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UTILITY WEEK | 11TH -17TH SEPTEMBER 2015 | 21 water quality in local streams and riv- ers and also the sea. Operations director Graham Neave said: "This investment reflects our commitment to protecting our beauti- ful coastline and our understanding of the importance of the impact of north- east beaches on tourism, the economy and the leisure industry." If you have an asset or project you would like to see featured in this slot, email: paul.newton@fav-house.com Pipe up Jane Gray F or too long, energy policy and industry attention have focused on the advance of the smart grid and the decarbonisation of electricity generation, claimed energy experts at a conference in Edinburgh last week. Do away with "myopia" and draw a bigger picture of integrated energy systems across electricity, heat and transport, they cried. While the European North Sea Energy Alliance's event didn't quite feel like the start of a revolution, it did raise challenging questions about the direction of energy policy and infrastructure planning – not only in the UK, but globally. The conference provided a platform for the airing of ambitious views on energy system integration, with academic experts from across Europe revealing a variety of market scenario studies. Primarily, these presentations aimed to provoke thought about the ways in which synergies and co-ordi- nation might be promoted between the carbon-intensive industries of the old world and the industries pioneering the clean-tech enabled commercial world of tomorrow. Taking time to explore such synergies should provide models for a smoother, more resource-efficient transition into a decarbonised society, said speakers including Nobel Peace Prize winner Catrinus Jepma, a professor of energy and sustainability at the University of Groningen, Denmark. Jepma went into detail, giving illustrative figures to demonstrate viable – and unvi- able – business models for using redundant oil and gas platforms to host offshore power to gas facilities, thereby tackling renewables intermittency by converting excess energy into a storable product. While admitting that some of these models are "fantasy scenarios", his mes- sage was clear: there is room for more creative thinking in energy system co-ordination and encouraging such creativity could unlock new revenue streams. Backing up this argument, other speakers pointed to estimates of the potential added value that could be achieved through better systems integration in the EU – between €12.5 billion and €40 billion, according to a European Commission study. Several also indicated the potential to advance more effective local government and social policy via energy system integration, poten- tially addressing fuel poverty head on. The challenge of aligning and connecting electricity, heat and transport systems is huge, but so are the bene- fits. Drawing on the insights from this conference, ENSEA is due to present a paper to the European Commission suggesting a practical roadmap for realising these. "The challenge of aligning and connecting electricity, heat and transport systems is huge, but so are the benefits" "Encouraging creative thinking in energy system co-ordination could unlock new revenue streams" Operations & Assets