Utility Week

22 | 31ST AUGUST - 6TH SEPTEMBER 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Operations & Assets The government needs to move EV take-up into the fast lane. Pipe Up Kevin Welstead A t SSE Enterprise, our goal is to help people ditch traditional polluting methods of travel by providing transport companies with the right electric vehicle (EV) charging point infra- structure: whether that be buses that can be charged overnight at Waterloo or the 600 or so private car charging points we've installed across London. So while it's good news that 50 per cent of new cars have to be ultra-low emission by 2030, will such a distant target really deliver the behaviour change we need to make widespread EV take-up a reality? I would argue that encouraging owners of large business fleets to transition to EVs is critical to the UK's journey to zero emissions. So it's a shame there was precious little carrot or stick from policy- makers in terms of targets for fleets. Yes, persuading them to make the leap is challenging. Expense, operational disruption and vehicle range anxiety are all likely reasons for fleet owners' reticence. Unfortunately, the government's interventions do little to combat this, being mainly focused on the progress in the private car sector with little support or incentive for operators of private fleets. Ultimately, EV fleets are good news for businesses. They offer lower running costs, road tax and congestion charge discounts and are green – a critical factor for environmentally conscious brands. For the more savvy, who for example see electric buses as two-way "batteries on wheels", opportunities to provide flexibility to the grid are likely to provide more commercial benefits. If companies feel empowered and incentivised to ensure their employees are driving green vehicles it will send a serious statement to their customers that they take sustainability seriously. I work as part of SSE Group, a FTSE 30 energy company with some 21,000 employees, and if every vehicle with our logo on it was one day powered by the electricity we source from renewable sources as part our Green tariff then that's a pretty powerful signal that we practise what we preach … one day I hope! I also believe that if employees drove EVs as part of their daily jobs, or even through any private car leasing schemes their company operated, it would help them overcome their range anxieties and encourage them to make the switch when it came to choosing the next family car. So while we're on the right road with 2030 targets, why doesn't the government help us all get there quicker? Why not bring in tax breaks or fines to incentivise companies to make the transition to EVs that would immediately grab the attention of the all-important finance directors out there? Why not declare that we want, say, 25 per cent of every commercial fleet to be green by 2025 and help us all get out of the slow lane and into the fast lane for a greener EV future? Kevin Welstead, sector director EVs, SSE Enterprise Market view Put AI to work on resilience Leakage rather than consumption is key to solving water supply shortages, and artificial intelligence can play a big part. A recent report from the National Infrastructure Commission suggested that in the next 30 years there's roughly a 1 in 4 chance that water sup- ply will be cut off for extended periods due to severe drought, which puts resilience and affordable water sup- ply under the spotlight. Hosepipe bans are a short-term, reactive and largely cosmetic measure because domestic consumption rep- resents less than 5 per cent of total water use. Instead, a sharp focus on distribution leakage as opposed to domestic consumption might provide the answer. A 2018 Environment Agency report said three billion litres of water a day are lost through leakage – that's around 30 per cent of all water produced. In response, Ofwat set targets for a 15 per cent reduction in leakage by 2020, so this is now one of the top priorities for water companies. Modern technologies and innovations are being explored to deal with this challenge, including acoustic listening devices, drones, satellite images, and intelli- gent demand forecasting using weather and consump- tion patterns. These have all been employed to help detect and locate leaks faster, but most require signifi- cant capital investment and years of planning. Acoustic sensors have proven highly effective and can now be deployed without breaking ground. Equipped with 3G and other over-the-air communication capa- bilities, they enable reactive leak awareness and locali- sation. However, a useful range of around 300 metres creates high costs due to the volume of sensors required. Research by UKWIR also concluded that acoustic sen- sors struggle to detect leaks on plastic pipes; in noisy environments, such as city centres; noise from smaller leaks masking larger leaks; locating leaks in large diam- eter pipes; and locating leaks in areas with pipes using varied materials. But the rise of machine learning, or AI, offers a lower cost alternative and has proven highly effective in detect- ing and locating priority leaks, typically delivering over 80 per cent accuracy. Using telemetry data from existing pressure and flow sensors across underground water networks, complex algorithms – assisted by AI – can identify and locate leaks as they occur rather than the norm of weeks or months later. Is AI the silver bullet we've all been looking for? Mark Deighton, head of insight driven transformation, Capgemini UK Fleets could boost EVs

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