Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/796215
NETWORK / 9 / MARCH 2017 All major issues raised by respondents – from the adoption of renewable generation to the distribution charging model – will require greater clarity on the nal form the DSO will take. Rather than wait for a regulatory lead, the ENA chose the close of the consultation to launch a major programme of work to facilitate co-ordination between DSOs, the system operator and transmission opera- tors in delivering e cient network planning and system-wide use of resources. In doing so it may provide the solution to many of the issues Ofgem and the government plan to spend the next few months considering, stealing the resulting road-map's thunder. EV charging The rise of the electric vehicle (EV) also brings concerns around the development of smart charging to the fore. The ENA calls this a "signi cant and near-term chal- lenge". It says it is essential that electricity networks have visibility of the location, availability and dynamic usage of charging infrastructure. It encourages the govern- ment to co-ordinate an approach to access- ing EV charging infrastructure that meets the needs of the industry and consumers. Already the ENA has carried out a high- level assessment of the potential impact of EVs and the associated charging infrastruc- ture, including an analysis of potential network costs. The work reveals that under some "relatively ambitious but nevertheless plausible" take-up scenarios there would be a need for substantial investments between now and 2040. Support for the development of stand- ards to ensure network visibility and control is also top of the agenda for UKPN, with it calling for the government to work in con- junction with the Department for Transport on their work on the Modern Transport Bill. UKPN says: "As with all consumer de- vices, it will be important for government to support standards that enable interoperabil- ity, and provide con dence for consumers and security for the power system. The gov- ernment should support the development of smart home systems with appropriate risk-based cyber-security controls." Network operators may be focused on how best to in• uence the growing market to ensure it can be managed appropri- ately and the extra demand potentially harnessed to help shave o– demand peaks, but this focus is not widely welcomed by the automotive industry. Innovate UK says there are "con dence issues" among automotive OEMs of "giving control" of their customers vehicle batteries to third parties, such as demand response providers or network operators. This is due to a perceived risk to driver user experience, and a potential knock-on e– ect on vehi- cle range, and the impact of grid support on battery life through additional battery cycling. Innovate UK also points to the reliabil- ity of public charge infrastructure, which it says has a poor reputation due to the hardware, could represent a barrier to the take-up of grid support services by plug-in users, and discourage them from giving over more control. Distribution System Operator For the scale of bene ts cited in the call for evidence to come to fruition, DSO capabili- ties will need to be focused on optimising the resources connected to the distribution network. UKPN says this represents a "para- digm shi˜ " in the complexity of system operation and the smart control systems needed to support it. It says network operators should be em- powered to develop and deploy the support- ing DSO infrastructure so that • exibility can develop e ciently in response to local and whole system needs. The regulatory frame- work should fully recognise the risks and costs associated with the development and deployment of new technologies, and clear incentives are needed to facilitate a timely evolution towards a smart DSO future. UKPN says the current RIIO model can be adapted to support DNOs to complete the transition to DSOs and optimally manage the resources on their networks. It would like to see Ofgem and BEIS build on this call for evidence by es- tablishing a work programme with industry to develop the regulatory incen- tive frameworks to incentivise transmis- sion and distribution network investments to reduce whole-system costs in time for the start of RIIO-ED2 and RIIO-T2. "We believe that our track record in deliver- ing safe, reliable networks with excellent customer service puts DNOs in a good posi- tion to develop into e– ective DSOs," it says. The Energy Storage Network expresses concerns at whether there are su ciently strong incentives for e– ective network man- agement and su ciently strong, barrier-free markets of service providers such as storage to bring about the evolution of the DSO in a timely manner. It would support an ad- ditional regulatory upli˜ mechanism where DNOs can employ DSO-style measures at comparable cost to conventional solutions, and would welcome the options in the call for evidence on further DSO functions in the context of whole-system operation. It also calls for greater clarity on the levels of governance in the development of the DSO itself, and on the balance between diversity and consistency in DSO develop- ment. That clarity should be provided to some extent by the project launched by the ENA at the close of the consultation. It has iden- ti ed that greater co-ordination between network operators, SO and TO is required, and many challenging and detailed ques- tions will need to be worked through. This will form a key workstream and priority for 2017 in ENA's TSO-DSO project. The project will also address another promi- nent issue that emerged in the consultation of network charging. ENA members agree that current use of system and connection charging arrangements will need to develop to meet the needs of a smart, • exible energy system. The ENA has identi ed a number of current issues that are likely to merit consideration in the near future. N for evidence by es- tablishing a