Utility Week

40 | APRIL 2022 | UTILITY WEEK Analysis Collaborative innovation 'doesn't just happen' Experts from water, network and energy fi rms off er a snapshot of the state of pan-utility partnerships and outline the barriers that can impede joint initiatives. T o deliver net zero and best serve cus- tomers and other stakeholders, inno- vation is critical. And in a diverse pan-utility landscape, rms across energy, water and networks have long been aware that collaboration is key to unlocking that innovation. Challenges to the goal of slashing carbon emissions by 78% by 2035, and becoming net zero by 2050, will only be overcome in partnership. According to Tony Conway, director of Conway Strategic Water Consulting and for- mer executive director of United Utilities, the current emphasis on collaborative inno- vation is unprecedented. "In my 40 years in the water sector I've never known a time when there's been such a focus on innovation and working together," he tells Utility Week Innovate. What's shaping collaborative innovation? According to Western Power Distribution (WPD) policy manager Paul Jewell, shi' s in the government's net-zero ambitions and concrete policy targets around decarboni- sation – such as the phasing out of petrol cars and rollout of heat pumps – are fuel- ling renewed e" orts towards collaborative innovation. "The year 2030 means no more internal combustion engine vehicles being sold," he explains. "Everything that's new will be elec- tric of some sort… I'm asking my team how we are going to deal with that." Jewell adds that the transition between price control periods has also reshaped atti- tudes across energy networks. "At the start of RIIO-ED1 in 2015, electric vehicles were a bit of a novelty and a curios- ity," he says. "We knew there was a carbon plan, we knew we had to decarbonise, but the focus of what we were seeing was grid- scale generation – we weren't looking to the big future. "Now, as we're coming to plan for RIIO- ED2 we're in a di" erent place because the government has moved on." The head of innovation at Northern Gas Networks (NGN), Richard Hynes Cooper, adds that there's been a similar shi' in focus between RIIO-GD1 and RIIO-GD2. "RIIO-GD1 was focused directly on chal- lenges that the networks face," he says. "RIIO-GD2 is more speci cally focused around innovation, which allows us to pro- vide evidence to support an energy systems transition and actually help networks to decarbonise and speci cally ensure that con- sumers in vulnerable situations aren't nega- tively impacted." Collaborative innovation in action In the same sector Energy Innovation Centre chief executive Denise Massey has seen collaboration in energy sector innovation "move massively" recently. However, she caveats that con- trasting cultures and competition in energy still pose barriers – something that energy supplier Ovo's head of smart metering, Joe Mills, believes is a key challenge. "We see collaboration across retail busi- nesses but I think it could go a lot further because there are o' en issues around com- petitive companies being able to collaborate and be really e" ective," he says. Yet from what he's already seen in water retail, UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) chief executive Steve Kaye believes that col- laboration and competition can "coexist". "If we can collaborate on big projects or common challenges, and do the lower tech- nology readiness level stu" together, when something's proven, companies can still implement those solutions, still hit their outcome delivery incentives and endeavour to be top of the league," he says. Between companies and supply chains Kaye adds that Spring – the sector's much anticipated innovation centre of excellence – has been launched as a new platform to facilitate "near to market" innovation simi- lar to that fostered by the EIC in energy. While this demonstrates one of many pan-utility strides in engaging SMEs in innovation projects, rms still regularly face challenges. Discussing barriers in her rm's e" orts to collaborate with SMEs, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks' Oxfordshire programme director, Mel Bryce, explains that issues on some of their projects revolve around the structure of innovation funding and hurdles that have to be overcome to get SMEs and social enterprises on board. "Sometimes there's a perceived hier- archy within projects, and in order to work really collaboratively that has to be "I've never known a time when there's been such a focus on innovation and working together," Tony Conway, director of Conway Strategic Water Consulting there's been such a focus on innovation and working together," Tony Conway of Conway Strategic Water Consulting

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