Utility Week

15 ISSUE 01 OCT/2018 Watson gives an example of some of Northumbrian's data analysts looking at the performance of sewage pumping stations to predict when they might fail. On encountering scepticism from engineers in the field, they agreed to meet at a station they believed to be on the point of failure and were found to be right. But Watson accepts that events won't always play out like this. "We're right about seven times out of ten because data is imperfect. We want to get that to eight or nine but it won't be ten out of ten. "So it's about culture and being humble and being brave. We need to say what we've got isn't perfect and ask our people to work with us." But what about the energy sector? Is there enough successful innovation being deployed to keep existing companies in the game and to satisfy ever more demanding consumers? According to techUK's Evans, the sector "is in a relatively good place" because of its strong engineering focus. " ere is no sector – even tech – that has the right skill level to manage the digital revolution we're all being disrupted by," he expands. "In energy, I'm relatively positive about the skill set, but there needs to be a greater willingness to collaborate both within the sector and outside of it, and a mindset change when it comes to data and sharing it." e situation could be helped by the regulator (see box p13), Evans says. " e regulator can play a role by ensuring those already in the market are allowed to change. ere have been instances where innovation in the sector is challenging because of the regulation that exists. ere's good reason why it does exist, because of safety or to keep the lights on, but we have to make sure the balance is right because carrying on doing things Having recognised that innovation isn't simply a 'nice to have' but an essential tool, Northumbrian Water has made it part of its culture. is July saw it host its second Innovation Festival at Newcastle Racecourse: an event that attracted more than 140 businesses to come together to solve real-world problems that were affecting the business (pictured above). As part of the festival, Northumbrian invites teams of data scientists from other companies or universities to take part in a data hack, sharing its own data. During one of these 'hacks' looking at spills from sewage pumping stations, a correlation was found between water flow, power usage and when the asset would fail. e team of scientists then came into the business to work with field crews, resulting in an 80 per cent reduction in those incidents. NORTHUMBRIAN WATER – data hacks and innovation festivals as we are is not going to be sustainable or safe or keep the lights on." And indeed there are myriad examples of companies not carrying on doing things in the same way, particularly when it comes to the relationship between supplier, end user and the grid. Ovo Energy recently won praise from the government for its smart meter-enabled electric vehicle platform, VCharge, which allows drivers to sell energy back to the grid. Massara's new venture, Electron, similarly reimagines the traditional relationship between consumer and supplier. It is working alongside National Grid and two DNOs to build an asset register, using a blockchain solution, to enable hundreds of thousands of new, smaller consumer-owned devices to help balance the grid. So while there are very real threats from across the board, the utility sector is trying to adapt. It just needs strong leadership. "It's a top-down change," concludes Limejump's Nygard. "So you need CEOs that are maverick, not old-school corporate leaders. " ere's a lot of good stuff happening. e challenge is making it work, and letting it be more than just rhetoric."

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