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NETWORK / 26 / DECEMBER 2017 / JANUARY 2018 INNOVATION A warded more than £5 million in 2016, Open LV is an open soware plat- form in electricity substations that can monitor performance and electricity demand. Mark Dale, innovation and low carbon engineer and OpenLV project manager, explains the background behind the bidding process. He said: "Every Year WPD put out a call to industry for innovative solutions to network issues. In 2016 EA Technology responded to this call. WPD reviewed all submissions and selected the OpenLV project to take through to the NIC competi - tion. This involved developing an initial screening proforma (ISP) and then progressing through to the full submission process (FSP). Towards the end of the FSP stage there were two expert panel meetings to scrutinise the bid document and associated deliverables, before full award in December 2016." In a new series Network will look at some of the projects that have been awarded funding from Ofgem's Electricity Network Innovation Competition (NIC) and the Network Innovation Allowance (NIA). Here, Western Power Distribution's (WPD) OpenLV project comes under the spotlight. Improving network performance Project details The OpenLV Solution (LV-CAP) is a soware platform, operat- ing on off-the-shelf commodity hardware. It sits as an interface between the high voltage/low voltage (HV/LV) substation as - sets and the customers it serves. The OpenLV project is led by EA Technology, a third-party innovation technology deliv - erer, and is being delivered in partnership with Western Power Distribution. It commenced in January 2017 and will end in April 2020. The trial of the open soware platform started in September 2018 and runs through to July 2019. The total value of fund - ing awarded by Ofgem was £5,445,680. As part of the OpenLV project, the soware will be installed in 80 low voltage (LV) distribution substations located in WPD's licence areas – the East and West Midlands, the South West and South Wales. According to Dale, the solu - tion is similar to the operating system of a smartphone. In the case of a smartphone, the devel- opment and rapid acceleration seen in applications (apps) has been provided by a wide variety of organisations, covering a huge array of services. Dale continued: "The growth in smartphone apps, shows the importance of: 1) Having an open operat - ing system (OS) that can be deployed on multiple vendors' hardware; and 2) The ability to have a central system or store to deploy apps and make them available to new users. "Whilst the platforms are common, the apps used are highly tailored to suit the unique nature of a user's own needs – no two phones are identical, as no users are identical." This project, OpenLV, will trial a similar, open platform, but for a substation. The project will demonstrate how the overall solution can: l Release additional network capacity from existing low voltage (LV) network assets. l Be used to enable the de- velopment of community or customer-driven apps. l Be used to enable companies (including non-energy com- panies) to develop innovative apps. Community and customer participation The project has gauged the interest of communities, busi- nesses and academia to take part through using network data and/or developing apps. "The energy sector is under - going a fundamental change moving away from 'one way' power flow from large genera- tors to passive customers via the transmission and distribution networks," remarked Dale. "We are moving to a system where generation is distributed and more variable. In addition, the The OpenLV solution provides consumers with network demand information for their local network.