Electricity cannot be stored, it has to be generated at the time it needs to be used. In the UK, it is our job to balance the supply and demand of electricity, minute by minute, hour by hour, every day.

Planning for the soap opera surge

When the credits roll at the end of an episode of one of the nation’s favourite soap operas, millions of people will get up from watching the television and turn to other activities around the home.

In the National Grid control room, the engineers are on standby. Anticipating the surge in demand, two minutes before the end of the programme, they send a signal to power stations – for example, a hydropower station.

The operator at the hydropower station receives the signal and opens the valves which allow water from the lake at the top of the mountain to rush through turbines into another lake at the bottom, generating extra electricity. Within seconds, the increased supply is available on the network and instantly transported all over the country through the grid.

So, when the programme finishes and people turn on the oven, switch on the kettle or open the fridge, phone a friend, start up their computers, put on the washing or take a shower, the electricity they are depending on is there for them.

At night, when most people have gone to bed, the water is pumped back up the mountain, ready to perform the same service again, so that when people need energy, it is there.

Every day of the year, from morning to night, from the heat of summer to the cold snaps in winter, our forecasters are planning for the changing patterns of electricity supply and demand.

The Royal Wedding – the peak of demand

For major national events, our forecasting teams bear a huge responsibility. Planning for the energy needed during the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton began as soon as the engagement was announced in November 2010. It was our job to predict the peaks of demand, to make sure the entire system was ready to deliver, and so balance supply and demand.

On the big day, television networks relied on the grid to broadcast the celebrations live to an audience of billions worldwide. At 12:40 local time, after the ceremony and before the excitement of the kiss on the balcony, the British people took a break from their TV viewing and turned to activities that used more electricity. Demand surged by 2,400 megawatts – the equivalent of almost one million kettles being switched on at the same time.

In the US, quickly restoring power after winter storms, spring tornadoes and summer lightning is one of the things that we do best.

Restoring power to our communities

Throughout the year, the electricity network in the northeast of the United States is confronted by severe weather conditions. The winter of 2010/2011 was particularly harsh.

We prepare for when the high winds blow and the snow and ice wreak havoc, leaving our communities without heat and light.

Our staff take part in drills and familiarise themselves with time-tested emergency plans for restoring power.

We closely monitor the weather forecasts, and when the blizzards arrive, the whole company kicks into ‘storm mode.’

When an outage occurs (that is, the power supply fails), we begin restoring services as safely and quickly as conditions allow. We need to carry out accurate surveys of damage, provide estimates of when the power can be restored, and repair damage to the infrastructure.

Within hours, hundreds of crews are in the field and shifts are arranged to provide 24-hour cover. During the winter storms of 2010, we had 600 crews in the field. During the tornadoes, 300 crews were mobilised overnight.

The effort involved in dealing with these events is huge – from deploying the transport and equipment needed, to providing thousands of hot meals for all the crews working in the cold.

First, we clear away dangers such as live power lines that have fallen. Then we repair equipment, including towers, poles and high-tension wires that deliver power from power plants. Next, we repair neighbourhood circuits and transformers, and the wires that connect them to people’s homes.

We’re proud to have received several ‘Emergency Recovery’ awards from the Edison Electric Institute, for outstanding and efficient responses to severe weather conditions.

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We are in the middle of a £22 billion investment programme to reinforce, modernise and extend the electricity and gas networks to make sure they can meet the energy needs of the 21st century.

BritNed – harmonising the energy system across Europe

BritNed is the first interconnector with Europe to be built for 25 years. It took 11 years and £50 million to design and deliver, and is just one example of the kind of major construction projects under way in the UK. From the Isle of Grain off the Kent coast, electricity is transported through undersea cables into Maasflakte (near Rotterdam), linking into the Dutch network. From there, the electricity is transported into Germany, Belgium, Norway and France.

BritNed delivers 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power the city of Bristol. It has a ‘reversible energy flow’, which means it can carry energy both into and out of the UK as necessary. It is a 50:50 joint venture with TenneT, one of the top five grid operators in Europe, and is the first of a series of interconnectors planned over the coming years. The second will be with France, another with Belgium and then the Norwegian hydro fields.

Wind power is an unpredictable source of energy, producing electricity only when and where the wind blows. So as society comes to count on it more and more, we need to have ways of managing its intermittent nature. BritNed gives us access to power that is generated wherever the wind is blowing in Europe, and allows us to transport it to where it is needed.

Another crucial benefit of BritNed is that it sets up a new mechanism for the international trading of power, with an open market for all the connected countries. In the long run, this will lead to consistent wholesale prices across Europe and the most cost-effective solutions for customers.

So these interconnectors will help European countries meet their low-carbon targets, at the same time as helping to provide a reliable supply, and delivering it cost effectively.

