Imperial College London
Alternate

DrIainStaffell

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Centre for Environmental Policy

Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Energy
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 9570i.staffell

 
 
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Location

 

202Weeks BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Staffell:2017:10.1016/j.enpol.2016.12.037,
author = {Staffell, IL},
doi = {10.1016/j.enpol.2016.12.037},
journal = {Energy Policy},
pages = {463--475},
title = {Measuring the progress and impacts of decarbonising British electricity},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.12.037},
volume = {102},
year = {2017}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Britain’s ambitious carbon targets require that electricity be immediately and aggressively decarbonised, so it is reassuring to report that electricity sector emissions have fallen 46% in the three years to June 2016, their lowest since 1960.  This paper analyses the factors behind this fall and the impacts they are having.The main drivers are: demand falling 1.3% per year due to efficiency gains and mild winters; gas doubling its share to 60% of fossil generation due to the carbon price floor; and the dramatic uptake of wind, solar and biomass which now supply up to 45% of demand.  Accounting conventions also play their part: imported electricity and biomass would add 5% and 2% to emissions if they were included.The pace of decarbonisation is impressive, but raises both engineering and economic challenges.  Falling peak demand has delayed fears of capacity shortage, but minimum net demand is instead becoming a problem.  The headroom between inflexible nuclear and intermittent renewables is rapidly shrinking, with controllable output reaching a minimum of just 5.9 GW as solar output peaked at 7.1 GW.  2015 also saw Britain’s first negative power prices, the highest winter peak prices for six years, and the highest balancing costs.
AU  - Staffell,IL
DO  - 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.12.037
EP  - 475
PY  - 2017///
SN  - 1873-6777
SP  - 463
TI  - Measuring the progress and impacts of decarbonising British electricity
T2  - Energy Policy
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.12.037
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/43578
VL  - 102
ER  -
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