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NETWORK / 21 / MARCH 2020 ous DNOs and the transmission network, while Dawson himselfhas over years' experience in the British energy sector at companies including UK Power Networks and EDF Energy. "We know how the energy system works and how to communicate our requirements with the DNOs, it's key for us to work together. At the end of the day we're all there to deliver for the end customer and we all want them to be happy." But in a competitive landscape, there is the potential for even more competi- tion to arrive, a‡ er Ofgem indicated that it could allow DNOs to have aˆ liate IDNOs. SSE Group applied for an IDNO licence for wholly owned subsidiary Forbury Assets in January Ž'', arguing that it would have a separate board, management structure and operating arrangements to ensure the "complete separation of the IDNO from the DNO companies". In December Ž'", Ofgem issued a decision that it was "minded to" grant Forbury Assets a licence. Enzor agrees that the • eld is crowded, particularly in the residential sector. "Certainly, for standard housing develop- ments, there is a good deal of competition. Before IDNOs existed, the incumbent DNO would have done the work by default. Now, a group of IDNOs is likely to bid. Over half a structures that could allow both IDNOs and customers connected to their networks to bene• t from customers providing — exibility are not yet in place. "From an IDNO's perspective, it's diˆ cult to earn a margin from genera- tion assets under the current commercial arrangements. IDNO revenue is based on a proportion of the amount the DNO would charge, and a DNO would actually be credit- ing generators at low voltage levels. It also remains unclear how IDNOs will play into the DSO transition. The DNOs are all seek- ing to procure — exibility services, but how does it work if the IDNO procures — exibility, or the DNO wants to procure — exibility from customers connected to IDNO networks? The structures are not yet in place to facili- tate that." Enzor believes some of these issues will be debated during Ofgem's network access and forward-looking charges review, which is not due to reach a conclusion until ŽŽ', with implementation pencilled in for ŽŽ. Enzor also suggests that the review could introduce "locational tariš s". "Now, there is one DNO tariš for a given customer type in each region, and an equivalent tariš for IDNOs, across the region. That could change to more granular charges," he says. The future landscape Meanwhile, Vattenfall Networks believes that the road to decarbonisation is paved with "all electric" sites. "Although we work with customers with dual-fuel sites, we are also seeing an increase in clients that are opting out of gas heating. Sweden has all-electric sites, and it is great that the UK is now starting to move in that direction. They could be domestic and commercial – perhaps a housing estate with a school, or commercial buildings. We have already bid for one all-electric site, and there are more coming through. Our focus will be on get- ting involved with the developers early and in— uencing them with the technology that's out there." In the UK, Vattenfall Networks hopes to capitalise on Vattenfall Group's technical resources, including Swedish expertise in heat pump technology. "On one all-electric site, we were able to go to our colleagues in Sweden and use Vattenfall's R&D team. The customer was looking to put in air-source heat pumps and we were able to use our colleagues in Sweden to work out the load and the pro• le of the instal- lation. That's the sort of thing we can leverage in the UK by being part of Vattenfall." Dawson's team has been assem- bled from experienced alumni of vari- dozen companies typically operate GB wide, at least in built-up urban areas, although more remote developments are more likely to be done by the DNO. With housing, you have clusters of connections, so that's a good project for an IDNO where the incum- bent DNO will likely not be competitive." Dawson welcomes last year's joint BEIS and Ofgem consultation, Reforming the energy industry codes. According to the gov- ernment, codes such as DistributionCon- nection and Use of System Agreement, the Balancing and Settlement Code and the Data Transfer Service Agreement"need to adapt much more rapidly to enable the tran- sition towards a more — exible energy system with net zero emissions, while minimising costs and protecting consumers". Dawson is in full agreement. "I think that's a great initiative. It's right that we take a step back and look at the codes, how they operate and interact and communicate with each other. The more codes you have and reporting you have to do, the more complex- ity is created. At the end of the day codes need to be simple and enable the future of our energy system, so to me we should look at simplifying the codes and ensuring that costs are kept down for customers." In ŽŽ, Vattenfall also has ambitions to extend its footprint in the UK, by bringing low carbon solutions for shipping to these shores. In Stockholm, it already provides the super-fast battery for a local commuter ferry, where ' minutes of charging allows one hour of operation. Looking out of his oˆ ce window onto the Thames, Dawson asks: "Look at the number of boats and barges going up and down this river, can we change these to be electric going forward? If you see the big cruise ships docking in Southampton, you think why don't they plug them into the mains? We've been working on the e-boat in Sweden for about a year and we have now formed a team to bring this technology into the UK. That again is helping our com- pany's ethos for enabling 'fossil free' living within one generation." That vision is clearly central to Vattenfall Network's principles, with Dawson opti- mistic that social and customer attitudes are shi‡ ing into alignment with its ethos. "The future has got to change and wherever we, as a society, can generate electricity, through solar or PVs, that should be built into the designs. As a distribution busi- ness, we have to make sure that we en- able this, and that's all about managing the data from the network and our own operations – we're heading towards a real-time automated network across all voltages. That's the future." Dawson: "The future has got to change and wherever we, as a society, can generate electricity, through solar or PVs, that should be built into the designs" They could be domestic and commercial – perhaps a housing estate with a school, or commercial buildings. We have already bid for one all-electric site, and there are more coming through. Our focus will be on get- ting involved with the developers early and in— uencing them with the technology that's In the UK, Vattenfall Networks hopes to capitalise on Vattenfall Group's technical resources, including Swedish expertise in heat pump technology. "On one all-electric site, we were able to go to our colleagues in Sweden and use Vattenfall's R&D team. The customer was looking to put in air-source electric going forward? If you see the big cruise ships docking in Southampton, you think why don't they plug them into the mains? We've been working on the e-boat in Sweden for about a year and we have now formed a team to bring this technology into the UK. That again is helping our com- pany's ethos for enabling 'fossil free' living within one generation." That vision is clearly central to Vattenfall Network's principles, with Dawson opti- mistic that social and customer attitudes are shi‡ ing into alignment with its ethos. "The future has got to change and wherever we, as a society, can generate electricity, through solar or PVs, that should be built into the designs. As a distribution busi- ness, we have to make sure that we en- DECARBONISATION OF HEAT DECARBONISATION OF TRANSPORT FUTURE OF FLEXIBILITY