• Britned

As well as building new infrastructure, we are at the forefront of pioneering commercial arrangements that will result in renewable energy sources being connected to the grid. The northeastern seaboard of America offers a great untapped source of energy – wind.

When it is built, Cape Wind, in Nantucket Sound, will be America’s largest offshore wind farm. To help get the project off the ground, we agreed to buy 50% of the energy generated by Cape Wind during the 15 years from 2013.

By signing the contract with Cape Wind, we have honoured the US policy for utility companies to enter into contracts with generators of renewable energy. Indeed, we believe that the only way to respond to the energy and environmental challenges that confront us all is to support really large-scale renewable energy projects like Cape Wind.

We and other major utility companies have an important role to play in getting these projects under way. Yet, in making that commitment to the Cape Wind project, we had to recognise that there’s an increased cost attached to buying energy generated by offshore wind. Whereas the cost of the traditional energy we buy today is seven or eight cents per kilowatt-hour, the cost of offshore-wind energy will be 18 cents in its first year. However, as the energy from Cape Wind will only be 3.5% of our entire load in Massachusetts, it will have a small effect on the rates we charge customers. We estimate that it will represent only $1.24 a month on a typical residential customer’s bill in Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, when we look to the bigger picture, that extra cost to the customer has to be balanced against other risks – such as climate change and having to rely on fossil fuels.

Most wind farms in the US are planned to generate far less than 100 megawatts of electricity, but Cape Wind will generate 468 megawatts. When it’s completed, the 130 turbines would provide, in average winds, enough energy to meet the electrical needs of an area equal to three quarters of Cape Cod and Nantucket Island.

In our view, we have to take a lead in turning goals into reality. It’s important for the environment and for increasing the domestic energy supply in the US. It will help us bring renewable energy sources into our regions and, at the same time, Cape Wind can act as an inspiration for the offshore wind industry in the US.

There are many ways in which National Grid can – and does – support new ways of operating in the energy industry.

Demonstrating that Carbon Capture and Storage can work

Our expertise in high-pressure gas pipelines designed to move large quantities of gas over long distances is helping to demonstrate that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) could work.

CCS will play an essential role in generating low-carbon energy by 2030. The intention is that CO2 will be captured at power stations, compressed, transported and then stored offshore (for example, in old gas fields). We are contributing to transporting the captured CO2. We connect the ‘capture’ to the ‘storage’.

CCS has been carried out on a small scale over many years. What has not yet been achieved is bringing the entire process together at a large scale. As power stations are by far responsible for most CO2 emissions, large-scale solutions are needed if we are to hit climate change targets.

In 2007, the UK Government launched a competition to fund a project to develop and test the technical and economic viability of CCS.

We joined a consortium with Scottish Power and Shell to develop a project at Longannet Power Station on the Firth of Forth in Scotland. Longannet is one of the largest coal-fired power stations in Europe. Our engineers identified the opportunity to put an old 300-kilometre gas pipeline back into use. It had originally been used to transport natural gas from the North Sea to Scotland and England. Our proposition was that, with the reduction in natural gas produced from this part of the North Sea, the pipeline could be cut off from the natural gas system and used to transport CO2 from Longannet to be stored. The remaining three pipes in the system could then be worked harder to keep the natural gas flowing as before.

The initial engineering studies for the project were completed in early 2011. We’ve proved the pipe is tough enough to carry CO2 and we know how to connect up Longannet and transport the CO2 out to the storage site. So now the consortium is working with the Government to explore how the plan could be put into action.

• How does carbon capture and storage work?

Rapid advances in technology and the urgent demand for new energy solutions are driving a growth in engineering.

These are exciting times to be an engineer, and demand for engineering skills is growing. However, finding talent for the future is presenting a challenge for the industry. Our research has shown that many young people do not understand what engineering is all about, which is why so few choose it as a career. Yet we know that the industry needs the talents and skills of today’s young people. We also believe that we, and other companies like us, can offer them fascinating and rewarding careers.

We need to motivate young people, helping them to see the exciting opportunities which exist for them in engineering, and the real contribution these skills can make to tackling one of the biggest challenges our society is facing today – the future of energy.

That is why in the US we have devised the ‘Engineering Pipeline’ – a six-year programme to encourage young people to go into engineering.

In the summer of 2010, over 50 students across three US sites took part in the first year of the programme.

In the first year of the programme, high-school students did a week-long hands-on project focused on how energy networks operate today.

In the second year, the students will explore the future of energy and new, cleaner, renewable energy sources.

If the students go on to study engineering at university, we will offer them a four-year internship, where they will get work experience. If they then achieve the necessary grades, we would offer them a job.

Within the next 10 years, 58% of all new jobs, and 29% of all jobs, will need a background in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.

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