Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 10TH - 16TH MAY 2019 | 5 UK Power Networks is working alongside the Norfolk Coast Partnership to remove overhead power lines from a popular walking area near Burnham Overy that includes this iconic windmill. The £135,000 project will remove 1.1km of overhead lines and replace them with 970m of underground cables. ENERGY Uniper appoints Mike Lockett as UK country chair Mike Lockett has been appointed Uniper UK country chair – a role he will hold in tandem with his current duties as chief commercial officer (power) for the Uniper Group. He will divide his time between London and Birmingham and Düsseldorf, Germany. Lockett has been chief com- mercial officer since 2017, bearing responsibility for Uniper's power and fuels commodity trading, as well as optimisation and dispatch of its generation portfolio. As part of his new duties, Lockett will be tasked with acting as an official external spokesman on all UK issues, alongside Uniper's UK head of political affairs and communications, Dr Pauline Lawson. ELECTRICITY Cornish homes become 'virtual power plant' Centrica has turned 100 Cornish homes into a "virtual power plant" as part of a £19 million local energy market trial. The company has fitted smart battery systems in all 100 proper- ties and solar panels in the 60 that did not already have them. They will now be aggregated and used to provide flexibility services for the local electricity network, which is increasingly constrained due to the high penetration of renewables. The services will be sold via an online marketplace developed with the University of Exeter, Imperial College London, Western Power Distribution and National Grid. Centrica's distributed power systems director, Mark Futyan, said: "This is the first project in the world to adopt a market-based approach to local grid services, providing Western Power Distribu- tion and National Grid with a route to buy flexibility at the local level, while managing any conflicts between local and national needs." GAS Cadent ramps up use of robots for London gas network Cadent will roll out its "gas-bots" in several London boroughs, including Camden, Hackney and Kensington and Chelsea, over the next few weeks. The gas operator confirmed the expansion plans at a technology showcase event held at City Hall in the capital last month. Robots are increasingly playing a part in Cadent's gas operations, enabling it to carry out mainte- nance work more efficiently and extend the life of pipes by up to 50 years. The move follows a suc- cessful trial in two of the capital's busiest areas, Oxford Street and The Strand, last year. Cadent has been working with New York-based company ULC Robotics, using its cast iron joint sealing repair robots (CISBOT). Since July 2018, ULC has worked with Cadent on 5km of pipes across its network, with plans for 30km of further works over the next two years. "Without bold innovation we will not succeed in the transition to a smarter, greener energy system" Mary Starks, Ofgem's executive director of consumers and markets, says the regulator's new licensing regime will not be entirely risk free but admits it is currently "too easy" for a supplier in the market to take a "cheap gamble". 800 Pod Point will install 800 charge points at Mitie and its client offices and employees' homes by 2020 to support the facilities management com- pany's plan to electrify 20 per cent of its fleet of smaller vehicles by 2020. "There is little transparency over the costs of the rollout. This is beginning to impact on other key decisions" Gillian Guy, CEO of Citizens Advice, responding to news that Ofgem has launched a consultation as part of its review into the costs of the smart meter rollout within its default tariff cap.

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