Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 24TH - 30TH JANUARY 2020 | 15 Policy & Regulation This week SSEN to model impact of local energy plans Network company secures funds to help ensure development projects are successfully delivered Scottish and Southern Electric- ity Networks (SSEN) has secured £343,000 from Ofgem's Network Innovation Allowance to model the impact of local strategies on the energy system to ensure they can be successfully delivered. The company said giving local communities a say in energy system development will be critical to decarbonising energy efficiently. The Regional Energy System Optimisation Planning (RESOP) project is due to begin later in January and will run for 18 months. The model developed will be taught to local stakeholders, who will then be able to use it to inform decision-making. Stewart Reid, head of future networks at SSEN, said: "RESOP will be a key tool in helping SSEN to work with local and regional governments and the Scottish government to understand the impact of major trends that will shape the energy system over the course of the 2020s and beyond. This learning will be fundamental in providing a resilient network as we transition to a net- zero economy." RESOP is one of several SSEN projects to be delivered as part of the company's strategic partnership with the Scottish government, Transport Scotland and SP Energy Networks. The other projects are examining the impact of tour- ists charging electric vehicles on the power grid and identifying suitable locations for new charging points on Scotland's longest road – the A9 between Falkirk and Thurso. TG ELECTRICITY Bundle wind and solar projects The Capacity Market should be tweaked to make it more attrac- tive to bundle up wind and solar projects in different parts of the country into the same contracts, a consultant has proposed. Hannah Staab, principal adviser at multinational clean energy consultancy Natural Power, told Westminster Forum's renewable energy conference that putting these different assets into the same Capac- ity Market contract would get around the problems raised by the inherently intermittent nature of both sources. However, although different assets can be placed into the same contract, these generation units are still "de-rated" indi- vidually. This means the assess- ment of how reliably they can supply power does not take into account the broader benefits of having a portfolio of assets. "The way the Capacity Market is designed doesn't allow for the direct benefits from bundling projects together in this way. "This could provide a route to market for projects that otherwise don't have long-term project revenues," Staab said, adding that it could provide an alternative to contract for difference auctions, from which both onshore solar and wind are currently barred. But she said that, given that wind and solar projects have a 30 to 40-year life, there is "not much time to waste" to align the regulatory framework with the UK's 2050 net zero goal. ELECTRICITY UKPN meets Carbon Trust Standard UK Power Networks (UKPN) is the first distribution network operator to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon. The company said the accreditation was the first step in its Green Action Plan. The Carbon Trust certified that UKPN achieved an absolute reduction of 6.6 per cent in carbon emissions since 2016/17. This is part of the company's overall reduction of 20.5 per cent since 2014/15, which it uses as its baseline. The trust said UKPN had "a well-defined responsibility struc- ture in place for carbon manage- ment which engages individuals at all levels". Phil Spiby, UKPN's sustain- ability adviser, said: "We want to work with the Carbon Trust to really understand all of the car- bon embedded in our business and the reductions we need to make to play our part in helping to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees. Out of this work will also come a roadmap to net zero and a realistic date for achiev- ing this." Reid: communities will have a say in development Political Agenda David Blackman "Utilities renationalisation remains broadly popular" What Labour thinks about anything may not seem hugely relevant at the moment. It has just received its worst electoral drubbing since 1935, and Boris Johnson is the first prime min- ister in nearly a decade to enjoy the luxury of a secure majority. However, political scientists report that voting patterns are more volatile than at any point since the Second World War. So it is possible to envisage the Conservative majority being overturned, particularly given note even three years ago on the issue, backing what he styles "common ownership". He though, like all the other would-be leaders, is currently having to win over a Labour membership that is markedly more le§ wing than even five years ago when Ed Miliband was in charge. Utilities will be hoping that the former director of public prosecutions will show more centrist colours on this issue if and when he becomes leader. that many of the seats captured by the Tories have never figured in the blue column. The policy stances being adopted by the candidates for Labour's leadership can't there- fore be entirely dismissed. Renationalisation remains on the agenda, and utilities rena- tionalisation remains broadly popular with the public. It is hardly a surprise that Rebecca Long-Bailey, the stand- ard bearer for the Corbynite le§, backs a policy that she largely oversaw in her capacity as shadow secretary for business and energy. But frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer strikes what would have been seen as a radical

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