Advanced Power Generation Technology Forum

Knowledge Transfer Network Workshop on National Ambitions for Power Generation in the UK

Conference Centre, 1 Victoria Street, London, 17 March 2010

The UK has committed to stringent cuts in CO₂ emissions in the power generation sector. At the same time the UK needs security of supply at all times when future demand is expected to see significant growth as a result of the further switch to electricity in transport and in the home. This is resulting in a series of issues that the UKs future power generation network has to be able to address, such as:

• Power generation with near-zero emissions in a reliable and cost effective way
• Avoidance of an over-dependency on any one fuel
• Meeting the renewable targets and coping with the intermittency of renewables
• Management of a system of: centralised and distributed generation; intermittent and base-load-only plant; new technologies, some of which are still undergoing development.

All of this is against a background, where some of the power plants being planned today, could still be operating in 2050!

The mission of the Energy Generation and Supply Knowledge Transfer Network (EG&S KTN) is to create an integrated and dynamic network of business, technology, academic and policy stakeholders delivering strategic and effective knowledge exchange to advance the UK energy generation and supply sector. Consequently, the future of power generation in the UK and in particular the issues raised above, are a core issue for the EG&S KTN.

As part of its remit, the EG&S KTN is organising this workshop with the following aims:

• To provide an update on what the UK must do to meet its climate change and security of supply targets for power generation
• To hear from major stakeholders on their strategy for development and implementation of power generation technologies and to discuss what else the UK should be doing to ensure they can be implemented in time to meet UK needs
• To discuss the technology-related issues that need to be addressed to ensure the UK meets its targets

The workshop will consist of invited presentations covering what the UK must do to meet its targets followed by presentations on what it is doing and what it is planning to do. This will be followed by a session in which all delegates will be invited to participate to consider, what are the main technology issues that need to be addressed to ensure the UK meets its power generation targets. The output from the workshop will be fed into the Government and other major stakeholders to help ensure success in the UK meeting its targets.

This workshop will provide delegates with the opportunity of hearing what the plans and issues are for future power generation in the UK and it will allow them the opportunity to contribute to identifying what the main technology issues are that need to be addressed.

To view the Agenda and Presentations click here.

This is the second of two 1-day workshops at the 1 Victoria Street Conference Centre. The first workshop, on the day before - 16 March, is organised by the Advanced Power Generation Technology Forum. The first workshop focuses on carbon capture and storage (CCS) for fossil fuels power generation and it provides an update on the UK’s strategy and progress and then considers what else needs to be done to ensure CCS is implemented in time and to position the UK so that it has a leadership role on CCS technology in the future.