Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 21ST - 27TH FEBRUARY 2020 | 23 of the future network. We seek a fl exibility solution prior to designing and planning any new construction activity. Our website fl exiblepower.co.uk shows all the zones our network is broken down into and where we are actively seeking service providers, including individual prosumers or businesses, to provide us with either generation or demand side response at certain times of the day, month or year, etc. " But there is uncertainty around how the fl exibility platforms market will develop. A recent report by Ofgem concluded that too much work is being duplicated by industry parties and a more joined-up approach could realise benefi ts much quicker. Ofgem recently announced a plan to ensure energy markets adequately award fl exibility, amend regulatory requirements to support innovation and experimentation, and form a net zero advisory group. Energy trading pilot projects are currently under way to identify the most eff ective solutions. ese include the £40 million government-backed Project LEO (Local Energy Oxfordshire) involving Piclo, Origami, Nuvve and EDF Energy, and two other peer-to-peer trials in diff erent areas of London led by EDF Energy and Centrica. "We expect to see the convergence of DSO fl exibility markets starting to happen in 2020 and probably be completed in 2021," Hey concludes. Six technologies to watch // Utilities are also expected to invest more heavily in building cognitive technologies with a view to moving towards virtual agents. // A r e h o m e s g e t t i n g s m a r t e r ? e smart meter rollout continues to be problematic. Centrica's gamble on Hive to cushion it against fi erce competition in the energy retail market has been slow to pay dividends. But with the public's love aff air with technology only growing, the domestic market can only continue to rise. Connected homes give consumers the tools to monitor and modify their energy usage and will support the future smart grid. A recent report by Price waterhouseCoopers forecast that UK households would spend £10.8 billion on smart tech in 2019 and indicated that the market could be increasingly lucrative for energy suppliers in the future. Igloo Energy entered the market last year with Igloo Works, which provides smart thermostats, hybrid heating and smart electric vehicle charging. Smart thermostats control indoor heating based on weather information including outside temperature, and help identify health issues, such as poor air quality and mould risk. Centrica's Innovations business also invested in two smart home start-ups: Greencom Networks, whose IoT platform is used to manage distributed energy W i l l f l e x i b i l i t y p l a t f o r m s u n d e r p i n t h e d e c a r b o n i s e d g r i d ? As the electricity grid transitions away from a centralised model to one of multiple local networks, distribution network operators (DNOs) will require greater fl exibility in electricity demand and production at a local level to help them manage constraints. e challenge is fi nding enough available distributed energy resources (DER), such as battery storage, renew- able solar and wind power, electric vehicles and demand response, in the right locations to balance the system. Flexibility trading platforms that allow buyers, including DNOs and National Grid, to connect and trade energy with sellers, including prosumers or larger businesses, are considered a key element to making this vision a reality and uptake is on the increase. Solutions include peer-to-peer marketplaces like Piclo, and platforms established by energy companies to connect direct with DERs, such as Western Power Distribution's Flexible Power, EDF Energy's Powershift and Centrica's Local Energy Market. Flexibility can also be purchased from demand response aggregators, including Origami Energy, FlexitriCity and Kiwi Power. Roger Hey at Western Power Distribution says: "Using fl exibility is not just a good economic solution, it can be delivered really quickly, and can potentially buy us a bit of time until we develop a more certain picture

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