Utility Week

30 | MARCH 2023 | UTILITY WEEK Electricity Analysis Making fl exibility mainstream Ahead of presentations at Utility Week Live 2023 in May, industry leaders talk about the steps needed to make fl exibility hit the mainstream. T he concept of energy exibility is mak- ing headway as industry and consum- ers become attuned to its potential. But we're still a long way from using it as busi- ness as usual for delivering day-to-day sys- tem and user bene ts. The idea of demand-side response was unheard of ve years ago, but as innova- tion projects and understanding of distrib- uted energy resources have accelerated and consumers have experienced the cost and carbon-saving bene ts of changing their con- sumption habits, the idea has reached a new level of technical maturity and acceptance. Con dence in the feasibility and value of energy exibility is growing, along with the industry's appreciation of energy exibility's immense potential to avoid major investment in reinforcement infrastructure and increase uptake of renewables in support of net-zero targets. And then there's the potential for exibility to lower customer bills. Large-scale demonstrator projects and market experiments have not yet translated into business as usual – there's still much to do to stitch together local exibility markets on a national scale. But signi cant progress is expected over the coming months and years as initiatives bear fruit. All six network operators already procure exibility and are in the process of trans- forming to a distribution system operator (DSO) model attuned to the needs of manag- ing local supply and demand. Final determinations for the RIIO-2 price control for electricity distribution set out a £22.2 billion package of investment to operate, maintain and enhance local elec- tricity distribution networks over the next ve years. It included a new framework of outputs and incentives for DNOs to encour- age them to consider exible alternatives to develop and use their networks. Licence requirements will also force operators to communicate exibility requirements and provide, on an annual basis, detailed infor- mation about their procurement of exibility services. Other major projects building founda- tions for exibility include a world- rst digi- tal twin being developed by National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) and plans by Ofgem for new common digital infrastruc- ture for market players. Concerted action on exibility is needed to avoid major investment in network rein- forcement in future, explains Nisha Doshi, exibility markets manager at Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN). "Encouraging exibility really needs to happen over the next ve years as uptake of low-carbon technologies like heat pumps and EVs increases. As a country we aren't physically able to dig up all the roads at the same time to allow these technologies onboard, so exibility is vital." Nisha Doshi will speak about establishing the DSO function and defi ning business as usual operations on the Smart stage at Utility Week Live on 16 May.

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