltage and frequency steady to avoid
dangerous power surges, and they need the capacity
to meet peaks in demand. Today, we keep some power
stations, notably coal and hydropower, working around
the clock to provide a permanent supply of electricity
(or “base load”). These power stations cannot simply be
switched off when renewable energy supplies are high,
meaning energy can go to waste.
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SES estimates that networks could accommodate at
least 48 per cent of total electricity from variable sources
over the coming decades through improvements in
technology and grid management. The other 52 per cent
would come from less variable sources: biomass, CSP
with storage, hydropower and a little bit of geothermal
electricity. Some of the most important solutions to
manage the grid include demand-response measures;
pumped storage in hydropower dams; battery storage;
hydrogen; heating storage (e.g. CSP with molten
salt) and cooling storage (e.g. ice storage for cooling
processes). The combination of large (“super”) and
“smart” grids holds the key. Power companies and
consumers will get information on energy supply, and
price, to help manage demand. Put simply, it will be