Understanding cooling demand considering technical and socio-economic factors.

Detailed technical, socio-economic and policy studies will be conducted to understand how cooling demand might change over the next decades as a result of:

• the rising global temperature.

• a likely long-term ‘working from home’ habit, leading to increased cooling needs in buildings.

• an increased number of well-insulated new and retrofitted buildings requiring a greater level of temperature control in summer.

• a green recovery leading to a higher level of welfare in households.

Quantifying the impacts of increased cooling demand on electricity networks.

The extent to which supplying cooling will affect peak electricity demand will be quantified and its implications on network reinforcement will be investigated for selected case studies using data from real practical projects. Detailed network analysis will be carried out to assess the impacts of cooling demand on distribution and primary substations. The NG:ESO future energy scenarios will inform this work.

Investigating the flexibility provision to the electrical power system from integrating cooling technologies and storage.

A key objective is to study the interactions and synergies between cooling and electricity systems supported by electrical and thermal energy storage, and explore how to adopt a coordinated approach for designing and operating energy systems of buildings so that the provision of flexibility to the power system and thermal networks can be maximised.