Heating and Cooling Demand Effects on Power Networks in a Changing Climate: influence of new housing

The government’s plans to deliver one million new homes in the UK by 2020 will have significant impacts on the National Grid, especially with the anticipated associated increase in distributed renewables capacity. In addition to this there is already some concern that current regulatory requirements for conservation of fuel and power are leading to increased risk of overheating in new dwellings: this, combined with the anticipated effects of climate change, may lead to new but as of yet unquantified challenges for the grid
The aim of this project explore the potential size of these challenges and the effects of alternative technologies and usage patterns, the main output will be an understanding of future weather dependent electricity load profiles in residential areas and buildings in order to assess their implications for the power network in the medium to long term.