Electricity networks are becoming more complex. Grids are receiving more renewable energy input than they were designed for, energy that is produced at different times in highly varying amounts, placing great pressure on grid stability.

Input sources have proliferated; increasing wind-farm connections, especially in the UK with its renewed push for more onshore wind, are now joined by multiple ‘grid edge’ suppliers such as community renewable energy projects, PV sites, and residential feed-in sources, and these cause energy backflow. Neither the grid infrastructure nor protection schemes were designed for two-way energy flow in such quantities.

Now consider the rapid growth of electrification: electric vehicles (EVs), rail, device charging and more residential heating with electric heat-source pumps, as we strive to decarbonise. While car sales hit a 30-year low in 2022, electric vehicles accounted for nearly a fifth of sales. Are we really preparing...