Bristol as a Smart Local Energy System of Systems: Skills Case Study

124 Pages Posted: 23 Nov 2021

See all articles by Ruzanna Chitchyan

Ruzanna Chitchyan

University of Bristol - Department of Computer Science

Caroline Bird

University of Bristol

Date Written: November 18, 2021

Abstract

The UK’s energy system is rapidly changing, striving to become an increasingly smart, localised, renewables-based and carbon-neutral infrastructure. The UK must train the workforce that will deliver and operate this new system, as well as engage the citizens and communities into whose homes and environments this system will have to be integrated.

The present report considers:
* What challenges does the UK face in transitioning to smart local energy systems? and
* What skills are needed to make this transition successful?
These questions are studied for the context of the city of Bristol, one of the UK’s energy champion localities where such a transition is already underway.

The report concludes that:
* A smart local energy system comprises of a set of subsystems (of which local government, transport and mobility, traditional energy, building and retrofit, community energy, ICT infrastructure, citizens and communities are considered for Bristol’s case study). All these subsystems must simultaneously undergo the transition to carbon neutrality, to deliver a successful smart local energy system.
* The challenges of understanding, integrating, and operating the smart local energy system of systems are discussed and a set of recommendations for address these challenges is provided.
* The transition requires a set of skills (enumerated in the report) within each of the subsystems, as well as across the whole smart local energy system. The skills training delivery for each subsystem needs to be tailored for that subsystems’ workforce context.

Keywords: skills, smart local energy system, energy transition, skills shortage

JEL Classification: J24,J60,M15

Suggested Citation

Chitchyan, Ruzanna and Bird, Caroline, Bristol as a Smart Local Energy System of Systems: Skills Case Study (November 18, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3966236 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3966236

Ruzanna Chitchyan (Contact Author)

University of Bristol - Department of Computer Science ( email )

Bristol
United Kingdom

Caroline Bird

University of Bristol ( email )

University of Bristol,
Senate House, Tyndall Avenue
Bristol, Avon BS8 ITH
United Kingdom

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