Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 30TH AUGUST - 5TH SEPTEMBER 2019 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Corbyn adviser Alan Simpson: "Renewables are fi ne as long as they remain middle class trinkets, but if the poor get to benefi t, it's game over." 10 Policy & Regulation 10 | News The industry's reaction to the worst power cut to hit the UK in a decade 12 | Utility of the Future Is net zero target too little, too late? 16 | Comment The energy sector must rise to the net zero challenge 17 | Chief executive's view Fiona Howarth, Octopus Electric Vehicles 18 Finance & Investment 18 | News Will Eon's acquisition of Npower conclude before Brexit? 19 | Analysis Can the regulated asset base model have a role to play in nuclear new-build? 20 Operations & Assets 20 | High viz The Gem tower for festivals 21 | Expert view Andy Barker, head of qualitative research, Populus 22 | Roundtable Can utilities create a data democracy? 25 Customers 25 | News EDF Energy takes on Solarplicity accounts 26 | Analysis Centrica's H1 horribilis 28 | Roundtable Help is on hand for vulnerable customers, but who needs it most? 30 Community 31 | Disconnector DOWNLOAD: How to beat the digital disruptors at their own game https://bit.ly/2MfKXA8 See the Community section, page 30 If you are responsible for your company's outsourced or internal customer service centre we can deliver compelling cost savings to your business, with a typical rate for an FTE of just £10 per hour. 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AN APPSOLUTE MUST IFS: Sponsored report: Getting Ahead in the Diversifying Energy Market https://bit.ly/2MXkFkI Leader Suzanne Heneghan B is for blackout T he energy sector got a new "b" word to think about this month, thanks to what is now simply being dubbed "the blackout". Brexit may still loom large, but it has been the power outages of 9 August (see p10) exercising the industry ever since. While we await National Grid ESO's full report, the surge of questions about the biggest UK power cut in a decade continues. As does speculation about what it might signal for the future shape and operation of the country's fast-evolving energy system. On the plus side, the system worked in terms of isolating the area a‰ ected. But it would be wrong to be unconcerned about the two unex- pected outages at Hornsea and Little Barford. It also wasn't the plan that 500MW of embedded generation would then go o' ine, or that further units at Little Barford would then follow. Criticisms levelled at National Grid about the disruption to com- muter travel are misplaced: this was a separate, train system design and operation issue. But there's no escaping the fact that it was the transmission network that was impacted by lightning, and the con- sequences of this were felt by power plants that went o‰ the system as a result. If we ask, could such a con• uence of events happen again, then the answer must be yes. And is it likely to get worse as our genera- tion • eet changes? Again, yes. As one industry source characterised it, we've moved away from having very few, very large, but very stable generation sources, where the chance of two going o' ine at the same time was remote. Meanwhile, it is well known that a sharp change in the rate of frequency on the system (such as can be caused by lightning strikes) is a problem for wind and solar farms, which are designed to trip out under such conditions. The more dispersed our system gets, the greater the chances are that more than one piece can go wrong at the same time. So, despite the blackout encroaching into our summer conversa- tions, the time is right for inquiries and wider debate. This should go far further than a probability and cost-bene— t analysis about what our minimum reserve should be – it now feels highly unlikely this will remain only as a requirement to cover the largest single unit of generation on the system. The national conversation should equally include transport, hospital generators, services allowed on interruptible contracts, as well as the robustness of regulatory standards. In the end, as a public good issue, this will be a political decision and one with enduring consequences. So, just like Brexit then. Suzanne Heneghan, editor, suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com ANALYSIS 19 | Does the RAB model have a role to play in nuclear new-build? ROUNDTABLE 22 | Can utilities create a data democracy? COVER STORY 10 | How worried should we be that lightning took a million people off the grid? UTILITY OF THE FUTURE 12 | Is the net zero target too little, too late to save the planet?

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