Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 31ST JANUARY - 6TH FEBRUARY 2020 | 3 This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Inside story The pressure is on to agree a new trading relationship with the EU 10 | Interview Greg Jackson, chief executive, Octopus Energy 13 Policy & Regulation 13 | News Network operators 'cannot justify' rises 14 | Regional growth and utilities Siemens UK's Carl Ennis says the regions and their utilities will play a major role in net zero 20 | Analysis Competing generation technologies mix it up 23 Finance & Investment 23 | News GridBeyond secures £9m in investment 24 Operations & Assets 24 | High viz Vattenfall has begun construction of its first floating solar farm 25 | Market view Steps to help organisations speed sustainability 27 Customers 27 | News Price cap 'will be difficult to remove' 29 | Opinion Kit Dixon, Good Energy 30 Community 31 | Disconnector Utility Webinar on asset management – now available Pioneering applications of asset data capture are showcased in a Mobileye and Ordnance Survey webi- nar, that shows how artificial intelligence is helping utilities track the precise location of roadside assets. Northumbrian Water Group has become the first utility company in the UK to join the project. Its vans will be fitted with Mobileye's automotive camera- based mapping technology. Electricity North West discusses its Network Man- agement System project to build a full network model from a GIS and asset register, and how the asset management team prepared their data to enable this. https://bit.ly/3atnLdf Leader Suzanne Heneghan It's the final countdown Brexit has finally arrived, and as you read this there will be a cacophony of political noise about the UK having "got the job done". Yet the big decisions are only just coming into view. And just as Britain, to quote the prime minister, will "unleash its potential" on its exit from the EU at 11 o'clock tonight, so too will it unleash a torrent of questions from businesses, not least utilities. For the energy industry, there are some huge unknowns as Britain departs the trading bloc. And, with only what is le‚ of this year to answer them, there is very little time to play with. It may not have been grabbing the same airtime as other sectors, such as motor manufacturing, but that doesn't mean the impact of this historic international moment on our energy industry won't be seismic. Not least in terms of our future relationship, if any, with the EU's Internal Energy Market (IEM), designed to enable a harmonised, tariff- free trading of gas and electricity between EU members, through an agreed set of rules on issues ranging from state aid to clean energy. Any divergence away from EU regulations, a prospect already mooted by chancellor Sajid Javid, threatens to change Britain's role forever in this key, if quiet, success story of the European project. With an already massive remit for net zero, there is little appetite in energy circles for such mass upheaval, coupled with the nagging unease about future arrangements surrounding interconnectors, security of supply and capacity. Concerns are also growing about a loss of influence if the UK is unable to fully participate in those technical bodies that can call the shots on swathes of powerful energy regulation. Questions abound about future emissions trading and the skills pipeline, and there is major ongoing uncertainty for Northern Ireland, potentially poised to see the biggest impact of Brexit if the all-island Single Energy Market (SEM) is jeopardised. In all these areas, hope remains that a lifeline will be thrown for a sector that many in it believe should be treated as a special case. But there is an ambitious timeline for the Withdrawal Agreement (as detailed in our special Brexit report, p6-8). Any momentary lucidity over exiting the EU following the general election result has now been replaced by urgent calls for clarity. The countdown may well have begun on the final hours to Brexit, but the clock is ticking on the detail. Suzanne Heneghan, editor, suzanneheneghan@fav-house.com COVER STORY 6 | Inside story Exiting the EU starts the clock ticking all over again INTERVIEW 10 | Octopus CEO Greg Jackson aims high ANALYSIS 14 | The New Deal needs local allies HIGH VIZ 24 | Vattenfall's big floating solar farm

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