Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH MARCH 2019 | 25 Operations & Assets UKPN connected Europe's rst electric- only bus garage in London's Waterloo, and two more since. Waterloo's conversion saved 700 tonnes of carbon dioxide in its rst year. The distribution network operator (DNO) o… ered timed connections, allowing electri- city to be drawn at non-peak hours. This pioneering arrangement helped it explore how to support more electric vehicles on London's streets without the need for costly, time- consuming network upgrades. The company has been working closely with TFL to help realise its ambition to elec- trify the entire 9,000-strong bus ˆ eet. It was originally estimated that this would need 800MW, but a UKPN team worked with TFL to reduce that to just 232MW, through intel- ligent use of existing infrastructure. 3. Reducing taxi emissions Taxis are responsible for 16 per cent of NOx road transport emissions in central London. Black Cab Green is a landmark study with TFL and taxi drivers' union the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association. By studying the driving behaviours of all London's 60,000 black cab and minicab drivers, the company found the cost of upgrading the network to enable Environment Award Category sponsor: CGI Award winner: UK Power Networks Project title: Improving London's air quality by transforming public transport • Annual company turnover: £1.6 billion • Employees: 6,000 (1,800 London-based) • Customers: 8.3 million homes and businesses Entry criteria: 1. Quality of entry (clear, evidence-based) 2. Clear goals set for the project that were met or exceeded 3. Measurable bene ts for the environment 4. Measurable bene ts for the business and project delivered on time and to budget 5. Evidence of going beyond business as usual The Utility Week Awards are held in association with Capgemini, CGI and Microso¡ What the judges said… Judges praised the winner for the level of its ambition. them all to drive EVs could be reduced by up to 70£ per cent through optimised smart charging. The DNO helped TFL deliver the rst of 75£ public rapid chargers in 2017 and is on target to hit its goal of 300 public rapid chargers by 2020. 4. Innovating to create an EV ready grid Active Response is UKPN's unique new trial to test how network operators can proactively move spare capacity to support areas that are using more electricity at speci c times. It pro- vides extra capacity in residential areas in the evenings and at weekends when people are charging their electric cars, and then moves that spare capacity to where it's needed dur- ing the day – such as city centres, commer- cial hubs or electric ˆ eet charge points. This ˆ agship project could save customers more than £270 million and cut more than 450,000 tonnes of carbon emissions by 2030. Beyond business as usual EVolution – UKPN's electric vehicle strategy – supports its vision to be the "most inno- vative DNO" and to provide the most reli- able network at the lowest cost. EVolution uses industry-leading forecasting to predict where EVs are coming onto the network and where UKPN needs to target investment and deploy smart technology so it can deliver the infrastructure at the lowest possible cost to customers. New electric Black Cab Green (right) alongside its diesel predecessor UKPN's own fl eet of electric vehicles The 2019 Utility Week Awards will be opening soon. Sponsorship opportunities are available – contact Utility Week business development manager Ben Hammond on benhammond@fav-house.com or call 01342 332116 for more information.

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