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NETWORK / 5 / FEBRUARY 2017 E D I T O R ' S N O T E The start of a new year demands new goals and ambitions, renewed optimism and a desire to press on and achieve. But for the electricity storage industry there was an overwhelming sense of déjà vu when companies in the sector convened at the end of January. The unavoidable fact is that the industry is stuck in a bit of a rut while it waits for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – in partnership with Ofgem – to publish its response to the Smart, Flexible System Call for Evidence that concluded earlier this month. If those same companies were hoping for any hint of the likely nature of that response from BEIS they were le‚ disappointed because David Capper's presentation at the Electricity Storage Network's Symposium was devoid of any detail. Although the industry must inevitably wait until the last possible second of the spring to receive that response, responses to the call for evidence are already revealing concerns about the ownership of storage limiting the technology's ability to solve network issues in the future, and a desire to prepare for the rise of the electric vehicle early. Network will be dissecting those responses in more detail over the coming weeks. The Energy Networks Association chose the end of the consultation to launch a major new project that will co-ordinate the evolution of the roles of the transmission system operator and the distribution system operator. It promises to be a signi‡ cant piece of work with short, medium and long-term goals that stretch into the next price control. The ENA's chief executive David Smith sets out those goals further on page 35. System control also dominated the headlines this month when it was announced that National Grid's system operator role would be legally separated from the rest of its operations to negate con‹ icts of interest. The wealth of activity on the future of the system architecture has ‡ lled what could have been a void created by comparatively mild winter weather. That's all set to change in February with plunging temperatures predicted, when attention will inevitably turn to the issue of heat. In preparation, Network has explored whether the UK'can realistically follow the example set by Denmark in tackling this challenge . Turn to page 6 for an in-depth look at district heating. C OMING SO ON ∙ Health and safety • Storm response • Energy storage update • ENW's sunshine tariff • Manchester Uni's RTDS system YOUR NET W ORK Give the people what they want Let us know what projects, technologies and topics you want us to cover Have your say Express your opinions and respond to content by blogging or writing for the magazine A social Network Follow us on Twitter: @Network_mag Email the editor: lucindadann@fav-house.com Lucinda Dann lucindadann@fav-house.com