Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/622708
10 | 8TH - 14TH JANUARY 2016 | UTILITY WEEK Interview vinced companies are responding as enthusi- astically as they might. Deployment of innovation discoveries isn't the only element of energy system transfor- mation that Rutherford fears is lacking in pace, however. As our conversation inevita- bly turns to this year's launch of the national smart meter rollout programme and what this means for the network companies, Rutherford voices his concerns that the programme timeline is too ambitious and, more importantly, that the rollout will fail to deliver the game-changing benefits customers are being promised. Rutherford takes time to choose his words carefully as we launch into the topic. There's no doubt he finds fault with the way in which the rollout is being handled – it seems there are few who don't – but he doesn't want to appear to be a naysayer. "The idea is right and offers a lot of potential. But we are faced with a cumbersome rollout programme and the ability to extract full benefit remains to be seen," he comments. One reason he is unsure whether the full benefits will be realised is that because consumers will be given the choice about whether to accept a smart meter. He would prefer the rollout to be mandatory. Crucially, though, Rutherford has concerns that the set-up for network access to smart metering data will make some of the most fundamental value propositions of smart metering difficult to realise. "As a previous DNO [distribution network company] operator I have to say that the ability of the DNOs to access data from smart meters is a fundamental flaw [in the programme]." He explains: "As a DNO, the one thing I would have wanted to know with absolute certainty from a smart meter is whether or not it has electricity. Does it have gas supply or not? "The rollout plans have got that capability but it's a cumbersome path to get to that point and it relies on the DCC [Data Communications Company] acting as a trans- parent intermediary back to each of the DNOs." Isn't it transparent? "I think it is questionable and lacks clarity," Rutherford says. From a technology perspective, Rutherford is optimis- tic that smart meters will bring "a big advancement" and "give customers something more than they've already got" – as long as they can be delivered with the neces- sary "speed and alacrity" to keep ahead of independent advances in connected home products. That said, as a network man, Rutherford is more excited about other technologies. Listing a range of "big ticket" areas PNDC is working on, Rutherford lights up. He talks about the success the centre has recently experienced with UKPN putting a so open point device "through its paces and debugging its soware in quick time" and about his current fascination with improving digital fault record techniques. According to Rutherford, this latter area has the potential to radically improve industry standards on customer minutes lost and make "a big difference to cus- tomer service" more generally. Forging ahead in this area will require more experi- mentation with merging and automating existing approaches to detecting fault current on the network. Similarly, automation is the key to unlocking mas- sive value in a collaborative venture between PNDC and the European Space Agency, which aims to use satellite data with data gathered from drones to carry out detailed infrastructure mapping and monitoring. By automating the interpretation of the enormous quantity and granularity of data available from satel- lite applications, PNDC hopes to unlock big efficiencies for asset management. Meanwhile, another project designed to exploit satellite communication infrastruc- ture should demonstrate the feasibility of balancing generation with battery storage for local energy solutions, Rutherford goes on, demonstrating that PNDC's activities are not cen- tred on perpetuating or refining incumbent assumptions about large-scale national network infrastructure. The organisation is also ambitiously exploring the feasibility of a radically different kind of energy system featuring independent "islanded" micro-grids, even if these poten- tially threaten to leave traditional networks "stranded". What would such a development mean for DNOs? It's not yet clear, but it's something senior leaders in the sec- tor are probably more worried about than they care to admit, says Rutherford. He is looking forward to seeing what light can be shed on this by a seminal investigation by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) into the need for a power system architect. The IET's attempt to define a "whole system view" of the UK's evolving electricity grid – and to set out the rules of engagement for new technologies and service providers joining it – kicks off in earnest this year and Rutherford is due to attend one of the preliminary work- shops in February. The project, commissioned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, has so far been treated with an air of suspicion, if not outright hostility, by many industry leaders. But Rutherford is intrigued to see what it can do to provide more certainty about "the standards, the parameters of access, the means of system opera- tion" for players in a range of potential electricity net- work scenarios. Before this process has even begun, however, some leading energy aficionados – including Energy Systems Catapult chair Nick Winser – have said that an opportu- nity is being missed by not broadening the scope of the investigation to include gas and heat networks. Rutherford doesn't necessarily agree that this is essential now, but he does express a keen interest in the challenge of integrating different energy verticals to achieve a truly optimised whole system. In the future, he says he'd like to see PNDC expand its scope to help dem- onstrate integrated energy solutions. It "would be a very natural progression for the centre", he says. For the moment, however, PNDC is focused on estab- lishing itself as an indispensable aid to the transforma- tion of the UK power system. There are plans to increase the membership base in 2016 and to find new ways of engaging with the significant community of small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK that have relevant products or services with problems that need "ironing out" to get to market with confidence. Another key thing the centre will do this year is firm up its metrics for success – which are currently a little woolly. "Our outputs are measured very much in the dif- ference we have made to technology deployment," says Rutherford, "though we haven't quite got there yet to the point of testing that with our customer base. We are developing a means of measuring customer satisfaction with the pace at which we are able to accelerate their product or solution being fit for market." Once that's done, it'll just be a matter of getting the market fit to accept those products and solutions. "We are faced with a cumbersome rollout programme and the ability to extract full benefit remains to be seen"