Success For EA Technology In Low Carbon Network Fund Announcements

EA Technology has been successful with Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution (SSEPD) in this years Low Carbon Network Fund (LCNF) Tier 2 competition.

The New Thames Valley Vision is the largest LCNF Tier 2 project in the 2011 competition, and is a fantastic accolade for both SSEPD and EA Technology. It will makea significant contribution to the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan (published in 2009 by the Department of Energy and Climate Change) which plots how the UK will meet the 34 percent cut in emissions on 1990 levels by 2020.

The New Thames Valley Vision is a large multi dimensional project which seeks to develop a tool by which to predict the take up of low carbon technologies by consumers in order that the affected networks are able to accommodate them. Amongst the new technologies are the electrification of heat and transport as well as connecting micro-generation.

Brought into this already established project in May 2011, EA Technology’s role within NTVV will be focussed around the development of policies, training and the integration of the project into SSEPD and other Distribution Network Operators, (DNO) general business.

The trial area which was deliberately chosen because of anticipated growth in the number of low carbon technologies being connected will allow a model to be developed which will be essentially generic and allows for adoption by a significant proportion of distribution networks in the UK.

Currently, DNO’s have no sophisticated tool to help them predict where low carbon technologies and renewable generation will connect. Consequently, DNO’s could discover that their LV networks are not capable of accommodating the volume of low carbon technologies connecting to the network. Heat pumps, EV charging points and PV solar panels all place extra demands on the network which could require greater capacity/control. By predicting the way electricity consumers are likely to behave DNO’s will be able to plan and manage the distribution network more effectively.

The project also assesses the effectiveness of various interventions to actively manage the network including: automated demand response, voltage control, street level energy storage and a range of communications solutions.

Current methods being trialled aim to result in improvements to the planning and operation of the distribution system. The project interestingly applies retail market research techniques to the users of the distribution system in a novel way to facilitate network planning and operation.

Additionally, the trial has the potential to deliver significant financial benefits to the customers. By generating techniques that allow for the connection of new low carbon technologies it may reduce the need for more costly reinforcement. The project is also trialling new commercial arrangements which are intended to reduce the peak load placed on the network. The learnings from this part of the project have the potential to inform future demand side response contracts which could result in savings to consumers in the future.