Thread by @SSE

We commissioned @LCPEnergy to look at a cost-effective pathway to decarbonise electricity in GB ⚡️

The report proposes five steps which could save £48bn by 2050 and save an additional 7.5mtCO2 by 2035.

See the full report, published today, here: sse.com/news-and-views…

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The first step is to ‘go big on offshore wind’ 💚

This will bring a system cost benefit of £7.3bn between 2021 and 2050 due to the reduced CapEx costs of #offshorewind compared to nuclear.

Read more: sse.com/news-and-views…

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Step two is additional low-carbon thermal generation in the form of gas with #CCS and #hydrogen to complement the high levels of #renewables.

This will provide firm capacity and a system cost benefit of £7.5bn.

Read more: sse.com/news-and-views…

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In the third step, long duration storage and #hydrogen electrolyser capacity is introduced to help integrate more #renewables.

An overall system cost benefit of £4.9bn across reductions in generation, balancing, network and CapEx costs.

Read more: sse.com/news-and-views…

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In step four, market reform values all low carbon generation equally to incentivise existing generation to operate for longer 💡

A #netzero electricity market design saves £19.7bn through supporting life extensions, refurbishments and repowering over new assets.

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Step five deploys a more co-ordinated #offshore grid and ensures the efficient connection of offshore wind farms to the transmission network.

This would lead to a cost saving of £8.8bn, and a reduced impact on local communities and environment (image: @NationalGridESO).

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With all five steps combined, the overall saving is £48bn through to 2050, extending to £76bn by 2060 - all while saving an extra 7.5mtCO2 by 2035.

With an energy system built around #offshorewind with #CCS and #hydrogen, GB can decarbonise electricity cheaper and faster.

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