Capacity to Customers (C2C) Carbon Impact Assessment - Whitepaper

Capacity to Customers (C2C) is one of the projects supported by the OfGEM Low Carbon Networks Fund to explore new ways of delivering a secure and affordable low carbon electricity system. Extending the use of electricity in our energy system, to heating and transport for instance, is judged to be an effective and low cost way of reducing its climate change impact. The intention is to enable the connection of new low carbon technologies (LCTs) such as heat pumps, electric vehicles and distributed renewable generation at lower financial and environmental cost. The C2C solution has multiple consequences in terms of assets, operation of the network and facilitation of new connections that are different to the existing practices of Electricity North West. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, at the University of Manchester, is participating in the project to assess its carbon impact, identifying and quantifying the major sources of emissions and areas where C2C can provide savings and where it may increase emissions.Electricity North West pilot studies suggest that C2C will realise a net reduction in carbon emissions over the lifetime of the assets compared to traditional reinforcement methods. It is also proposed that by releasing capacity with less requirement for administration, groundworks and disruption, that the C2C solution will facilitate emissions savings from other low carbon technologies such as heat pumps and renewable electricity generation by allowing more rapid connection. This whitepaper introduces the techniques that will be used and reviews the research to date that has considered the carbon impact of electricity networks.