Real enviromental thinking and engineering

29/06/2026

 On of the more difficult problems of new energy systems is how to manage the higher amounts of electrical power required within distribution grids. Most people in finance see any jump to a new specification in electricity distribution as being expensive. It is true that basically what we have installed , mostly under ground as distribution cables and transformers would need renewal , and this in itself is a complex task as the system is in use and would be a considerable cost.

It is also true to say that such systems are renewed anyway so it isn't necessarily unplanned costs , but obviously as we are dealing with renewal of larger things than a single cable , there would be some new costs.

The main problem in designing a new distribution grid specification is it would be tasked with far higher variations of electrical flows. If we are to heat homes electrically , then the supply to each home has to be made to higher specification which i think for most 4 room homes will be 100A. There are many options for domestic dwellings to improve energy use including solar thermal , but we would still require an improved central distribution grid , with different specifications to the one we use in the uk today , which will be new costs but we should also gain greater electrical efficiency as older equipment is replaced , which will help to mitigate costs in most instances.

The high temperatures being experienced in the heat waves do affect infrastructure and electrical grids are no different , on pylons the aluminum cable expands and sags, and of course we are also expecting higher wind speeds in storms due to the heated atmosphere, and it would make sense , although it is anew cost, to put a lot of core distribution system , where we locally generate ,underground .