(Bloomberg) -- The UK must act quickly to build a strategic long-duration energy reserve so that the power network has ample supply during extreme events and periods of low-renewable generation, an influential committee has warned. 

Commercially available storage is dependent on energy trading, meaning there’s no guarantee it would be available during a crisis, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee said in a report published Wednesday. 

“This is why a strategic reserve will need to be operated under different arrangements that will ensure it is available when it is most needed,” it added.

The study is the result of the panel’s inquiry into net zero policies as Britain seeks to decarbonize its electricity system by 2035. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government has started to water down  that plan, allowing gas-fired plants to be built into the next decade to ensure the lights stay on during times of low solar or wind output. 

If the UK does hope to achieve its climate goals, construction of long-term storage needs to begin soon since the facilities can take 7-10 years to build, according to the House of Lords panel. 

“The committee is concerned that this is not being treated with sufficient urgency,” it said. It also called on officials to set a minimum target for energy storage, coordinate delivery of an energy system plan and clarify the role of hydrogen, among other measures.

Storage Shortfall

The UK doesn’t have strategic storage for natural gas, relying instead on imports from Europe. While the same model is also possible for electricity, the country needs to make sure it has enough electricity when exports are limited by cold and windless weather in neighboring countries.

Centrica Plc shut its commercial Rough gas storage site — the UK’s largest facility — off the east coast of England in 2017 for economic reasons, only to reopen it in 2022. “The UK came to regret and partially reverse the closure” of the facility, the committee said, adding that the government should plan now for how this storage capacity will be replaced.

The study noted that the recent energy crisis showed country’s vulnerability to global supply shocks.

“Relying on gas as a strategic reserve would leave us again dependent on expensive, volatile imports,” it said. “Cheaper, renewable energy, stored in forms such as hydrogen, offers more energy independence and security.”

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A consultation document published Tuesday by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero highlighted the need to solve the problem long-term energy storage. New gas plants are “the only mature technology capable of providing sustained flexible capacity whilst low carbon long-duration alternatives” scale up, it said. 

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