Network

the end of the nineteenth century and have fallen 42 per cent since 1990. "We're seeing a similarly seismic shi with u li es, moving from large, integrated, centralised companies towards becoming digital-oriented, customer-focused organisa ons." Vaughan believes consumers must be at the heart of the transforma on of the current energy landscape. While taking advantage of new technologies, such as solar panels, smart thermostats, electric vehicles and ba ery storage, there must also be thought given to how homes and businesses can play a key role in the way the energy system operates. And energy efficiency should be the key star ng point, according to Vaughan. "We believe [energy efficiency] should be made a Na onal Infrastructure Policy, so we can tackle the seven million plus customers with solid wall homes currently without adequate insula on." She insists that this should be the response to some of the founda on issues around the affordability of energy as well as benefi ng the decarbonisa on jigsaw before the future, smart systems that o en grab the headlines. FUTURE TECH Other new technologies an cipated to facilitate transi on across all u li es include data analy cs, smart grid technology, water metering, water reuse, blockchain, robo cs and low carbon heat. Across all of the technologies surveyed, the average pping point for mass take up is expected to be 2027. There are already some exci ng examples of innova on and adop on of new technologies across the sector (see case studies), but there is a risk that many of these developments are happening in silos. Is there enough joined-up thinking and sharing of ideas across the whole industry that will help deliver the energy landscape of the future? Independent consultant John Sco fears that the industry is currently on the wrong track. "There are some good things happening, but underneath it I just fear that not yet do we have the right things happening," he laments. "My worry is that we'll end up in a world where the network companies will start to get bad press and will be blamed as the dinosaurs of the old energy world that can't keep up. "In today's priva sed world there is no party who is responsible for taking ownership of joining everything up. The onus falls on policy makers to decide how to do that." While there has been some good work coming out projects like the Future Power System Architecture (FPSA) programme – a collabora on between the Energy Systems Catapult and The Ins tu on of Engineering and Technology (IET) established to inves gate the func onali es Britain's power system will need to meet future requirements – Sco is concerned that this CASE STUDY – SSEN'S ORKNEY PROJECT Orkney is an area rich with renewable energy resources, from onshore wind, to emerging wave and dal energy. SSEN's head of DSO and innova on, Stewart Reid, explains: "[The area has] significant pressures on the distribu on network that can be managed through constraint managed zone services." "As part of our work in Orkney, we introduced the world's first Ac ve Network Management (ANM) system to allow addi onal genera on to connect and maximise the exis ng system's capability," says Reid. ANM is a system that allows managed connec ons. It uses real me network informa on to calculate safe levels of genera on for managed connec ons. To ensure the safe opera on of the network, it is divided into zones which represent constraint points in the network on account of the addi onal genera on. The ANM system measures the power flows at several measurement points on the network and controls mul ple renewable generators that are part of the scheme. The system intervenes when real me informa on relayed back to it exceeds any of the limits at these points – it is a flexible network in prac ce. "The Orkney project demonstrated a least cost scalable ANM solu on to enable connec on of addi onal renewable genera on to a constrained network, integra ng smart grid technologies into exis ng systems in the process," says Reid. research unavoidably leads back into the structure of today's industry and its current codes and governance. "The current rule book, the grid codes, the distribu on codes and the commi ees and panels that sit around those bodies are all designed for yesterday's world," he explains. "They can't possibly handle the kind of things we're talking about, the future energy challenges." But there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon with Ofgem's RIIO2 update, launched in December 2018. The RIIO2 sector specific methodology document proposes a series of changes to how network innova ons will be financed and supported. The regulator has proposed a reformed innova on s mulus that will "fund solu ons to the largest research and development challenges facing networks, and is a lot more joined up with government, with a bigger role for third party innovators". While this is an interes ng development from the regulator, a ques on mark s ll remains over whether these price control proposals go far enough to reflect the financial risks faced by investors and the pace of change across the energy network. NETWORK / 41 / FEBRUARY 2019 I N A S S O C I A T I O N W I T H

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