Introduction
This collaboration brings together national laboratories from Canada, France, Japan, UK and USA that are pioneering energy systems for a net zero future – encompassing nuclear, renewables and other low carbon solutions.
Integrated energy systems
We use energy in every aspect of our lives – from keeping the lights on to powering our vehicles, industries and our homes. Providing energy to fuel our lives has always been a balancing act because of the challenge of matching supply and demand. Now we have the dual challenge of achieving deep decarbonisation across electricity, fuel and heat, whilst continuing to ensure energy security across all our industries and in our daily lives. This transition to net zero is driving fundamental changes to energy supply, demand, transmission, distribution, storage and us.
Integrated energy systems (IES) combine multiple energy sources (renewables, nuclear, fossil, bioenergy), converting these into multiple vectors (electricity, heat, hydrogen, fuel) for delivery to multiple users (in buildings, industry, transport). An integrated approach allows countries to leverage the benefits of different technologies to provide reliable, low-cost energy with minimal impact on the environment. Although individual components in an integrated energy system may be mature, in many cases integrating these into coherent, functioning systems will require further research, development and demonstration.
Global national laboratories collaboration
National laboratories exist around the world to deliver cutting edge science to solve some of society’s most complex challenges. Discoveries made in these laboratories have already improved the lives of billions of people. Our global national laboratories collaboration on integrated energy systems brings together labs from across the energy sector, encompassing nuclear, renewables and other low carbon solutions. Through knowledge sharing and collaborative research, this initiative is helping progress a holistic understanding of what future integrated energy systems will look like, in order to help evolve technologies to be fit and ready to deliver.
Key Activities:
- Energy Summit 2022
- COP27 (including Impact paper)
- Annual Report 2023
Our partners
