Using proxies to calculate the carbon impact of investment into electricity network assets

Daniels, L., Coker, P., Gunn, A. and Potter, B. (2016) Using proxies to calculate the carbon impact of investment into electricity network assets. Applied Energy, 162. pp. 551-560. ISSN 0306-2619 doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.10.111

Abstract/Summary

Replacement and upgrading of assets in the electricity network requires financial investment for the distribution and transmission utilities. The replacement and upgrading of network assets also represents an emissions impact due to the carbon embodied in the materials used to manufacture network assets. This paper uses investment and asset data for the GB system for 2015-2023 to assess the suitability of using a proxy with peak demand data and network investment data to calculate the carbon impacts of network investments. The proxies are calculated on a regional basis and applied to calculate the embodied carbon associated with current network assets by DNO region. The proxies are also applied to peak demand data across the 2015-2023 period to estimate the expected levels of embodied carbon that will be associated with network investment during this period. The suitability of these proxies in different contexts are then discussed, along with initial scenario analysis to calculate the impact of avoiding or deferring network investments through distributed generation projects. The proxies were found to be effective in estimating the total embodied carbon of electricity system investment in order to compare investment strategies in different regions of the GB network.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/45566
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.10.111
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of the Built Environment > Construction Management and Engineering Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Centre for Technologies for Sustainable Built Environments (TSBE) Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Energy Research Science > School of the Built Environment > Energy and Environmental Engineering group
Publisher	Elsevier
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