How will smart grids change the UK energy system?

Not a professional opinion, but if it helps to get the discussion going...

To my mind the "smart" aspect is simply adding a real-time information layer on top of the existing grid - so consumers have some information of what's happening on the grid side and those on the grid side can see what individual customers need - and both are then able to make decisions and adjust things  based on that data. Often the information is "composited" to some extent - consumers don't get to see how much generation is available for instance, but do see a unit price, which is a reflection of that.

It's not just the smart meters and their comms - data also flows through other means too - e.g. for some tariffs, half-hour unit prices are made available over the normal internet and in many cases that's more convenient for the consumer's systems than trying to pull such data off the HAN.

In principle, things can operate not just grid-wide (generally aiding balancing total generation with total demand) - but could be applied at lower levels too - e.g. adjusting the timing of tariffs to avoid local peaks on individual substations or regional distribution. The current (political) situation of having multiple competing suppliers probably doesn't encourage such things, but technically the possibility is there none the less.

Challenges are of course many and varied. Personally I've hit a problem with comms with my smart meter - while it seemed OK when just reporting totals monthly, now I've moved to a new (peak/off-peak) tariff that requires the half-hour data it's struggling - and perhaps 10% of reading seem to be missing. Someone's coming tomorrow to try and improve the comms ... we'll have to see if they succeed. That sort of thing opens a debate of quite how suppliers use system for billing - (as I understand it) they could program the smart meter to accumulate to different registers at different times of use (and if all else failed I could then read the meter manually and send them a couple of readings), but rather they seem to be insisting on using the half-hour data and doing the adding up themselves (which fails dismally when the meter communications is a bit intermittent). I suspect there's more going on in the background (e.g. they want the half-hour data to show that they're balancing demand between their customers and their generation on a real-time basis, not just over a year), but often there's a lack of clarity about why such things are structured in the way they are.

  - Andy.

This is a very insightful discussion.

From my perspective as an Electrical Engineer (MIET) currently researching AI-driven predictive maintenance for power systems, I see smart grids as a key enabler for moving from reactive to data-driven reliability strategies.

The real-time data layer mentioned is particularly important, as it creates opportunities for early fault detection, load forecasting, and condition-based maintenance across distributed assets.

I’m especially interested in how utilities in the UK are handling challenges around data quality, communication reliability, and integration with legacy infrastructure as these seem critical for scaling smart grid solutions effectively.

It would be great to hear from anyone involved in practical deployment or system operation in this area.

David.

Thanks

The national grid statistics are on line but not in at all clear format see    https://grid.iamkate.com/  .  There are others no doubt which will show the generation data more clearly. 

We need about 20% base load from nuclear 24 hours per day.  If windy at night we can use pumped storage hydro and solar in days to boost the renewables but the remainder will be generated from gas/oil power plants

around the country. 

Possibly we should build chain grate incinerators power stations with chimney scrubbers to burn all plastic, cardboard, wood etc locally to reduce transport costs and costly shipping to poor countries pretending to be environmentally friendly.

Here are a couple of others:

https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

https://electricinsights.co.uk/#/dashboard?period=1-month

Thanks good one

CliveS said:

Possibly we should build chain grate incinerators power stations with chimney scrubbers to burn all plastic, cardboard, wood etc locally to reduce transport costs and costly shipping to poor countries pretending to be environmentally friendly.

But that would leave us having to import stuff that we could have recycled ourselves.

Some things are actually reasonably practical to recycle, while others are essentially worthless because they are horrible composites.o

Hi Simon,

Why recycle plastics which can be burnt to reclaim the oil based fuel with minimum handling and transport.

I certainly do not want any recycled plastic products if I can have new clean plastic.  No risk then of contamination or causing a pandemic.  

Because then we don't have to keep giving all our money to the oil industry, when they are actively trying to harm our World.

Recycled plastics are all around us these days.  Ever noticed that clear plastic bottles often aren't water clear any more?  They are a little grey.  That's because they hace a significant proportion of recycled plastic in them.

But you can use the right reycled plastics for all sorts of things these days: carpets, fleecy clothes, artificial wood that doesn't rot, and many more.  Why burn it when it's so useful?

But you have to transport the old plastic, sort it and then reload and transport it to factory who then have to clean it and grind it up before it can mixed with 90% or so new plastic for heating in the moulding machine.

Surely that is extremely expensive recycle cost comparted with just using new plastic thus saving triple handling and transportation costs.